AH!

Well -- we have no kids BUT we head out in the car -- and cruise the neighbourhood and ring our sets of old old old sleigh bells (I collect them ......) LOL:!

We always think of those kids just on the "edge" of NOT believing ------ and hearing those bells in the night ........LOL!

Hi I don't know about this year as DD is 19 and DS is 24 and last year maybe was the last for this. But on Christmas Eve, we have a sandwich platter with all the fixins, make a fire in the fireplace and have a picnic on the coffee table. We watch The Santa Clause and then we watch The Muppets Christmas Carol. No one else is invited- it can only be the 4 of us. Pajamas and robes mandatory. Both of them are single and don't have SOs. They still lay on the floor and watch like they used to as little kids.
We may do something different this year tho who knows- we will jsut go with the flow and be together as a family.

I jsut read about the bells- My DH and I used to do that after our kids were in bed and jingled all around the neighborhood. I am thinking about doing it again this year. Merry Christmas Sue

We also stay home - just the 4 of us, music, and fireplace. Usually I make bouillabaise, but we're kind of tired of it. I think I may copy one of the pp's and do a sandwich platter.

We have a tradition we've been doing for years now. I have a special copy of "'Twas The Night Before Christmas" my grandmother had given me. We take turns reading the book by passing it along each time the reader encounters the word "and". The person who gets to read the last line of the story is the WINNER. I usually have a small gift (special candy, a DVD, etc.) that we can all share.

Fun post... I can't wait to get some more good ideas!!!!

Christmas Eve day we spend making sure all last minute wrapping is done, hopefully, before going to our church's Christmas Eve Mass. When we come home, we light a fire and eat dinner and my DH and I open a bottle of wine and relax! Our tradition has always been, that each one of our children get to pick one present from under the tree to open on Christmas Eve. The other wrapped gifts, we open on Christmas morning along with all the other goodies Santa has left under the tree! Oh, how could I forget, my DH and the kids ALWAYS watch "A Christmas Story"!

Our son was born on Christmas Eve 16 yrs ago. We all get together on Christmas Eve and do NOTHING Christmas related. We have Chili for supper, birthday cake, open birthday presents. No Christmas presents allowed!

It is a lot of fun because extended family come that otherwise wouldn't see each other at Christmas time because they have their own family obligations for Christmas.

Once someone showed up with a birthday present wrapped in Christmas paper and I had them re-wrap it in birthday paper I had. I have known other people whose birthdays get lost in the Christmas season and I always promised myself that I wouldn't do that to my DS. It isn't his fault that he was born on Christmas Eve LOL

He is teasing us that he is mad at us this year though... since his birthday is a holiday and the next day is a holiday, he won't be able to get his driver's license until Dec 26!! Poor kid!!

My daughter was born on the 28th. We have a hard time remembering her birthday after the rush to get Christmas decorations down before the New Year. Poor thing!

teacats - I love your idea! I think we will add that to our tradition this year. Our adult children will love it, too!

Our tradition is the same as I had growing up. We finish all the wrapping and head off to one of the Christmas Eve services that our church offers. Afterwards, we go out to eat. On the way home,we ride around and look at lights.

Once home, and MOST importantly, we read the true menaing of Christmas...the one of our dear saviors birth, and then everyone gets to open one gift under the tree. After that, our family spreads out.

Our middle DD will head out with her boyfriend (she better get a ring this year!)and the other two will probably start watching a Christmas movie. We all love "Chevy Chase Christmas". My DH will probably watch "It's a Wonderful World," while I tidy-up.

After we are sure that the kids are in and upstairs (they all sleep up in the bonus room for the night,) DH and I will let Santa in the house to place gifts under the tree, then it is off to bed for us!

Since Dh and I don't have children we have started a tradition of driving around looking at lights on Christmas eve...while listening to the Chipmunks sing on the car's cd player! When we come home we watch a Christmas movie, open presents, and eat Christmas candy that I've bought special for that evening. When it's just the two of you, you have to make an effort to do something different otherwise it can quickly turn into just another evening at home. And I don't want Christmas to be like that. I deliberately refrain from watching all the Christmas specials before Christmas Eve so there's something to look forward to on Christmas eve.

My kids get to open the presents from us (Mom and Dad) sometime during the day -- these presents are ALWAYS books. No "toys" til Christmas Day! This year family is visiting us the weekend before Christmas, so we'll have a nice quiet holiday with just our 3 kids. After the kids go to bed, my husband and I sit on our bed (I know this may seem weird but it's cozy!) and open our gifts to each other.

I make lasagna salad and lots of finger foods horsdorves a(sp)?
I also have a DD who will be 19 on Christmas Eve. We have a birthday cake and she opens her bday presents only. When grandparents and in-laws go home Me and my 2nd oldest daughter ( i have 6 )wrap for hours while watching "Christmas Vacation" drink hot chocolate and eating Panatone. Then the stockings, I made the mistake of going overboard when they were little, now they expect a stocking with a GIANT gift bag along side filled with everything you could imagine a grown up girl could want or need. I shop at the warehouse type stores so everything is giant sized.

Thanks for this post and for the responses. It is really nice to hear what people do on Christmas Eve. I grew up with a big, exciting Christmas Eve where all the extended family got together, opened lots of presents and had a lot of food (pasta, seafood, Italian cookies, etc.). On Christmas Day we'd open immediate family and Santa gifts at home, then get together for another big meal. Now the family is all spread out and its just me, DH and the three little kids and my mom that are here. We have been trying to do Christmas Eve like we used to these last few years, but have contemplated changing that this year and just making our big day Christmas Day and do something lower key on Christmas Eve. Thanks for helping me see that it's OK to just be together and start some of our own traditions for Christmas Eve.

This year I am hosting Christmas eve. I'll have a large buffet with finger foods, dips, meat&cheese plates, several desserts and whatever anyone wants to bring along. The kids will head upstairs and ignore us and the adults will just hang out in the living room talking and listening to christmas music.

We did the whole 7 fishes thing when I was a kid--it would be our family, my grandmother, my aunt and uncle and cousins. The older generations are all gone now, but now my brother and SIL have the traditional Christmas Eve celebration and my cousins still try to make it every year.

Our 7 fishes are down to 2--shrimp cocktail and vermicelli with lobster sauce (there was a huge panic the year my mom died when we couldn't find her sauce recipe--but we finally found it). I make a huge antipasto and lots of cookies and we have tons of hors d'ouveres and a big ol vat of egg nog with whisky and brandy...and we open presents in a huge frenzy--the kids love it, and we love carrying on the tradtions..

We have a big extended family, so Christmas Eve is usually just us with our 3 kids and a few other family members. Special appetizers, games.

Annabelle's Wish is a favorite Christmas movie with the kids, but we usually watch that after we decorate the tree.

Favorite Christmas memory is waking the kids at 1:00 am right after Santa comes. They are so excited when we wake them in the middle of the night. My parents did that with me and we had to continue it. No presents until we sing the Happy Birthday Baby Jesus song and put him in the manger, remind our youngest why we celebrate Christmas, and then they open their presents and stockings, and then back to bed!

We go to Christmas Eve candlelight service at church, then come home and eat tamales and chili. My dad grew up in New Mexico, and I lived there part of my life. The tamales and chili are a tradition there that my family had growing up, and which I have carried into my own family. Our kids are now 18, 16, and 14 and we usually let them open one small present on Christmas Eve. We also love to watch Christmas Vacation or the Christmas Story.

We used to have the whole family over on Christmas Eve, but as the little ones got older it became just to difficult and they want to be in their own homes too. So now it's just DH and I. My brother will most likely be over and there are several friends who have it a tradition to stop by Christmas Eve for some refreshments. We don't eat a big meal, just finger foods, dip etc. around the coffee table. We like to listen to some good music and just talk and laugh. We also used to open one gift each Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve.....dinner as a family first, then Christmas Eve service at church. Afterwards we usually drive around and see the lights on all the houses before we go home. Christmas music is on the stereo in the car, of course, and again at the house. I think we must own at least 50 Christmas CD's, and of course we now get XM radio with our DirecTV service....so there's lots of music choices.

Dinner menu for Christmas Eve changes every year, depending on who's with us. We have two DD's, now 21 and 20. My parents are usually here for the holiday as well. This year, we have one DD's fiance here with us because he only gets 5 days off for Christmas and grad school is over in Phoenix. Home for him is in Missouri, so he went home for the Thanksgiving holidays where he had 2 weeks off (quarterly system in grad school).

Fun thread, OT or not!!!

DonnaR in SoCal

We have our big Christmas feast on Christmas eve, rather than on the day itself. Then we all get to open one gift. We read a Christmas story or two sitting around the tree, put out some cookies for Santa, and then to bed.

On Christmas day we have a big brunch, and then it's time to clean up! Christmas is over and it's time to get ready for our annual New Year's party.

Usually a few days before Christmas dh and I stay up late and watch "It's a Wonderful Life" and wrap dd's gifts. It's one of my favorite parts of Christmas.

texanjana: "We go to Christmas Eve candlelight service at church, then come home and eat tamales and chili. My dad grew up in New Mexico, and I lived there part of my life. The tamales and chili are a tradition there that my family had growing up, and which I have carried into my own family..."

I hear ya! Last year we had green chili stew and tamales homemade by our dear next door neighbors, and it was just perfect. There are also those little spicy stuffed things from the bakery called something like empanaditas (?) that I might pick up for this year, too.

I cook on Christmas day, since we both work Christmas eve day, so it's just easier.

So on Christmas eve we (try) to keep it low-key. We either go to someone's house for dinner or cook something easy at home. We each open one present. We put cookies and milk out for Santa and carrots out for the reindeer. We'll also keep track of Santa's location on the Norad site.

After the kids are in bed dh and I will put Santa's gifts out and do some last-minute preparations for the big dinner we'll host the next day. Then head to bed ourselves.

On Christmas Eve, we're ALWAYS either in a car driving 5-6 hrs to my family or in an airport/airplane heading to DH's family. We almost always arrive after dinner has been consumed and cleaned up. So the few remaining evening hours are spent visiting and chilling out before going to bed to wait for Santa to arrive.

It's so nice reading about all your traditions! We usually have a seafood dinner on Christmas Eve including shrimp, crab cakes and stuffed baked potatoes. We usually always have an extra guest or two! After dinner we attend service at church and then we ride around to look at lights while singing Christmas carols. We return home to dessert and coffee and our kids (four ages 15 - 22) each open a gift. Christmas Eve for us is all about spending quiet time together as a family. When the children were young my husband used to actually climb on the roof and ring bells. The children were sure that Santa was there!:) Merry Christmas everyone!

We have a small family party - hubby & I, my parents, sister & hubby & kids and an aunt & uncle & cousin we're especially close to. When I was growing up we lived very near this aunt & uncle, and cousin was more like another sister.

Anyway... the 9 adults exchange names and we do stockings for each other. Each individual item in the stocking is wrapped, even the tiniest things, and on Christmas Eve we have a potluck and exchange and open our stockings as a group. We always have a blast... there are always some joke gifts and we laugh and carry on like a bunch of kids. I wish my Gram was still alive, she loved family get togethers like this. This will be our 3rd Christmas without her.

We usually end up opening all of our gifts to and from each other.... once we get started, we can't stop, lol. The adults open the bulk of their gifts on Christmas Eve, and then the following morning at my parent's house (my sis and I always stay there Christmas Eve night) it's all about my nephews and Santa.

Teacats, that's one of my most vivid Christmas memories from my childhood -- we were just about ready to get into bed and we heard sleigh bells. I was at the age where I knew, but still wanted to believe. That one really puzzled me, but just to be sure, we all ran and got into bed so we wouldn't be missed by Santa! When our kids are older, we might have to take on your tradition to pay back the favor that gave us such a thrill! Thanks for sharing!

The tradition at our friend's wonderful Christmas Eve parties was for him to sneak outside to ring the sleigh bells to encourage the youngest party guests to leave at the appropriate time. One particular Christmas Eve, as there was a very heavy frost, we were all anxious to rush back indoors to the blazing fires after shivering outside, bidding goodbye and calling Christmas wishes to the eagerly departing children and their parents.
We were warmed through and enjoying the drinks, food and music of the grown ups' party when a strange, frosted apparition suddenly appeared! We had all forgotten to give our host the signal that the last child had left! He had been standing out in the garden dutifully ringing the sleigh bells until he was almost frozen solid!

We used to light a fire, turn the lights down, and curl up with my mother on the sofa and she'd read Christmas stories to us. And we always listened to the record 'The Little Fir Tree.' Then we'd put milk and cookies out for Santa, with a piece of cheese for a little mouse I think (Dad!), lol.

My mom made our Christmas Eves so special! Once we were all older, she had a zillion candles and would turn off all the lights and light every candle in the living/dining rooms. We always had shrimp cocktail and a big, fancy dinner with some sort of excruciatingly fantastic chocolate dessert. After dinner, Dad would read the Christmas story from the Bible, then we would open presents. There were eight of us kids (plus boy/girlfriends, grandma, etc.), so we just all went at it at the same time -- it was chaos, but SO fun! EVERY year Santa left a huge apple, orange, banana and a little box of cereal along with a little gift in our stocking, even after we were gone. My mom had a knack for making holidays memorable.

Christmas Eve was (and still is) magical to me. As a child we would go to my grandmother's and have a buffet of baked ham, deviled eggs, potato salad, home made baked beans and her famous chocolate cake. Then we got to open the gifts from my grandparents, aunt & uncle (they were teens when we were kids). My grandmother's house was filled with family heirlooms and was so warm and cozy when lit up for Christmas. She had a fireplace in both the kitchen and living room and they both were blazing. It seemed liked it always snowed on Christmas Eve in those days, and I can remember carolers coming to the door. Not to be a downer, but my Dad was an alcoholic and my parents fought a lot in the weeks before Christmas because of all the "festivities". I never knew if we were going to have a Christmas at all. Then, somehow, they always made up on Christmas Eve. I attributed it to the magic of my Grandmother's house.

Grandma is now gone, but I have taken over the Christmas Eve tradition. I follow her exact menu (with a few additions). We go to a candlelit service at 5:30, and then all my siblings come over with their kids. We tortue the kids by eating first, and then they each get to open a gift (we do a gift exchange). My parents and even my 102 year old grandfather attend and get the biggest kick out of watching the kids. It is a lot of work, but worth every minute spent preparing.

Teeda, isn't that true how different a grandmother's house feels. And it did seem like we often had snow! and I can't remember the last time I heard carolers going around the neighborhood! I hope other neighborhoods are still caroling. We did that a bit when I was a kid and I just loved it!

My brother and I used to have a sort of odd tradition, rooted in the bittersweetness of a broken family. My parents separated when I was 15 and he was 3, and we always lived with mom. After the separation, when Dad and Mom lived in the same city (about 17 years total), we typically spent Christmas Eve with Dad and Christmas Day with Mom.

The first year we just happened to be driving home from Dad's when the clock struck midnight. After that, we made it our little tradition to always be in the car when midnight hit. Sometimes we had to drive around a bit before heading home. Heck, sometimes we were already home and had to go outside and circle the block at midnight. But, it was our thing, and I think we looked forward every year to the little giggle it gave us.

We're spread all over the country now and don't even always spend Christmas together, or even talk very often. But we'll always have our Christmas Eve Midnights.