What are your Christmas traditions?

[d_marsh]

Christmas for me started out as one thing, then became another, and is now becoming something entirely different again. This year I am going into the holiday with a ready made family who has their own traditions but also wants to incorporate some of mine too. Unfortunately my traditions all involve either carrying a rifle of carousing with my battle buddies or unattached women. So I need you to offer up some of your Christmas traditions for me to borrow from. Other than mixing dark rum and eggnog, I have that one covered.

One of their Christmas traditions is to open a single gift on Christmas eve, then open the rest on Christmas day. The gift they open on the 24th is always something inexpensive but meaningful. They do not have a traditional Christmas eve meal, but on Christmas day they always make a seasoned beef roast, usually ribeye roast or prime rib. So I may create a Christmas eve menu we can repeat annually.

 

[Spikedriver]

Growing up, Christmas Eve was always at my maternal grandmother's house. The meal was odd - we had chicken salad sandwiches in foil from the oven every year, along with Norwegian traditional foods like Kringla and Lefse.

Nowadays my parents and my siblings all try to get together, but my nieces and nephews have spread out all around the Midwest and even overseas. It seems that we can't get everyone together in the same place at the same time. We normally have a meal with a spiral ham and maybe a smoked turkey, much like Thanksgiving.

One thing we do every year, is rent a wheelchair van and take Mom out of the nursing home to drive around and look at Christmas lights. It's something she really enjoys.

 

[Cascadian]

Same here, one gift Christmas eve.

 

[snappy1]

I always loved looking at Christmas lights! We always got food from the local Chinese restaurant Christmas eve when we lived in FL. This year we will be getting the Christmas Eve Pizza! LOL

 

[Bacpacker]

Growing up my moms parents always came to our house on Christmas eve, food, presents, the whole nine yards. Christmas day my moms entire family gathered at my grandparents. And oh my lord you wouldn't believe the food. Mid afternoon we'd go to my step dad parents for the evening and another spread like you wouldn't believe. Those were the days.
Now, if we are home, we go to my parents on Christmas eve, and my sisters on Christmas day. Every other year we go to Michigan to the wife's sisters

 

[sonya123]

long time ago we asked the kids if they would rather see snow and learn to ski and snowboard , or have Christmas presents. They picked the snow, so we always went on a trip to a ski resort area, mostly Vermont ( long drive from Florida but my best friend lived in NJ and we stopped there on the way and they usually came along, that's why Vermont and not Colorado....)

this is where we spent most Christmases

http://www.stowe.com/the-mountain/mountain-conditions/mountain-cams.aspx

 

[Neb]

I hide until it is over.

It is a nice relaxing no stress day for me.

Ben

 

[UserNameTaken]

About the only one left is driving around looking at the pretty lights. I used to love walking through the super fancy Fashion Island mall in "New Porsche" Beach, CA on Christmas eve, at sunset as the stores were closing and the final shoppers scurrying around last minute. They always had the "tallest" tree in the country and beautiful decorations and light displays. People would be all dressed up and carols playing on the speakers. Sometimes carolers would wander about singing. As the stores closed, things would calm, then we'd head home to dinner.

 

[LadyLocust]

When the kids were still home, we would pick a random day in December (even a school night ) and have a “slumber party.” We’d take hot cocoa in the living room which had every blanket in the house it seemed and we’d watch a Christmas movie and sleep on the floor.
We adopted the tradition many years ago of some dear friends who were like family to me. His mom got tired of baking pies that everyone was too full to eat so she began serving dessert first. We have dessert about noon then dinner about 1:30.
I will probably think of more-
Oh we didn’t do an advent to Christmas but I did one for St Valentine’s Day. They each had a little mailbox and each day got a little Valentine in it of some sort. Then on SVD they got lots of goodies.

Hubby and I go each year about a week before Christmas and head up to the mountains and get a tree. I make real cocoa (with cream and cocoa nibs) and maybe a shot of (hiccup). Always look forward to that.