Christmas traditions

[Opti]

What are your Christmas traditions or what were your favorite Christmas traditions?
If you are not from the US, please post that as well. With all this fake war on Christmas I am wondering
how most people celebrate. What of your traditions mean Christmas to you?

[laterbloomer]

In some movie years ago someone said that Jewish people fill the Chinese food restaurants on Christmas Eve and I thought that was awesome. So our Christmas eve meal is Chinese food. Last year I graduated to making it myself. So Friday we are having honey garlic ribs, beef and broccoli, chicken fried rice and egg rolls.

Also, I don't live in the same town as my family and I fostered for years and many of the girls would spend Christmas Day with their bio family. So I started taking anyone that was with me Christmas Day to the movies. ISO and I are going to see The Matrix on Saturday. We are having the step kids over on Boxing Day.

[Opti]

I just finished watching the Grinch on NBC. I really like this version. They added backstory and at the end revealed the Grinch hated Christmas because he was lonely and basically did not get to celebrate Christmas with friends or family prior to this.

I'm feeling that. My birth family is states away. The last few years I worked Christmas because I had nowhere to go anyway. My only real celebration recently is going to Christmas Eve service locally. I hope it stays dry. There will be a cookie exchange, although its unclear whether I will have time to make something by then.

Christmas cookies were some of my fave Christmas traditions. Iced sugar cookies, Spritz cookies, etc. 

Christmas is a big movie going day. Chinese restaurants are pretty popular Christmas day too, because they are often open.

[Opti]

From NAR for Empress,


I have a bit of holiday trauma from an abusive, overly-religious stepmother. My father usually deliberately worked on holidays to avoid her religious fanaticism but allowed her to burn gifts we got that weren’t religious enough. As such, I’m not a big fan of Christmas, and as an adult, I don’t celebrate it for years.



When I marry my wife, who loves Christmas and has a religious mother, I brace myself for the holidays.



Wife: “Honey, I found the perfect tree!”



Me: *Trying to fake enthusiasm* “Oh, cool!”



Mother-In-Law: “[Wife], show her what you found. Trust me, you’ll like this.”



My wife drags in a completely black tree.



Me: *Stunned* “Is that… a black tree? I didn’t even know those were a thing!”



Wife: “Yeah! I’ve always wanted a black tree but Mom prefers real trees, which don’t come in black. But I found this one at work on clearance… and these ornaments!”



Me: “Are those dragons? You got dragon Christmas ornaments?”



Wife: “I know you love dragons. Plus, I figured we could get a skull tree topper or something. And I work with a woman that makes custom wrapping paper, so I figured we can order some of that and wrap our gifts in it. She does coffins, bats, blood splatters…”



Me: “Okay, I might be coming around on Christmas now.”

notalwaysright.com/

[Opti]

I am feeling this right now-

[weltschmerz]

When the kids were little, we'd go up to my parents' place out in the country. Sleigh rides, fireplaces, Dad getting dressed up as Santa, the whole nine yards. Now they're dead, I'm an atheist, and I really don't give a fuck. I didn't even decorate.

(I guess you can tell where my head is presently at. Sorry.)

[Opti]

Dec 22, 2021 22:48:42 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

When the kids were little, we'd go up to my parents' place out in the country. Sleigh rides, fireplaces, Dad getting dressed up as Santa, the whole nine yards. Now they're dead, I'm an atheist, and I really don't give a fuck. I didn't even decorate.

(I gyess you can tell where my head is presently at. Sorry.)

I feel you, Welts. I usually put up a wreath on my door. It is my adult thing. I decided not to use my plastic wreath because it holds the door open enough it impacts my heating a little. I need to save the $$. I have a flat ornament there, which unfortunately could get stolen or fly off.

Not sure if I will put anything else up. My stuffed reindeer actually have been hanging out since last Christmas. 

[skeeter]

Dec 22, 2021 22:48:42 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

When the kids were little, we'd go up to my parents' place out in the country. Sleigh rides, fireplaces, Dad getting dressed up as Santa, the whole nine yards. Now they're dead, I'm an atheist, and I really don't give a fuck. I didn't even decorate.

(I guess you can tell where my head is presently at. Sorry.)

You don't have to be sorry for the way you are feeling.  You have been through a hell of a lot this year and are still dealing with crap.

My hope is that 2022 will be a better year for you and yours!

[billisonboard]

My ex's parents lived in a small community and that was where we would spend Christmas. An elderly woman wanted to start a tradition of having people place milk jug luminaries, like pictured below, on their relative's graves at the local cemetery on Christmas Eve. The local cemetery board voiced concern on who would clean them up. She said she would. They asked when. She told them before noon on Christmas Day. Don't remember exact timing but after a couple of years we realized that the tradition had taken hold and the number of jugs was becoming too large for this aging woman to handle so we, with ex's two kids, started to show up to help. Then it became her stopping by with hot chocolate for us. We would get up early,  go clean up over 200 luminaries, head back for breakfast, and then open presents. Felt great to start Christmas Day with service.

[Spellbound454]

I live in quite an active community, so there has been decorated tree festivals, a market and a light trail..... Santa comes round tonight in his sleigh so we will be out for that and they collect money for the local hospice.

We normally go to midnight mass in the cathedral.... (probably not tonight)

Christmas morning we settle to a full English breakfast..... Bacon/eggs/mushroom/tomatoes and bucks fizz (orange and champagne)
Then we open our presents and put the Turkey in to slow roast
We walk the dogs on the moors... then meet the relatives in the pub.
Then its Christmas dinner with all the trimmings.
In the evening people come over to play party games and we have a salmon buffet.

The next day (boxing day) we'll eat up the left overs and go to another house part in the evening.

We are sticking to schedule this year apart from just keeping it between us (6) and not going out to other peoples houses.

[Spellbound454]

(I guess you can tell where my head is presently at. Sorry.)

I know where you are coming from.
Parents are long gone but my brother and his wife died recently and I'm left looking after his daughter.
I can't get over it... They were a big part of my life and past.... Not that you would ever know it.. because I'm a happy and loving Auntie to a girl who has lost everything.
Life is pretty sh1tty sometimes..... but Christmas is coming and we are taking it by the horns.
Things change, we make new traditions....or that's how I look at it.

[buystoys]

DH and I started our own Christmas Eve and  Christmas traditions.  On Christmas Eve, I make crab cakes on Italian bread toast with melted fresh mozzarella.  For lunch we do snacky things.  For dinner I make linguine with clam sauce.  On Christmas Day, we have the same breakfast (if there are leftovers) and I bake a ham for lunch.  We do leftovers for dinner.

There's always a lot of seafood involved in Christmas Eve.  Family members have come over and joined us in past years, but the last three years or so it's been just us.  All the kids are grown now and do their own holiday activities.  DB and DSIL always go to Argentina to spend Christmas with her family.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Christmas decorations go up Black Friday.  That was mainly due to the fact it's a three day weekend which makes setting up my massive collection easier but now the kids expect it and start asking the week before Thanksgiving if we're going to do it on Black Friday.

My nativity set goes up every year.  I am an atheist myself but the set has passed through my great grandmother, grandmother, my mother and now has been passed down to me.  It's not about the religious aspect of the nativity for me it's about how much it's meant to the other women in my family.

Both kids get their own mini-Christmas trees complete with their own set of ornaments.   I started this as a way to keep Gwen from messing around with the big tree when she was a toddler.  Then Abby got one to keep her out of my tree and Gwen's tree.  

Abby likes Elf on a Shelf.  Gwen wanted one and it lasted all of 5 minutes but Abby has really taken to it.   I am not good at it and I refuse to do elaborate stuff that is going to then require I clean it up later.  Gwen took it upon herself to take over Elf duties and has been moving it pretty much every day.  We're looser with the rules ABBY cannot touch her, but DH and I can (this came from him putting her on the deer one and she started falling off, Gwen freaked so we had to save her.  Then she freaked because we touched her so we had to come up with a story fast).  

We also don't do the whole Elf is reporting to Santa about you thing.  She already knows Santa watches, why does he need a tattle tale elf?  Holly is a friendly Elf who comes to hang out at our house for the Christmas holiday.

[trippypea]

We stick the Christmas decorations up the weekend after Thanksgiving. We watch our favorite, non-traditional Christmas movies (Die Hard, Gremlins, Lethal Weapon) and our favorite Christmas movies (Christmas Vacation, Scrooged, Christmas Carol). We have seafood for Christmas Eve dinner. We eat "breakfast casserole" aka funeral potatoes for Christmas Day breakfast and ham, open gifts, and then get ready to go to my father's house for "buffet." Buffet is all kinds of different foods spread out for the immediate family in the afternoon, followed by "second buffet" in the evening when extended relatives come over.

[weltschmerz]

Dec 22, 2021 23:32:25 GMT -5 skeeter said:

Dec 22, 2021 22:48:42 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

When the kids were little, we'd go up to my parents' place out in the country. Sleigh rides, fireplaces, Dad getting dressed up as Santa, the whole nine yards. Now they're dead, I'm an atheist, and I really don't give a fuck. I didn't even decorate.

(I guess you can tell where my head is presently at. Sorry.)

You don't have to be sorry for the way you are feeling.  You have been through a hell of a lot this year and are still dealing with crap.

My hope is that 2022 will be a better year for you and yours!

You don't know the half of it.
Thank you.

[mamasita99]

Our traditions have changed as life has changed. My kids are older and not into family activities so much. But we still try to hit some sort of light display, such as a lights on the boardwalk or a lights walk through a community garden. We usually have appetizers on Xmas Eve, this year that will be the same. Watching any Christmas movie that night is acceptable. Christmas Day it’s usually something light for breakfast while we open stockings and presents, and Italian for dinner. This year it will be fresh ravioli and crusty bread and tiramisu. We don’t have family to visit, so we have the option to go see a movie, but that may not happen this year. Lately we have taken off somewhere on a short trip after Christmas, but the day itself is usually quiet.

[Opti]

Dec 23, 2021 8:31:12 GMT -5 trippypea said:

We stick the Christmas decorations up the weekend after Thanksgiving. We watch our favorite, non-traditional Christmas movies (Die Hard, Gremlins, Lethal Weapon) and our favorite Christmas movies (Christmas Vacation, Scrooged, Christmas Carol). We have seafood for Christmas Eve dinner. We eat "breakfast casserole" aka funeral potatoes for Christmas Day breakfast and ham, open gifts, and then get ready to go to my father's house for "buffet." Buffet is all kinds of different foods spread out for the immediate family in the afternoon, followed by "second buffet" in the evening when extended relatives come over.

Gremlins seems like a great annual Halloween movie.

I'm curious how people feel about the various versions of the Grinch and the Christmas Carol. I also like Scrooged, but I'd need a copy so I can watch it each year. Broadcast TV and basic cable are fickle, and unpredictable for holiday TV and movies. White Christmas used to be on regularly on Broadcast TV, but I don't remember the last time I saw it in the lineup. Same with versions of the Christmas Carol.

[Opti]

Dec 23, 2021 6:59:52 GMT -5 buystoys said:

DH and I started our own Christmas Eve and  Christmas traditions.  On Christmas Eve, I make crab cakes on Italian bread toast with melted fresh mozzarella.  For lunch we do snacky things.  For dinner I make linguine with clam sauce.  On Christmas Day, we have the same breakfast (if there are leftovers) and I bake a ham for lunch.  We do leftovers for dinner.

There's always a lot of seafood involved in Christmas Eve.  Family members have come over and joined us in past years, but the last three years or so it's been just us.  All the kids are grown now and do their own holiday activities.  DB and DSIL always go to Argentina to spend Christmas with her family.

Your crab cake tradition sounds yummy.

[empress of self-improvement]

Dec 22, 2021 22:09:17 GMT -5 Opti said:

From NAR for Empress,


I have a bit of holiday trauma from an abusive, overly-religious stepmother. My father usually deliberately worked on holidays to avoid her religious fanaticism but allowed her to burn gifts we got that weren’t religious enough. As such, I’m not a big fan of Christmas, and as an adult, I don’t celebrate it for years.



When I marry my wife, who loves Christmas and has a religious mother, I brace myself for the holidays.



Wife: “Honey, I found the perfect tree!”



Me: *Trying to fake enthusiasm* “Oh, cool!”



Mother-In-Law: “[Wife], show her what you found. Trust me, you’ll like this.”



My wife drags in a completely black tree.



Me: *Stunned* “Is that… a black tree? I didn’t even know those were a thing!”



Wife: “Yeah! I’ve always wanted a black tree but Mom prefers real trees, which don’t come in black. But I found this one at work on clearance… and these ornaments!”



Me: “Are those dragons? You got dragon Christmas ornaments?”



Wife: “I know you love dragons. Plus, I figured we could get a skull tree topper or something. And I work with a woman that makes custom wrapping paper, so I figured we can order some of that and wrap our gifts in it. She does coffins, bats, blood splatters…”



Me: “Okay, I might be coming around on Christmas now.”

notalwaysright.com/

THAT is awesome. I'd defintely join them for Christmas.

[Deleted]

We are not attending any church at this time but we celebrate Christmas to enjoy the spirit of the season by sharing decorations, gifts and celebrations.  I have a ton of indoor and outdoor decorations and we sort of rotate what we put up each year.  This year we put up our villages but not a big tree.  Next year might be the big tree and no villages.  Who knows?

Christmas Eve is caviar with blinis, bagels and lox, and pickled herring.  Christmas Day is a potluck breakfast with friends of Hispanic heritage.  I'm bringing a squash and corn casserole to share.  Christmas Day afternoon we'll roast a chicken stuffed with crawfish and rice, and Brussels sprouts.  

[weltschmerz]

Dec 23, 2021 17:40:17 GMT -5 soupandstew said:

We are not attending any church at this time but we celebrate Christmas to enjoy the spirit of the season by sharing decorations, gifts and celebrations.  I have a ton of indoor and outdoor decorations and we sort of rotate what we put up each year.  This year we put up our villages but not a big tree.  Next year might be the big tree and no villages.  Who knows?

Christmas Eve is caviar with blinis, bagels and lox, and pickled herring.  Christmas Day is a potluck breakfast with friends of Hispanic heritage.  I'm bringing a squash and corn casserole to share.  Christmas Day afternoon we'll roast a chicken stuffed with crawfish and rice, and Brussels sprouts.  

Yum!

[Value Buy]

How about old "traditions that no longer happen?
As a child all aunts, grand parents parent's homes had huge bowls of non shelled mixed nuts-brazil nuts, hazel nuts, California walnuts etc. Bowls of crimped ribbon candy, etc.
It seems my generation has totally abandoned these items. In fact most grocery stores and even Wal Mart have the mixed nut as an after thought, instead of the massive displays they use to have even 20 years ago.
It seems to be "house brand" or Planters  canned or jar salted and unsalted cashews nuts and peanuts these days.
Now I am off to see if we even have a nut cracker before going off on a store run!

[Opti]

Yeah I grew up with mixed nuts to crack in the house too. And you are right, not sure when grocery stores stopped carrying them.

In other news, Christmas Eve service has been changed to online, so no possible short service followed by outside with luminaries & candles.    Not sure if I'll even try to bake cookies than by tomorrow night. I think I'm just going to crash. I'm really under the weather from hoop jumping.

[mamasita99]

I remember mixed nuts, too. I usually put some in the stockings. Oh, I forgot, in my stockings I usually give nuts, and a favorite beverage. Like a Frappuccino or coconut water, depending on the recipient. I also put things like deodorant or toothpaste in the stockings, too. Got that from my mom, we joked the theme was a “hygienic Christmas”. In reality my mom was a coupon queen before that was a tv show and we would get the results of her shopping in Our stockings!

[Tennesseer]

Dec 23, 2021 20:39:25 GMT -5 Opti said:

Yeah I grew up with mixed nuts to crack in the house too. And you are right, not sure when grocery stores stopped carrying them.

In other news, Christmas Eve service has been changed to online, so no possible short service followed by outside with luminaries & candles.    Not sure if I'll even try to bake cookies than by tomorrow night. I think I'm just going to crash. I'm really under the weather from hoop jumping.

Not only did we have bowls of unshelled nuts around the house, we also had a few plates of Christmas ribbon candy too.

[empress of self-improvement]

Dec 23, 2021 21:36:04 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Dec 23, 2021 20:39:25 GMT -5 Opti said:

Yeah I grew up with mixed nuts to crack in the house too. And you are right, not sure when grocery stores stopped carrying them.

In other news, Christmas Eve service has been changed to online, so no possible short service followed by outside with luminaries & candles.    Not sure if I'll even try to bake cookies than by tomorrow night. I think I'm just going to crash. I'm really under the weather from hoop jumping.

Not only did we have bowls of unshelled nuts around the house, we also had a few plates of Christmas ribbon candy too.

Tasted like crap but I used to suck them down anyway. I always managed to get the ones that tasted like Pepto-Bismol.
My dad used to always order from The Swiss Colony. I tried to keep up with that tradition but now I just don't give a shit.

[Opti]

I don't think I've ever had ribbon candy. I remember pastels and those fruit slices, but I don't think either of those were Christmas stuff. For us it was Christmas cookies + the mixed nuts to crack. 

I want a stocking with nuts and my favorite beverage. 

[NancysSummerSip]

Dec 22, 2021 21:53:42 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

In some movie years ago someone said that Jewish people fill the Chinese food restaurants on Christmas Eve and I thought that was awesome. So our Christmas eve meal is Chinese food. Last year I graduated to making it myself. So Friday we are having honey garlic ribs, beef and broccoli, chicken fried rice and egg rolls.

Also, I don't live in the same town as my family and I fostered for years and many of the girls would spend Christmas Day with their bio family. So I started taking anyone that was with me Christmas Day to the movies. ISO and I are going to see The Matrix on Saturday. We are having the step kids over on Boxing Day.

Yes,. my people do that. Only place we can go on Christmas Eve and Day that's open.

You reminded me of a now funny story from our traditional dinner from two years ago (last year's was cancelled due to COVID). Our hostess decided she was not going to cook that year. OK, fine with us; she'd cooked everything for 39 years' of dinners before that, so a break for her was well-deserved. Her plan? Ordering Chinese takeout. On Christmas. And not calling a restaurant until 5 pm. She could not understand why the phone just kept ringing. Two of the guests went over to the place. People were packed inside, packed outside, fighting for parking spaces, screaming at the staff. The wait for take out was four hours. Needless to say, no Chinese food that night.

I did ask her why she waited so long; she's from Australia, lived in the US for 45 years and never heard of the whole Jews and Chinese food thing. She's retired from a law firm packed with Jewish attorneys, socialized with them, yet never heard of this. Had she asked, DH and I could have picked up some items the day before and I would have made a stir fry, egg rolls and rice.

We will see her tomorrow. I am halfway thinking about mentioning that dinner in a toast to the group before we sit down to eat.

Nah. I think she'd stab me with a butter knife.

[Opti]

Dec 24, 2021 13:51:40 GMT -5 NancysSummerSip said:

Dec 22, 2021 21:53:42 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

In some movie years ago someone said that Jewish people fill the Chinese food restaurants on Christmas Eve and I thought that was awesome. So our Christmas eve meal is Chinese food. Last year I graduated to making it myself. So Friday we are having honey garlic ribs, beef and broccoli, chicken fried rice and egg rolls.

Also, I don't live in the same town as my family and I fostered for years and many of the girls would spend Christmas Day with their bio family. So I started taking anyone that was with me Christmas Day to the movies. ISO and I are going to see The Matrix on Saturday. We are having the step kids over on Boxing Day.

Yes,. my people do that. Only place we can go on Christmas Eve and Day that's open.

You reminded me of a now funny story from our traditional dinner from two years ago (last year's was cancelled due to COVID). Our hostess decided she was not going to cook that year. OK, fine with us; she'd cooked everything for 39 years' of dinners before that, so a break for her was well-deserved. Her plan? Ordering Chinese takeout. On Christmas. And not calling a restaurant until 5 pm. She could not understand why the phone just kept ringing. Two of the guests went over to the place. People were packed inside, packed outside, fighting for parking spaces, screaming at the staff. The wait for take out was four hours. Needless to say, no Chinese food that night.

I did ask her why she waited so long; she's from Australia, lived in the US for 45 years and never heard of the whole Jews and Chinese food thing. She's retired from a law firm packed with Jewish attorneys, socialized with them, yet never heard of this. Had she asked, DH and I could have picked up some items the day before and I would have made a stir fry, egg rolls and rice.

We will see her tomorrow. I am halfway thinking about mentioning that dinner in a toast to the group before we sit down to eat.

Nah. I think she'd stab me with a butter knife.

Oy! If she had a relationship with the place, I would have asked when they wanted the order placed, calling a week or more b4 Christmas.

[Opti]

Dec 23, 2021 17:44:55 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

Dec 23, 2021 17:40:17 GMT -5 soupandstew said:

We are not attending any church at this time but we celebrate Christmas to enjoy the spirit of the season by sharing decorations, gifts and celebrations.  I have a ton of indoor and outdoor decorations and we sort of rotate what we put up each year.  This year we put up our villages but not a big tree.  Next year might be the big tree and no villages.  Who knows?

Christmas Eve is caviar with blinis, bagels and lox, and pickled herring.  Christmas Day is a potluck breakfast with friends of Hispanic heritage.  I'm bringing a squash and corn casserole to share.  Christmas Day afternoon we'll roast a chicken stuffed with crawfish and rice, and Brussels sprouts.  

Yum!

On the bagels and lox, have no idea if I would even like herring, pickled or not. Some family friends loved smoked fish most Christmases. Usually, smoked salmon or trout. Good, but so pricey.