Christmas tradition

[Ovafaze]

So, for anyone who celebrates Christmas, what do you usually do every year? What are you doing this year?

What my family is doing is a secret Santa, we each write three things on a piece of paper, each item has to be $20 or less, we can only get one, then we all draw a name from a hat and have to pick something on the list for someone, we also have Christmas dinner.

 

[Shinjuku]

Every year we always have Christmas eve dinner and we open one gift on Christmas eve as well. That's usually after we come back from looking at lights around town every year.

We have eggnog too (Must have my damn eggnog each year or I'll be pissed) and on Christmas day we always go visit my families on mom and dad's side.

 

[Princess-Sammi]

On Christmas Eve in my household, we have a traditional dinner (gammon, lamb, roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and vegetables) and watch The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Because I have a large extended family, we variate whose house we visit on Christmas Day.

 

[Deleted member 36435]

Usually it starts with my older sister being stupid and waking me up super early so we can open presents but we aren't allowed to until my parents wake up so I sit and do nothing for 3 hours because I'm already awake.

 

[DiceKiller]

We usually just have a normal dinner, but my mom makes buñuelos for me, since I love them so much. The only other time she makes them is on New Year's so it's pretty special to me. We still have a tradition where we can open one present if we can stay up till midnight. It's way too easy now, compared to how hard it was for me and my sisters when we were younger.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Well back when my mom and I lived in our old apartment, I'd sleep by the Christmas tree on Christmas eve then Christmas morning we'd start cooking dinner and my grandmother and aunt would come over. Sometimes my other aunt would come over for a fee minutes.

I'd rip open my gifts. Spend the evening watching whatever new movie we got.

 

[Neko]

Well my family always has everyone go and choose a Christmas tree together and everyone has to agree on the same one so it always takes awhile. On Christmas morning we are not allowed to go open our gifts or go into the room with the Christmas tree until 7am. That rule was created a few years ago for the benefit of my mom haha. We have dinner with my grandfather on Christmas Eve usually and then we get to open one gift, which is always a set of pajamas.

 

[Chuman]

Wake up at 3 AM after going to sleep at 11 PM, eagerly wait until 6 AM, wake family, wait at tree for 20 minutes until family is present, and of course, before Christmas, we have to get egg nog or Christmas is ruined. And sometimes, me and my siblings go out in the snow, but this year it may not snow on Christmas, but there isn't too much of a loss, I guess.

 

[ROXAS_32]

Go to my mom's house... Have dinner, occasionally sing Christmas carols... finish wrapping gifts maybe go to church, what holiday movies / the Christmas story about 100 times lol

 

[Zen]

My family used to have this tradition of getting together in Christmas Eve at my grandmother's house from my mom's side of the family, or my aunt's house from my dad's side -- both houses being located in Mexicali. It would comprise of all my aunts, uncles, cousins and my grandparents, which is safe to say it was at least about 2 dozen people.

My grandmother (mom's side) would make tamales and menudo which we would all delightfully eat; or if I was with my dad's side of the family, we'd eat ham, mashed potatoes and all kinds of food. After that, with either family, we'd start lighting up firecrackers to entertain ourselves while we waited till it was midnight.

Once it was midnight, we proceeded to give everybody a hug, whether I knew who this person was or not. Then it was time to open presents. Yes, instead of actually waiting till next morning like most Americans do, we stay up till midnight and open the presents. So you can imagine how long it was before I stopped believing in Santa Claus, lol.

Afterwards, some people would leave immediately, whereas others stayed and slept till the wee hours of the morning before leaving.

That was usually what we'd do, but well, things change; we've grown older and apart. However, this is mostly on my mom's side of the family. While I don't really celebrate Christmas anymore, I still go to my aunt's house in New Year's Eve; which we celebrate the same as X-Mas -- minus presents.

 

[Nov]

We get our Christmas tree on our living room the day before Christmas Eve and we decorate it then. We used to get a real spruce but now we use a plastic one because my mom can't stand fallen twigs. Kind of sad because I loved the smell of the real thing.

In the morning of Christmas Eve, we get to open one present. It's usually the gift that I've bought for my sister and what she has bought for me, so in a way we just exchange our gifts but just for the heck of it, we put them under the Christmas tree the day before. Then we just watch cartoons on TV. Traditionally we always watch The Snowman because it's on every year. And I personally love it. For breakfast we eat Christmas porridge and we put one almond in there. The one who gets the almond, gets to wish something. I've done pretty well the last few years since I've gotten it quite often, even though I'm the one who eats least. We also go to sauna in the morning~ I guess Finns in general go to Christmas sauna in the evening but we do it in the morning for some reason, lol.

We might visit a cemetery during the day and go to light up candles to the graves of our friends or relatives. My family doesn't do it very often as we don't have any relatives etc. who have passed away here but it's otherwise a very usual tradition in Finland.

Then we have Christmas dinner which is quite basic Scandinavian Christmas dinner: ham, potatoes, different casseroles, rosolli salad, salmon... I'm not very fond of casseroles, so I usually just end up eating ham and turkey~ And for dessert, lots of chocolate and ginger breads. And after dinner, we open our presents and watch movies and Christmas shows on TV.

On the actual Christmas Day we ... do basically nothing, lol. We try out the presents that we got, eat, eat and eat, drink a lot of glogg, listen to Christmas carols, watch TV and we might see some family friends or relatives but we usually do that on Boxing Day.

 

[Hero]

We usually just have a normal dinner, but my mom makes buñuelos for me, since I love them so much. The only other time she makes them is on New Year's so it's pretty special to me. We still have a tradition where we can open one present if we can stay up till midnight. It's way too easy now, compared to how hard it was for me and my sisters when we were younger.

What country are you from?

When I was younger, I would just spend Christmas eve with my immediate family. We would have a nice dinner (my mom makes posole around this time. It's banging and she only makes it on special occasions so I make sure to eat as much as I can). I would then open presents the next day, but I would have to wait until my parents woke up. It was an agonizing wait. I spend the rest of the day playing with w/e I got ie Pokemon Gold or Lego Island for the PC. I played that game for like 10 hours straight on Christmas.

After my first communion, we would spend (and continue to spend) our Christmas' with one of our closest family friends. Their father would dress up as Santa, have fun with the kids, and then we'd open presents. We'd go home, sleep, and open our own family presents.

 

[Solar]

I don't really celebrate Christmas day but I do like carrying the festive season throughout the month. So I dress and decorate appropriately with festive colours, drink A LOT of eggnog, watch Chistmas specials with my little sister, do some Jesus-related spiritual things and just generally try to embody the holiday cheer.

I love Christmas ;~;

 

[Luap]

Before my parents divorced, our traditions were like so: Chirstmas Eve, drive for hours scouting out stores and restaurants that aren't closed at night, and eat out and shop. Christmas, go to Grandma's house for brunch, presents, and dinner.
But, now those traditions are dead. *creys*

Now, it's just sort of random. This year I'm doing quite a lot of things. 22nd, Christmas Dinner w/ my Mom, 23rd, Christmas Light Show w/ Youth Group, Christmas Eve, Church Service this day since Sunday is canceled & presents, Christmas, Grandma's house for brunch, presents, and dinner.

I'll also being going caroling with my Church this month too. It'll be my first time caroling ever, so I'm uber excited. :3

 

[Gram]

well originally i had to go to my Pappa's on xmas eve for a while then later that night to my Nana's (my dads parents are divorced) and by the time we was done we was tired so we'd go to bed.
then the next day we'd open our presents and after a while head to my Granny's (mothers mom) and spend a few hours there then come home and i'd play with all my new gadets x) while dad enjoyed his food and mom watched her movies.

but now since my nana is a crazy bitch and no one likes anyone else anymore i wont be going down there and since my Granny is crazy my mom dont go there anymore (and by extension my dad either) plus my aunt and granny got in a slap/fist fight the other week and since Memme's dead (my granny's mom) i have no reason to be there either.

so this year its pappa's then home where i can relax all day!

 

[Shinra]

during the christmas season when I go out on an errand or when I'm settling down at home I always have a cup of apple cider... other than that there is a fancy chicken dinner with my dad and sis, we get presents from our grandparents who fly south for the winter, other than that, nothing else

 

[Dentim]

Christmas eve: my grandparents (moms side) come over and we have a freaking huge dinner with a menu that has so far never been exactly the same each year. Later in the evening we'd open our presents and we watch whatever's on tv. Usually something christmas related (read: Home Alone/2) but not guaranteed in this country.
Christmas day we celebrate with my family on dads side. Location is rotated between us and my uncles every year. Presents there are pretty much only related to godfather/-mother/-children, unless someone feels specifically like giving someone else something.
Since last year, me and my younger brother and sister also get out each and every christmas related dvd we have (movies, episodes of series etc) and watch them on the 24th before our grandparents arrive (which means we're on a tight but fun schedule) while sipping hot chocolate milk with marshmellows.

 

[CA59]

We usually donate to some homeless people. Nothing else really out of the ordinary.

 

[Gull Wing]

Before moving houses a few years back, I used to live in a huge house so at Christmas we had a lunch with a whole side of the family. Christmas presents aren't really that popular here, it's more common to just hand some money to the younger people and I don't remember ever getting any real present from my family since I was 12.
After moving here we lost touch with most of my family, so our new Christmas tradition consists of me playing videogames all day long and my brother and mother just chilling on the couch watching me play. We also try to have a slightly fancier lunch than usual, but all in all it mostly feels like any other vacation day.

 

[Vani]

Well, my family usually goes to some posadas (which are like Mexican parties that start on the 12th I believe? and lead up to Christmas) and some years host our own.

And a few days before Christmas we to this really popular neighborhood that goes all out in Christmas decorating. It's really fun and we usually take some of our little cousins/friends.

On Christmas eve all the family and close friends come over. My aunt cooks and it's usually either posole or pupusas. In the evening we go to Church. After Church, we come home and play games and sing until midnight. At midnight we put baby Jesus on the nativity scene and sing some more. After that we open presents and the next few hours are spent trying out all our new gifts. Within those few hours, everyone who's leaving leaves and everyone who's spending the night goes to sleep. The last few people awake are usually me and some cousins but we too eventually fall asleep.

The next day we all wake up at 10-12 and some people start clearing out. We eat any leftovers from last night but other than that, we don't really do anything.