Christmas-time is here! Happiness and cheer!

[Sorsha]

Merry Christmas!

What are everyone's plans for the next few days? How are you planning on celebrating? If you don't celebrate Christmas, but observe some other holiday, how are you celebrating the season this year?

We are agnostic, but both of our families are Christian. We celebrate the holiday in the spirit of peace, love, and giving to others. We revere both the stories of Santa Claus and Jesus Christ as examples of love and giving and caring for others.

Tomorrow afternoon, Christmas Eve, we will travel about 45 minutes north to DH's grandma's house. The dear sweet very elderly lady always has a Christmas Eve celebration at her house. There will be gifts for the kids, a roaring fire in the fireplace, and her house is always decorated beautifully. She is very into "Victorian" decor, so everything will be angels and lace, and sparkles and flowers. She does a finger-foods buffet as well; homemade cheese spreads, smoked salmon spread, sausage, crackers, fruits, nuts, pickles, olives, and every kind of candy and cookie you could imagine. This woman is amazing, 85 years old, and still going strong. She wants neither help nor interference; this is "her" holiday event, and she has it in control, thank you very much. I swear this woman will never die, she hasn't got the time for it. One day (hopefully a long time from now) she will be bustling around decorating something and she will just POOF in a little puff of smoke and disappear... spontaneous "too much energy" combustion.

After Grandma's event, we will come home and open our family gifts. It is our tradition to open them on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Day we are going to spend at home, and it will be very low-key. Christmas morning the kids will receive their gifts from Santa and see what's in their stockings. We will have a yummy breakfast (we are thinking maybe French Toast with huckleberry syrup), and watch the WDW Christmas parade on TV goodvibes). The rest of the day we will spend enjoying our gifts, playing games or watching Christmas TV. DH and I are planning to attempt Beef Wellington (with help from Tyler Florence's recipe) for Christmas dinner.

Sunday the 27th, we will go over to DH's sister's house for a family post-Christmas meal. She and her hubby are traveling for Christmas this year, but wanted to get together so we could hang out and exchange gifts. I am not sure what she is planning for dinner, except that I have been asked to provide my Sweet Potato dish (mashed with eggs and milk and sugar and vanilla, topped with brown sugar and pecans, then baked....soooo good)... she usually does the traditional turkey dinner.

So, what's everyone else got planned for the festive season?

 

[JodyLynC]

Tonight we are having pizza and Christmas movie night. Tomorrow morning we are going to a local farm market to pick up some produce, smoked turkey, and cheeses. Tomorrow for dinner we will have a gingersnap crusted ham, biscuits, green bean casserole, garlic mashed potatoes, broccoli with cheese, and apple crisp. Then we will open up our gifts.

Christmas morning, the girls will have their gifts from Santa. We will have a ham and egg casserole and homemade waffles for brunch. We play games all day. In the afternoon, we do leftovers and appetizers.

 

[live4christp1]

Birthday party for great niece tonight at 6:30 (she is 2). Home to bake a couple of pies and wrap the last few gifts. Tomorrow, family portrait and one stop on the way home. Spend early afternoon making cookies for Santa with the kids. The kids will open one gift tomorrow evening (new PJ's for Christmas Eve - a tradition started long ago by my grandma). Christmas morning opening gifts just the 4 of us and then down to my dad's for the family get together. Spend the rest of the day relaxing.

 

[lemondog]

Today I am mainly cleaning house and tonight I'll be a wrapping fiend after the kids are in bed.

Tomorrow morning the neighbor's kids are coming over to make gingerbread houses with my kids while I cook, cook, cook up a storm. Tomorrow I am making cheese grits, grape salad, fudge and a coffee cake for Christmas day. We have to be at church at 3pm tomorrow because my 8yo is singing at the Children's Mass, which starts at 4pm. After that we always go out to dinner at a steakhouse with my parents and my brother and SIL. Then we'll come home and make the kids go to bed early!

Christmas Day we get up and open gifts. Well actually the kids get up and open their stockings. They are not allowed to wake us up until the clock says 7:00, lol. Once DH and I get up we open Santa gifts. My parents arrive around 9:30 and we open their gifts. Then the rest of the family (brother, SIL, aunts and uncles) come over. We eat a big lunch around 12:30 or 1, then just hang out at home. This year the Titans play on Christmas night so we'll watch that for sure.