Christmas

[daisy2jae]

thanks for all the ideas...

Call me crazy but my husband asked me about this...Every year we buy new PJ pants for each of us (us and the kids) we then wear them to my mother-in-laws to open gifts. It's no key and no one really cares we wear our PJ pants. Actually she started buying everyone a pair about 7-8 years ago which gave me the idea. My husband thought it would be a cute idea to buy all matching PJ's from The Children's Place and wear them xmas eve. That way in the morning on Christmas day when we usually open all our gifts we'll be in matching PJ's so no matter how messy the hair looks in the pictures the pj's will make up for it. I thought it was a cute idea. Not sure if my kids really want to carry it on for them but I want something special just "our tradition".

I love the idea of making cookies and thought maybe we could give them to our tenants. (We managed low income apts and our tenants have nothing...some sleep on the floor or on an air mattress. A lot of them don't even have food to feed themselves) We'd be enjoying time together plus giving to someone to provide something special on their xmas.

Any more thoughts....let me know.

 

[Kimberle]

My Inlaws are Italian. So we have a big "fish" dinner Xmas eve. Fried shrimp, scallops, calamari, etc. Lots of fish, calzones, chick pea soup. I make Christmas cookies (lots of different kinds).

My side, we have a birthday cake for baby Jesus.

 

[rie'smom]

Our Christmas morning tradition was Bisquik home made biscuits, a cheese omelot, bacon and hot chocolate, our kids opening their presents! My mom, dad, brothers and their families come over about 11. We had lunch about 2.

Now that our sons are grown and have their own homes-no wives and families yet though- and our daughter is a weight conscious 15 yo, we don't have the large breakfast. We have hot chocolate on Christmas Eve as we open 1 present each. The kids decided to leave the majority to open Christmas morning.

 

[pigletgirl]

Christmas Eve -- Its pretty low key for us. We usually spend the day wrapping any last minute gifts (or running to a store believe it or not!) and decorating sugar cookies. Mom also prepares the beef tenderloin and maranates it. We then have a quick bite to eat and then its off to church. When we come home, we have a bowl of soup (the last few years have been french onion) with cookies.
We then head over by the tree where my dad reads the christmas story out of Luke. We then open our 'gift' which is new jammies and they often have a theme. Last year was 'comfort and joy'. We got new sweat suit type things. Then its off to bed! Santa then begins...!

Christmas Day -- We're not allowed to come out to see what santa has brought us until the coffee is made, and my dad plays the music (Joy to the World). That happens around 730-800am or so, depending upon if people are waking up. We then (well I) grab my coffee and we start our stockings! After stockings we have breakfast. It usually consists of an egg cassarole, homeade orange cranberry scones and a fruit salad.

After breakfast is cleaned up we start the gifts. That usually takes quite a long time. We usually end by 230-300pm or so. We then get dressed and mom with my grandma, prepare dinner. Dinner is the beef tenderloin, yorkshire pudding, green beans, salad, and rolls. Dessert is mint icecream with cookies.
After that bedtime!

Its usually an exhausting day!

 

[C.Ann]

My grandma (who was widowed and lived on a very small fixed income) always gave each of us a "shoe box" for Christmas - wrapped in red or green tissue paper and tied with that fat fuzzy yarn.. Inside the shoe box were little things she would pick up here and there:

Costume jewelry
Little note pads
A pack of gum
A pair of gloves
A pencil or two
A bookmark
5 and 10 trinkets, etc..

We never knew what we were going to find in there, but it was ALWAYS my favorite Christmas gift - the first one I grabbed on Christmas morning.. I loved that shoe box!

It's a tradition that I carried on with my own children and now my DGD - who is 11 years old..

It's fun - inexpensive - but a very, very "special" tradition..

 

[teacups]

My grandma (who was widowed and lived on a very small fixed income) always gave each of us a "shoe box" for Christmas - wrapped in red or green tissue paper and tied with that fat fuzzy yarn.. Inside the shoe box were little things she would pick up here and there:

Costume jewelry
Little note pads
A pack of gum
A pair of gloves
A pencil or two
A bookmark
5 and 10 trinkets, etc..

We never knew what we were going to find in there, but it was ALWAYS my favorite Christmas gift - the first one I grabbed on Christmas morning.. I loved that shoe box!

It's a tradition that I carried on with my own children and now my DGD - who is 11 years old..

It's fun - inexpensive - but a very, very "special" tradition..

Ahhh... I like this one.

 

[terri01p]

Well we do have a tradition at our home, I have no idea exactly how it got started but every since my children were very small we would all agree on a game to buy for Christmas and we would all play that game on Christmas eve or Christmas just depending when we felt like playing it.
This was something that my girls would take months deciding what game they wanted and my dh and I and the girls would have to decide on just one.
My children are grown now and you would not beleive how many games we have up in my den closet that are still played with to this day. We still do this every year, last year we bought " The Haunted Manison". Fun for us no matter what age you are and a great way to bond with some family time!
At one time I really wanted to start doing a Christmas movie but the game is the best because it's a way to talk and laugh and bond with your kids, with a movie you just sit there and are pretty quite so not to much bonding together.

 

[Narnian_Princess]

We have a "Christmas Eve Party", just the immediate family. It starts off with a big chili dinner, then a few hours later we have the 'party'. We have all kinds of snacks and appetizers and candy, and our special holiday punch made with ginger ale, Hawaiian Punch, and cranberry juice. Then we watch a Christmas movie (since I was 15 we usually watch It's a Wonderful Life, but before that it was A Charlie Brown Christmas) with all the lights out and only the tree lights on.

Then on Christmas morning, the kids get their stockings (when we were young, we had to wait until mom and dad got up, but then when I was about 13 "Santa" started leaving the stockings on the bottoms of our beds with the only condition being that we wait to open them until it was light enough outside to see). Then dad cooks (the only time he does the whole year), a breakfast of pancakes and bacon. Then, we take turns opening presents.

I'm sure that if I ever have my own family we will create our own traditions, but this has been my family's tradition for as long as I can remember.

 

[binny]

Well I have shared this here before but here goes.


Every year we choose a country, we spen a lot of time the following year learning about that country and their traditions and then we celebrate Christmas the way they would. Its been a great tradition! We are on our 6th year doing this and its been wonderful!


I shop all year for stuff from that country, this year is Germany so its a pretty easy one.

 

[emma'smom]

Advent wreath each Sunday
Chocolate Advent Calendars
Hand-Made Felt Advent Calendar
Moravian Star outside
Wreaths on the windows
Hidden Pickle on the tree
Tin Star on Tree Top (passed down from my parents from my childhood)

X-mas eve: Cheese fondue and appetizer dinner and then it used to be off to church for late service. Now it is 5 pm kid's service and then the special dinner at Grandma's, then home put out milk and cookies for Santa.

X-Mas Morning- Santa gifts are unwrapped by the fireplace.....
I cook a breakfast sausage bread and Papa/Grandma come over for brunch/Santa Fun

X-Mas Night- Dinner at Grandmas (prime rib and yorkshire pudding) and THEN we open the gifts from each other.

(Waiting until x-mas night to open gifts started quite by accident when we were kids and my father would fall asleep after the Santa gifts. He was a minister and would be out late with the midnight service, then home to put together the Santa gifts for us....probably got to bed by 3:30 and we had them up by 5:30). Anyway, it makes x-mas last longer!

 

[ShesAPirate]

The tradition my mom started when I was a little kid is Christmas pajamas. Every year, I get one present on Christmas Eve, and every year, it's snuggly pajamas. I'm 36 and she still does it And now she gets her grandsons PJs for Christmas Eve, too. It's not expensive, and everyone looks super-cute in the Christmas morning pics in their new pajamas

 

[daisy2jae]

My Inlaws are Italian. So we have a big "fish" dinner Xmas eve. Fried shrimp, scallops, calamari, etc. Lots of fish, calzones, chick pea soup. I make Christmas cookies (lots of different kinds).

My side, we have a birthday cake for baby Jesus.

On Christmas Day our church bakes a huge "birthday cake" for baby jesus. The kids love it. I'm not sure if we'll be doing it this year. Our church received major fire damage in April 2009 due to someone starting a fire on purpose. Haven't figured out who but the FBI was involved. Right now we meet at a local college.

 

[daisy2jae]

My grandma (who was widowed and lived on a very small fixed income) always gave each of us a "shoe box" for Christmas - wrapped in red or green tissue paper and tied with that fat fuzzy yarn.. Inside the shoe box were little things she would pick up here and there:

Costume jewelry
Little note pads
A pack of gum
A pair of gloves
A pencil or two
A bookmark
5 and 10 trinkets, etc..

We never knew what we were going to find in there, but it was ALWAYS my favorite Christmas gift - the first one I grabbed on Christmas morning.. I loved that shoe box!



cute idea...my husband's grandma (passed away 2005) she was on a fixed income and we always knew we would be getting a "large" candy bar. The ones that are the size of 3-4 candy bars. Sometimes she would tape a gold dollar onto the outside of the package. She was so proud to give it to us. Something I miss at Christmas now that she is no longer here. Even though she was a pain most of the time....

 

[daisy2jae]

The tradition my mom started when I was a little kid is Christmas pajamas. Every year, I get one present on Christmas Eve, and every year, it's snuggly pajamas. I'm 36 and she still does it And now she gets her grandsons PJs for Christmas Eve, too. It's not expensive, and everyone looks super-cute in the Christmas morning pics in their new pajamas

Good at least I'm not the only one who thinks pj's are not a crazy idea...I was wondering if it was a crazy idea. I kinda miss my mother-in-law getting us all pj pants each year. It was that crazy wait to see what they would look like. Plus she wrapped them all the same so as soon as one of us opened their package we all knew which one had the pj pants in it. The funny part was...every year some how she would mix one of us up. As I'd be opening it she's say..."Wait that one is Shawn's". It became a funny thing each year to see which and who's gift would get mixed up. She finally caught on that she was doing each year and now is VERY watchful when she wraps gifts. She did the same thing with toe socks each year for us. Sounds stupid but it was a funny moment each year that I'll never forget. (Sometimes it's the small things and not the most expensive gifts that make a memory)

 

[wdwfan16]

What is "bug soup"?

Our tradition is to go to my Aunt's home on Christmas day to have a great meal, play cards and have fun. The young kids get a few gifts.

 

[NHdisneylover]

We have lots of traditions, but I think this one is our favourite:

Christmas Eve morning the kids and I bake cookies. Each of us picks a recipe to make (and DH chooses one as well that we make for him since he usually has to work that morning). I try to get all the ingredients a few days ahead. Anyway, taht mornign is all about baking together for the three of us. That night, after church and dinner and opening family gifts we set a couple of each type of cookie in a plate for Santa. All the rest go on a giant platter with some pieces of fresh fruit and we set that out on Christmas morning to eat for breakfast. I think if my kids had to choose to give up gifts or cookies for breakfast on Christmas mornign they would have a tought time deciding I love it because it means DH and I can spend the morning playing with the kids and not in the kitchen.

 

[daisy2jae]

We have lots of traditions, but I think this one is our favourite:

Christmas Eve morning the kids and I bake cookies. Each of us picks a recipe to make (and DH chooses one as well that we make for him since he usually has to work that morning). I try to get all the ingredients a few days ahead. Anyway, taht mornign is all about baking together for the three of us. That night, after church and dinner and opening family gifts we set a couple of each type of cookie in a plate for Santa. All the rest go on a giant platter with some pieces of fresh fruit and we set that out on Christmas morning to eat for breakfast. I think if my kids had to choose to give up gifts or cookies for breakfast on Christmas mornign they would have a tought time deciding I love it because it means DH and I can spend the morning playing with the kids and not in the kitchen.

cute idea with cookies for breakfast....one of the only times a year they could get away with that bet my kids would love that idea.

 

[daisy2jae]

What is "bug soup"?

Our tradition is to go to my Aunt's home on Christmas day to have a great meal, play cards and have fun. The young kids get a few gifts.

oyster soup...I've been a picky eater since I was a kid. My parents always made oyster soup for them on xmas eve. For years I never knew what it really was just that it looked like bugs. It was our family joke that mom and dad were eating "bug soup".

 

[NHdisneylover]

cute idea with cookies for breakfast....one of the only times a year they could get away with that bet my kids would love that idea.

It is the ONLY time they ever get to do it That is the big draw I think. I figure it is no worse tah nsticky buns or pancakes really. It might even be better; DD always picks oatmeal raisin of pumpkin cranberry both of which are not all taht unhealthy (shh, don't tell my kids that). We all like to bake too so it makes that loooong wait for the excitment of Christmas that Christmas Eve always felt like for me as a child much more fun for them.

oyster soup...I've been a picky eater since I was a kid. My parents always made oyster soup for them on xmas eve. For years I never knew what it really was just that it looked like bugs. It was our family joke that mom and dad were eating "bug soup".

That's adorable

 

[Feralpeg]

It's a little thing, but we pick a night prior to Christmas. DD and I always get an ice cream cone and drive around looking at holiday lights while listening to Christmas carols. We've done it for many years and still enjoy it.