Since my parents moved to Cornwall we've got new traditions.
We arrive on Christmas Eve and have chicken with parma ham and the first of Mom's mince pies. We spend the night chatting as it's been a while since we last saw them.
Christmas morning we have croissants for breakfast, then go dog-walking on the beach - regardless of the weather! We come back and open presents, making sure we get the chocolates out and a glass of snowball. It is the only alcoholic drink I have all year so I'm a bit tipsy afterwards
We spend the rest of the day chatting, with me helping Mom prepare Christmas dinner.
We sit down to eat at about 3pm, then veg out in front of the tv munching on sausage rolls, mince pies and chocolates. And still chatting!
On the night we have cold meats, salad etc and then play Trivial Pursuits where we all cheat like mad, argue over who is right and wrong and insult each other! Mom and Dad are on the G&T's, we are on the diet coke and the evening degrades... Absolute heaven
Funny one when I was a kid and still at home. I used to get up really early and decorate the dining room, then go back to bed and wait for Mom to wake me up. I used to tell them that Santa must have paid a visit in the night and decorated the dining room for us. It got more elaborate each year and took longer and longer but we used to have a great laugh over it. Santa left a half-eaten mince pie, footprints in the talc, sorry, snow and one year Rudolph left a 'present' in the form of chocolate brazils!
One year the dining room was wrecked and I said I was sure Santa must have been p*ssed when he came in and didn't do a good job.
Silly but it became a tradition
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