What do you do on Christmas day?

[MapleGirl]

What are your Christmas Day traditions? DH and I get up, have coffee, open stockings, give the dogs their stockings, have breakfast, open gifts, then call our parents. By 11AM we're done with the Christmas-y stuff and it's just another restful day at home. I'm not complaining, we love those lazy days at home together. I'd like to have some new Christmas Day traditions to make the day a little more special. What do you do Christmas afternoon?

 

[Marchand63]

Unfortunately this year I am working until 3pm. Thankfully no kids, after 3 doing the family party at my DS's in laws.

 

[pryncess527]

This year may mean new traditions, we shall see

Historically, DH and I have woken up at my mother's house, where my sister also stays. We open presents and enjoy coffee, then have a huge Christmas Breakfast together. After breakfast, we drive to my MIL's house for a short visit, then MIL, DH and I all go to a relative on his mother's side of the family for a late lunch (it used to be his grandmother, but his cousin has taken over hosting in recent years)

Now we have my FIL with us, and my mother has been talking about doing a family trip for Christmas instead of gifts for years, so I'm kind of hoping we'll transition in that direction and spend Christmas someplace warm I have to travel 14 hours to get to her house, if I'm going to travel 14 hours I'd rather it be to a fun locale, now that we have a child-free Christmas.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

We go to church on Christmas Eve at 4pm and then come home and have "snack night". Different dips, chips, breads, veggies...
Christmas is long.
My parents get Christmas dinner ready and we relax while things are in the oven.
By 3pm the 4-18 year old's open gifts.
Then we eat dinner.
Whenever dinner is cleaned up the 30 somethings open gifts.
Often times my parents like to wait to open theirs until the next evening.

 

[Heffalump2761]

Get up, give everyone a present to keep them amused. I cook christmas day lunch - turkey with all the trimmings. We eat around 1pm. Have a rest and then watch the Queen's speech at 3pm and open the presents. Presents must not be opened until the Queen's Speech!

 

[Disneylover99]

No hard and fast traditions. At some point we'll open gifts.
It really just depends on where we are or what we are doing. It changes every year.

 

[donac]

Christmas Eve we spend at my mother's house. Do a secret Santa with family and then come home.
Christmas Day mass at 7:30 am. If my son and his wife are staying with us then we do bagels or go out to eat. Then my husband's family comes for Christmas Day about noon. By 3 they are all out of the house and dh and I have the rest of the evening to ourselves.

 

[amberpi]

Christmas Eve, my folks go to the Palm - have for a number of years. Its open and they have a huge gathering on Christmas day so don't want to cook both days. When I've been single I go - same with my brother, best part of Xmas. Xmas day I put on the biggest smile I can muster and push through pleasantly because I know it means something to my family. I don't love the holidays.

 

[OhMari]

Christmas is tough-we are the sandwhich couple. We try to make both sets of parents happy and both sides of the family happy. Then we have our own grown kids and we try to accommodate everyone's schedules, so we can come together as a family. Our best Christmas was when we went to Arizona over Christmas. It lifted a ton of burden off everyone's shoulders, we had a good time together-no presents were exchanged since we all contributed to the trip. Every year, I try to talk everyone into not buying gifts-but then I get called "The Scrooge."

 

[donac]

Christmas Eve, my folks go to the Palm - have for a number of years. Its open and they have a huge gathering on Christmas day so don't want to cook both days. When I've been single I go - same with my brother, best part of Xmas. Xmas day I put on the biggest smile I can muster and push through pleasantly because I know it means something to my family. I don't love the holidays.

I have been known to put on a big smile and let everything go on the holidays. This year I will know that in two weeks I will be sitting in DW with dh.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

This year Christmas Eve is on a Sunday. I am in choir at church so I will be singing at our regular morning service. In the early evening, we have our family service. Last year, I got to realize a life long dream of attending a Midnight Mass type service. We start at 11 and end just after Midnight. I will do that again this year and what joy it will be to get to sing thanks to God extra that way.

Christmas Day, I will probably try to get a little extra zzz's. I am not a night owl at all so will be tired. I always read from the Bible, Luke and Matthew's accounts of our Lord's Birth. I also enjoy reading a Children's Book called Santa's Favorite Story. I'm not yet sure what else I will be doing.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I'm Puerto Rican so Christmas Eve is our big day. On Christmas Eve we have a big buffet style pot luck dinner at someone's house and open gifts at midnight. It's a big party. We eat, we drink coquito and we dance. It's a mini NYE party. We get home around 2-3 am and then Christmas Day is just relaxing in our PJs and playing with our new gifts. We then go to my grandma's for Christmas dinner/leftovers around 4-5 pm.

When my kids were smaller we would try to be home by 1 am and put the kids to bed and they would open their gifts in the morning after Santa came. Now they open them when we get home and we sleep in on Christmas Day.

 

[Frozen Canuck]

Depending upon what is happening, we usually do one of the Christmas Eve services at church and then come home to snacks and drinks. Christmas morning, we wake up and everyone does stockings first and the kids have their Santa gifts. I cook a big breakfast of French toast, oven apple pancake, bacon, fruit or whatever sounds good. Once breakfast is cleaned up, we open gifts and then call our families back home to connect for a few minutes. We do appetizers like artichoke dip, mushroom turnovers, cold cuts, baked brie, etc. for lunch. At some point, I start the turkey in the oven and work on making any of the side dishes that didn't get pre-assembled the day or so before. We play games or watch a movie in the afternoon downtime, then eat supper around 5 or 6 along with a special dessert. The evening is more of the same. Sometimes it is games. Sometimes the women (and I say this because my Christmas's growing up only involved my two Grandmas, my mom, and my sister and I, my dad wasn't interested), will work on a jigsaw puzzle together. That tradition has continued...anyone is welcome to participate in the puzzle, but it usually just my daughter and I interested in working on it. The remainder of the evening is devoted to visiting or just hanging out.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Wake up and see kids open stockings /gifts. Have a big breakfast. Sometimes my parents join us for breakfast. Or my ILs. In the evening we either host Christmas dinner or go to one our siblings if it's their turn to host. Usually we see the other side on Christmas Eve. The afternoon is usually just relaxing with the new gifts and getting dishes reading for supper.

 

[Micca]

Opening gifts, then DD/DSIL & grandkids come over. We'll open more presents & eat a huge meal. Pretty typical stuff.

 

[soccerdad72]

Christmas Eve - Mass, then dinner at our house. Recent years, I've been cooking prime rib and all the fixings. MIL stays over our house that night so she can be there Christmas morning.

Christmas Day - presents while breakfast casseroles bake, then brunch and (if necessary) more present opening. We have a small family gathering later in the day, usually 12-14 people or so. We always do turkey dinner for Christmas. It goes back to when my FIL was alive - he loved his turkey, so that became the holiday dinner, regardless of the holiday.

Whatever the weekend after Christmas is, that's when we get together with my side of the family, since they're 2 hour drive away.

 

[iluveeyore]

I have put my time in running all over with young kids, and now enjoy a whatever-you-please Christmas Day with DH - this will only be our fourth Christmas together (second marriage for both), but with the kids all grown and some living in Canada, it's just the two of us. We open stockings, have breakfast, open gifts, then watch the Disney Christmas special (which has now just become a variety show instead of focusing on the parks and parade), and then our tradition together is to go to an afternoon movie matinee at our local theater, and then back home for leftovers from Christmas Eve dinner. Very enjoyable, relaxed day together. Evening is for Christmas movies or board games and snacks.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

We open presents as soon as DD wakes up. After that... it's a day that ends in Y.

If we HAVE to attend some family gathering, we will. But we're low-key people who definitely do NOT do the entertaining!

 

[Klayfish]

Oh geez, Christmas is a big deal at our house. I've posted this before, but we go all Griswold. Our house is lit up outside with a dancing light show that broadcasts on FM radio. The inside of our house is just as over-the-top...last year we had 8 Christmas trees up, maybe 9, I forget. Every room has all kinds of stuff up...nutcrackers, signs, etc.... But actually Christmas Day itself doesn't have a ton of "traditions". Kids open their presents, DW and I spend the rest of the day assembling, putting in batteries, etc... Though I will say that's getting better now that they're getting older. Otherwise, we relax at home and enjoy each other.

I started working on Christmas several months ago (computer programming) and the physical work starts on Nov 1st sharp. However, this year we'll be in WDW for Christmas. We're bringing a 6' artificial tree to the rental condo and will put a few decorations up.

 

[Domo]

Midnight Mass is from 11PM until just after midnight, so I guess that comes first. We all sleep in, come down, have a leisurely breakfast, open stockings, give the dogs their stockings, open presents and cards and settle into a smack-up lunch. Watch a classic movie like The Great Escape or Where Eagles Dare and fall asleep in front of the TV.