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December 21, 2008
Welcome to our first-ever Holiday Giveaway Extravaganza Spectacular Spectacle! Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah (or Chanukah, if you prefer)! Make the Yuletide gay!
Whatever you’re celebrating, we want to help make your holiday a little brighter.
That’s why we’re giving away — in our Holiday Giveaway Extravaganza Spectacular Spectacle — three fabulous prize packages full of wonderfulness and awesomeness.
Tell them what they can win, Bob!
Bob?
BOB?
Fine, I’ll just fill you in myself.
By entering our contest, you’ll be eligible to win one of three great prizes.
Prize #1: A Three Irish Girls Sock Kit. This includes your choice of any of our awesome patterns and a skein of yarn in your choice of colorways to complete the pattern! If you are already a sock club member and you have all of our patterns, we’ll have a special alternative for you. (Approx. $28 value!)
You know you want a pair of socks like these:
Prize #2: A custom colorway consultation and two skeins of a custom colorway! We can make your colorways dreams come true! On your favorite yarn base! (Approx $50 value!) Exclamation point!
Prize #3: Three months of your choice of club memberships! Sock Yarnista features your choice of two colorways, a custom designed pattern, and a fun extra each month.
If you prefer heavier weight yarns, Stash Menagerie has a broad variety of fibers, your choice of two colorways, and fun extras every few months!
Being a club member also gives you access to exclusive members-only colorways like these:
If you’re already a club member, you can extend your membership, add extra skeins to your existing membership, become a member of a club you’re not in, or give the membership as a gift to a very lucky person. (Approx $90 value.)
Why are we giving all of this away? For a few reasons. One is the spirit of the holidays. We like brightening people’s days a little with a yummy yarn package. It’s good to put a little good out there in the world.
Another is to say thank you for all of your support this past year — you’ve been with us as we’ve moved into a new studio, expanded our yarn offerings, and started new clubs. We would be nowhere without our fantastic customers, and we want to say thank you.
Here’s how you enter: leave a reply to this post answering the following question: What is your favorite holiday tradition? Do you have a latke party? (And does your house smell like latkes for three weeks afterward?) Do you have a family outing to cut down a Christmas tree? Do you bake something special? Watch something special? Go somewhere special?
If so, I want to hear about it!
Winners will be randomly selected from the responses. You have until Monday, December 22nd at 9pm EST to reply. Winners will be announced Tuesday, December 23rd.
If you’d like to give any of these prizes as a gift, that can certainly be arranged!
Thank you again, dear readers and loyal customers.
read user's comments (419)
December 21st, 2008 at 10:54 am
My favorite holiday tradition is having a cookie exchange. I just went to one at a friend’s house and it is wonderful getting together with friends and sharing recipes and just catching up.
My other favorite tradition is making candy cane cookies with my kids. I love how they sit and talk about things they would never think to talk about if we weren’t doing something together.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:57 am
Well this isn’t a very *nice* tradition, but it is the first one that came to mind and it’s in the top three favorites. Every Thanksgiving after we go to the big family gathering and exhaust ourselves with the day’s festivities, my husband and I come home, get the girls in bed, make a big plate of leftovers, and sit down at our dining room table to ever-so-lovingly trash all of our family. Oh come on, you know you do it too!
December 21st, 2008 at 10:59 am
The thing we do each and every year is put up the gifts under the tree the 24th late at night and the kiddos wake us up around 6:30am-7am on the 25th to open their presents. After we’re done picking up all the papers, boxes etc… we eat a small breakfast and the kids keep on playing all day long with their new toys
December 21st, 2008 at 11:00 am
My favorite tradition is opening Christmas stockings. When we were growing up, we’d open stockings (everyone had a stocking and we’d open one gift at a time, taking turns ), then have breakfast and then open under the tree gifts. I’m turning 40 next month and we still do it the same way, even though it’s usually just my mom, my husband, and me. We drive to her house Christmas morning and do it the exact same way.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:01 am
My favorite tradition is to take a vacation day to devote to cookie baking. Sometime in mid-November, I get an overwhelming urge to begin looking at recipes. My other favorite is to drag out all my CDs of English cathedral choirs singing carols (and to listen to them while knitting).
December 21st, 2008 at 11:11 am
My favorite holiday tradition is giving the kids a stuffed animal on Christmas eve night. This was always my favorite part about Christmas when I was a kid and I love being able to carry on those traditions that were important to me as a kid. I still remember hugging my animal, sleeping in the same bed with my sis and barely able to sleep with the anticipation of what tomorrow would bring.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:14 am
My favorite tradition is a relatively new one. A few years ago my father and his wife moved to Miami. Now, when we visit for Christmas, we open presents on Christmas morning and then go sit on the beach for a few hours before having Christmas dinner. For someone like me, who grew up in the cold of the northeast, it feels pretty decadent to be basking in the sun and sand on Christmas day.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:17 am
Definitely watching the Grinch (original) and driving around to look at Christmas lights & decorations on the homes in our town. These are from my childhood and I have passed them along to my daughter.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:26 am
Being a new family with a little guy just starting to understand Christmas, we don’t really have any traditions yet. This year he is loving the lights on the tree and all the decorated houses.
I think one tradition we will start and keep up is driving around looking at all the beautifully decorated homes and yards. We’ve done it a couple times so far this season and Ethan loves it.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:29 am
Probably my favorite holiday tradition is the carolling that happens down the main street of our town tonight. At the end(at the bottom of the hill), the kids gather around and do more carolling and some of the local grownups do readings. We always gather before and after for yummy chili and desserts. Hope you have similar festivities where you are…Happy Holidays.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:30 am
My favorite holiday tradition is Christmas Eve dinner with our neighbors. When I was growing up, we always spent Christmas Eve with the family next door since our extended family lived far away and they had very little family around too. We became each other’s family. Even when they moved an hour away we continued this tradition. Now I have a family of my own and coincidentally built our house right behind theirs! We don’t see much of each other during the year, but I love getting together and catching up with these friends that have become such an important part of our lives!
December 21st, 2008 at 11:31 am
My very favorite Christmas tradition is one from my childhood. My grandpa had all us grandkids convinced he was Santa Claus. For the day or two before Christmas, he made sure we’d all “catch” him polishing his black boots, hear him talking about how he’d have a late night Xmas eve, and he’d start laughing “Ho Ho Ho” then catch himself and clear his throat. It was years before I was convinced there wasn’t actually a Santa. I was pretty sure he was alive and well in Annapolis…
December 21st, 2008 at 11:31 am
When my brothers and I were young, my mom always used to insist we stop and sit at the top of the stairs before we came down to see our presents. Naturally, we grumbled, and if Mom didn’t have that camera ready the minute we were at the top of the stairs, she heard about it!
So we all grew up and went away to college, and when we came home for Christmas, Mom couldn’t figure out why we hadn’t all come downstairs. She found us sitting at the top of the stairs waiting for the picture. She was stunned when we insisted it was a Christmas tradition we had to keep. And we have, no matter how creative we have to get. One Christmas, my youngest brother was the only one home, so he posed at the top of the stairs with my wedding picture on one side of him and a picture of his twin on the other. That same year my husband and I were living in a ranch house that didn’t have stairs…but there were stairs in the backyard up to the gazebo, so we posed there. And we’ve carried it on to our kids–for my son’s first Christmas, we lived in a house with only one step, so we sat him there for his picture.
This year the stairs are going to be crowded–my husband and two kids, and the older twin and his wife and daughter are all at my parents, so we’ll all be at the top of the stairs on the morning of Dec 25!
December 21st, 2008 at 11:32 am
My husband and I got married 3 years ago and we inherited a bunch of Christmas ornaments from my dad. We decided we wanted to build up an ornament collection that was special to us, so every year we go to the store and select one special ornament together then go home and decorate the tree together. Last year, after we bought our house, we bought a big, pretty Christmas tree and lots of new ornaments to fill it up, but the three special ones are still my favorite and we will continue to pick out a new one every year.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:39 am
My favorite tradition is putting up the Christmas tree with my husband on the day after Thanksgiving - it’s the first day to enjoy the Christmas season, but before all of the holiday stress begins!
December 21st, 2008 at 11:40 am
My favorite holiday tradition started about 12 years ago with an open house on Christmas Eve. It is a party for our friends. We drink Glug that we made last holiday season, eat good food and just laugh. About a half an hour before everyone goes home we put on the Grinch for the kids. Well the kids range in age from 10 - almost 18 and they still sit in front of the TV and watch the Grinch. I can’t imagine Christmas Eve without this party.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:40 am
When we had our first daughter almost 13 years ago, she was 10months and i was so busy getting ready for christmas and visiting family i had not had an opportunity to get alot of laundry done. so christmas morning of her first christmas we get up open presensts and take the requisite pictures for the album… only to get them back from shop to discover how tatty and too small her pjs were. so now 2 more kids later every year my kids get brand new pjs to open christmas morning with their stockings. they always look nice and they love to have something new to wear that is not fussy. so a new tradition in our house was born. when the garndchildren come along i will continue this. my gift to their parents.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:55 am
We have a family cookie baking party and several of the things we bake are family recipes that only get baked once a year–such as rosettes. These are really just funnel cakes shaped like snow flakes. We always watch Christmas Vacation and laugh at the very same scenes (when Clark sprays his sled with the cereal coating) and have a wonderful time.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:59 am
My favorite Christmas tradition is spending time with my family and eating yummy homemade goodies. I bake cookies and pies and we eat them up while the kids open presents. I also love going to the River of Lights display we have here. It’s so fun to see all the decorations while sipping some nice hot chocolate!
December 21st, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Getting new pajamas, reading The Night Before Christmas and hanging our stockings on Christmas Eve is a tradition from my husband’s family.
On Christmas Eve, the children get to open one present… a brand new set of jammies. They get dressed up in them (last year, my mother-in-law gave the grown-ups new jammies too!) then we all snuggle up on the couch to read The Night Before Christmas. When we finish reading, we take turning hanging our stockings before the kids set out a plate of milk and cookies for Santa.
Then my husband and I work to get the children into bed (in their own beds) so that we can wrap presents and stuff stockings.
It was wonderful for me to adopt these holiday traditions since my family did not really have have any, unless you can count being dysfunctional. Having traditions to keep has made the holidays so much more enjoyable for me!
December 21st, 2008 at 12:08 pm
My favorite tradition is continuing my Grandmother’s tradition of making homemade raviolis for our Christmas dinner. She made these (from scratch) raviolis from her mother’s recipe and then passed them down to my father. Every Christmas my Dad would spend all day making the dough and forming the raviolis by hand; my sister and I would sit at the counter and watch him for hours. When he died the tradition passed on to me and now I make the raviolis following my Grandmother’s recipe and my Dad’s techniques.
December 21st, 2008 at 12:08 pm
So my new favorite tradition is one my family has only been doing for two years (this will be the third), but has made gift shopping much more fun…
Now that my sisters and I are all adults and working, no one in our family really ‘wants’ any gifts. So about two years ago, we started doing a $20 limit on gifts for each other and our parents. The challenge then becomes to buy something for each person that they’ll actually want/use without going over $20-$25. We have great fun hitting sales, using coupons, buying used…whatever…to get each other what they want…and then later sharing the stories of our triumphs :).
Now that my sister and I live a few states away from the rest of our family and my mom (a nurse) and my sister (a cook) usually have to work on Christmas, we wait until January or February when my sister and I can travel home to celebrate and exchange gifts…so the holiday just keeps on going for a few more weeks
December 21st, 2008 at 12:10 pm
My life has changed much in the last five years.
A significant other,
a wonderful, smart, creative son I had 11 days before my 44th birthday (1st child, 1st pregnancy) in 2005,
significant other leaving,
depression and deep love,
sadness and joy,
continued great health and creativity of my son,
but some traditions which I started when I left home prevail and one since my childhood reign. Getting a special and new ornament each year to mark the year and remember each subsequent year, and everyone decorating the tree. My son, our two cats, and myself (our team) helped this year.
Decorating the tree is a lovely tradition that brings lots of good, and some sad, memories but they are memories of life. Sharing it with my own child, one I thought I’d never have, has been lovely.
This year we drove and walked around seeing lights and decorations both lit and not. The joy a young child experiences with each siting is also lovely. The joy my son creates by seeing each decoration as if each one is new, priceless.
The tree has always been my favorite. Most of our childhood ornaments, and who could believe felt people on the old fashioned clothespins would last 30 and 40 yrs, were swept away by Hurricane Katrina (my sisters house was swept away in a matter of hours).
My sister was the keeper of most of the childhood ornaments. She found one of those felt clothed clothespin people about eight months later a mile away from where they had lived- almost perfectly intact.
Now that’s a sign to keep traditions.
Season’s Greetings to All!!!
December 21st, 2008 at 12:11 pm
My favourite Christmas tradition is opening stockings. My parents have always put together a stocking for me and my step-brother with lots of little gifts and clementines inside. The stockings are always hung up on our bedroom doors. When we were younger, we were allowed to get up early and open them up, but than had to wait an hour or two to wake up my parents.
They still do this now - I’m 28, my step-brother is 25. And my fiance now gets his own stocking too!
December 21st, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Our Christmas tradition is to drive north to New England to see my family, where my mother tries to establish a new Christmas tradition every year. Shrimp cocktail! Baked blueberry french toast! Sledding! New matching sweaters!
December 21st, 2008 at 12:19 pm
making the Christmas cookies, peppermint marshmallows (yes, i make marshmallows), & chocolate truffles. wrapping the gifts in brown paper & twine, a tradition i started when i first moved out on my own and couldn’t afford wrapping papers & ribbons. everyone really liked the “look” so it became a tradition.
December 21st, 2008 at 12:20 pm
My favorite tradition is having a tradition. We moved so much when I was little that Christmas always disappointed a little. The family was never together and all the right foods were not there. It’s even worse when you are in country that does not celebrate this season.
So, now I live in one place and Christmas is great. We eat all the cakes from our combined cultures. My husband always cooks a ham and most of our family is near. The most important part is that my children will remember traditions and feel their roots.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity for writing this down. It’s difficult when you are a global nomad to realize that you now have a home!
December 21st, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Every year for many years, I’ve hosted a party on the Saturday before Yule. The tradition has followed me through five homes and two cities, and no matter how I’m feeling about the holiday season, the party gets me ready to “do” Christmas. Sometimes the party is small and intimate and other times it spans multiple groups of friends and forces us all to get cozy in a small space, but there is always apple cake and homemade wassail, some sort of lighthearted, inexpensive gift exchange, and lots and lots of holiday music. Filling the house with love and laughter for Yule always makes me happy, and it feels like it must mean good things for the rest of the winter.
December 21st, 2008 at 12:24 pm
My favorite Christmas tradition is decorating my wee small American Girl tree. I got this as a freshman in college because it was perfectly dorm sized and I couldn’t wait until days before Christmas to be home with a real tree. My friend Kate and I decorated it together those four years and now I do it myself, but it’s always the first decoration to go up and it makes me very happy.
December 21st, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Every year, growing up, my grandma made all 11 grandkids pajamas for Christmas and we got to wear them to bed on Christmas Eve. I now do that with my own children and they look forward to seeing their new PJs on Christmas Eve.
December 21st, 2008 at 12:31 pm
I am part of a big family with lots of brothers and sisters and in laws. we play secret santa every single) and each get each other somethings special. You have to investagate the other person without giving away which name you drew, find out what their likes and interests are for that year or just what they need. Its a great way to feel like a kid again and to spend time getting to know and learn more about the people in your life.
December 21st, 2008 at 12:31 pm
I LOVE hearing about holiday traditions. I never really had any while I was growing up, so it has been important to me to have them now.
First, we go out on Christmas Eve and get some yummy doughnuts for breakfast. Everyone gets up, we open stockings and eat doughnuts. Then we open our gifts, one person at a time, starting with the youngest. When we are done, we all hang out at home in our jammies, playing with the kids, having a good time. Dinner is easy and laid back, usually sandwiches and salad.
We always want our Christmas day to be close to the kids, relaxed and mellow. We haven’t been disappointed doing it this way.
December 21st, 2008 at 12:31 pm
My favorite tradition growing up was Pillsbury cinnamon rolls from a can on Christmas morning, and opening one present before Christmas Eve services.
My favorite tradition now, is putting together a stocking for my mom
December 21st, 2008 at 12:31 pm
I’ve held on to the Christmas traditions that I grew up with - Christmas eve we go to mass, and then Christmas morning we stay home……gifts are opened Christmas morning, but with quite a specific order that makes the gift opening last a good part of the morning.
First of all - no one enters the living room before 8:00 am, and then at 8:00 we all go in to look at the tree together (this was painful as a child - I always woke up by 6:30 and had to stare at the clock for what seemed like years).
Second, we all get to open our stockings first. Then it’s time to prepare breakfast (with holiday music filling the air).
Only after a nice breakfast together do we venture back into the living room to check out the gifts under the tree. Then the kids start pulling the gifts out and sorting them into piles for each recipient.
After all the gifts are out from under the tree, we take turns opening them one by one, starting with the youngest and moving upwards. Taking turns makes sure that everyone gets to see each and every gift that is received.
After all the gifts are opened, we lounge around the house for the rest of the day….
When I was young, we always then had a pot-luck dinner on Christmas night with a couple other families in town. (None of us had extended family in town, so this was a nice balance of having an intimate Christmas morning and a large festive Christmas night.) I’d love to try starting this tradition now that we’ve also moved away from all the grandparents.
December 21st, 2008 at 12:33 pm
I’m free of holiday stuff these days, but I used to do cookies with the kids and lots of other stuff. I go down and volunteer at the animal shelter during the holidays, since most people are too busy this time of the year with their usual stuff.
December 21st, 2008 at 12:40 pm
my favorite tradition is going downtown in DC to see the National and Capitol Christmas trees. My dad used to take me every year, and now that he’s retired and moved to Arkansas, I still go for both of us, and take pictures to send him. I might make this year’s trip tonight!
December 21st, 2008 at 12:46 pm
On Christmas morning my husband and I get up first and make some coffee and open our presents to each other alone. It is nice. This is my favorite part of the day. Some solitude before the madness.
Then the kids get up and we put the breakfast casserole in the oven and open their presents.
December 21st, 2008 at 12:55 pm
When I was young, my brother and I would wake up really early, approximately 4am and wait by the tree for our parents to wake up so we can open our presents. We would inspect the loot covertly in that amount of time.
Now-a-days, my family doesn’t do that stuff much anymore. My fiance’s family though does a similar morning opening presents routine.
As of last year, my fiance and I are starting up a tradition of watching “The Hogfather” at least once during the Christmas Season.
December 21st, 2008 at 1:01 pm
My favorite part of the holidays is watching the look on adults’ faces when my 4 year old daughter proclaims, “I don’t believe in Santa. No, he doesn’t come to my house!”
December 21st, 2008 at 1:02 pm
My family both my immediate and extended do not celebrate the holidays. We love this time to spend with our families and build stronger bonds in these tough times.
December 21st, 2008 at 1:03 pm
My favourite holiday tradition is having the super big dinner on Christmas Eve (instead of Christmas Day). We eat, drink, get (very) merry and open one small present each. That leaves Christmas Day itself free for opening the rest of the Christmas gifts, hanging with family and eating left overs!
December 21st, 2008 at 1:04 pm
mmmmmm…cookies…mmmmmmm
We bake lots of cookies. My Grandmother is a pro cookie baker and has tons of secret recipes. This year she is visiting us in ATX and has decided to share these secrets with me! YAY!!!!!!!
Since I was a little kiddo, during Christmas dinner I would take black olives and stick one on each of my fingers. My Mom takes a photo and then I proceed to eat each one. This is the only time of year I am allowed to do this. Although now that I am an adult I guess I could do it anytime I want, but then it would not be a tradition!
Hope you have a very Merry Christmas!!
December 21st, 2008 at 1:10 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is baking pumpkin chocolate chip breads for our teachers, friends, neighbors, etc. My mom used to bake these breads every year, and it is fun to continue the tradition. The smell brings me back to my childhood.
December 21st, 2008 at 1:11 pm
My favorite Christmas tradition is our Christmas Eve celebration. We decorate the tree in the morning and listen to Christmas carols. Then when the first star comes out, we begin dinner (my favorite being beet broth with wild mushroom dumplings). An extra place setting is always set, so that a hungry stranger is always welcome at our table. We then open our gifts and head off to Midnight Mass, after which we blissfully fall asleep. I love Christmas Eve.
December 21st, 2008 at 1:28 pm
We’re not very good with traditions in our family so I had to make up some of my own
On Christmas Eve I watch Tim Burtons ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ and on Christmas Day ‘The Muppets Christmas Carol’
December 21st, 2008 at 1:29 pm
My sister and I shared a room growing up. One year (we were maybe 6 and 4), we woke up around 2 in the morning. Our stockings were at the feet of the bed, so we assumed it was morning, and proceeded to noisily open them. My mother stumbled in about five minutes later to point out that it was perhaps a bit early for such activity, and to go back to sleep. Ever since then, if one of us woke up and the stockings were there, no matter what time, we’d wake the other one up and open our stockings, just making sure we did it quietly.
My sister lives in CA now (I’m in ME), but when I went to spend Christmas with her a couple of years ago, we made sure to wake up very early to open our stockings, even though we did have to pretend that we weren’t the ones that had put them there.
December 21st, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Holiday traditions are so important to my family, and it’s hard to pick one favorite! I think my favorite thing about the holidays for the past couple of years has been creating the traditions that will stay with my children throughout their lives. It’s been fun, and sometimes challenging, to mesh my traditions with my husband’s and create something all our own. And now that our children are getting older, we find new ways to enjoy the season. This year the advent wreath and advent calendar have been very important traditions for my daughter.
December 21st, 2008 at 1:37 pm
We watch the kids perform every year at our church’s christmas pageant. We have done this for about 7 years. Afterwards we have the relatives back to our house for Christmas eve munchies. I always make homemade egg nog, deviled eggs, and it is a must to have chocolate fondue and fruit and pretzels to dip. We have other muchies that vary. My kids always open their Christmas pjs. Everyone comes back on Christmas Day for a joyous dinner and to open presents.
December 21st, 2008 at 1:43 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is celebrating Christmas, but on Christmas Eve. It’s magical, full of anticipation and joy. We always open presents with my parents on Christmas Eve after having a wonderful Christmas dinner. To me, THAT is Christmas celebration. I have always loved Christmas Eve the very best. In my heart of hearts, that is when I celebrate most. Imagining Mary in labor with her firstborn, the anticipation of the Lord… I imagine that was amazing. That is all we do.
December 21st, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Just one? oh dear… my current fav is watching the kids open presents on Christmas Eve - my husband’s family has that tradition, and we carried it on (my family never opened gifts until Christmas Day). It has made it super easy for us as a family to keep my youngest baby’s birthday separate (Josiah was a Christmas baby!).
And since I can’t do just one - my other favorite is pepperkakker - swedish cookies that my Grandma used to make every year. After she passed away, my Mom took over the baking of them (and my mom doesn’t have an ounce of swedish blood in her! But she sure makes good pepperkakker). My sister makes them now, since my Mom is out of the country, and I’m a little busy with three littles.
Those cookies are just amazing. A pain in the rear to make, but soooo yummy! They were the first cookies that my littles actually loved. 
December 21st, 2008 at 1:48 pm
My family has a number of traditions; some of which are serious (my mom makes our own Christmas crackers) and some of which are quite silly. My favourite silly one started about ten years ago. My dad was putting some gifts under the tree that he had just wrapped, and flashed a package at me that was clearly a CD. “Gee, Dad,” I said. “Thanks for the football.” Since that year, my dad has gone out of his way to find each of us three girls presents that fit into CD cases–chocolate, concert tickets, gift cards, and make up have all made an appearance there.
The other silly tradition involves the year that my dad had to make mashed turnips to take to my grandma’s for dinner. He gashed his thumb pretty badly trying to chop through the turnip, and as we were all sitting down to dinner, my dad held up his bandaged hand and said “I’ll give $10 to whoever finds my thumb in the turnip.” So of course none of the grandkids would eat the turnip. My grandma wasn’t very happy with my dad…but, every year, as we all sit down to dinner, my dad repeats his offer. One of these years I’m going to buy a fake thumb at Hallowe’en and sneak it into his turnip.
December 21st, 2008 at 1:54 pm
my favorite holiday tradition is watching the claymation cartoons on tv. rudolph the red nosed reindeer, frosty the snowman, etc. i even bought them on dvd so i can watch them whenever i want!
December 21st, 2008 at 1:55 pm
My favorite tradition is since our twins were born. We put up the tree on, or around their birthday every year since they were born in December. It’s a great reminder of how blessed we are at Christmas time each year.
December 21st, 2008 at 1:59 pm
My favorite tradition is that our Christmas breakfast is always bagels, cream cheese, and lox! Also, when I was a kid I always loved that my parents let me open one present Christmas even. That felt like such an indulgence!
December 21st, 2008 at 2:20 pm
I love to get a fresh cut tree, and decorate it with my favorite ornaments. I’ve been collecting Christmas ornaments for 27 years. I always love when I come across my oldest ornament–a heavy little metal jointed red bear. Then I put out all my Christmas decorations–including some handmade snowmen, Santas, and little star Santas. I swap out all the regular candles for holiday scented candles. Then I decorate the fireplace mantels with fresh greens, lights, and decorations.
Once the house is in the holiday spirit, it’s time for baking: decorated sugar cookies, gingerbreadmen, peanut brittle, fudge, and homemade caramels to share with friends and coworkers.
December 21st, 2008 at 2:22 pm
I buy or make Christmas jammies for the kids to wear on Christmas eve, after the holidays are over I put the jammies away in in a box with the child’s name to save for their children some day.
I also buy them each a new ornament for the tree.
December 21st, 2008 at 2:23 pm
My favorite tradition is driving around and looking at all the lights on the other house. Also, my mom always gives us all new pajamas (already washed) on Christmas Eve to wear that night. Even though we are all grown women who take them back to their own apartments!
December 21st, 2008 at 3:11 pm
My favorite holiday tradition in my family is, making our advent wreath. Every year, we get our wreath out, and make our favorite candies and treats, put them in bags, and put them on our wreath, each day we get the proper numbered bag down and we each get a yummy treat. Its always fun to see the smile on your childs face when they get a sweet treat and a story about how they are one day closer to Santa Clause Visiting.
December 21st, 2008 at 3:18 pm
We are vegetarians (Dick and I) so we don’t eat turkey or other meat.
And since there is so much hunger in the world, we will not eat more during Christmas like other days. No! Every Christmas we eat “Boerenkool Stamppot”.
It is a real Dutch dish, with a lot of mashed potatos with a vegetarian smoked sausage….very cheap! very ordinairy! delicious!
There are a lot of people who laugh at us about our Christmasmeal…..
We don’t mind!
December 21st, 2008 at 3:26 pm
One of my favorite traditions comes from my Polish roots. We share opwatki! Basically, it is like a giant communion wafer that you break into large pieces. Each family member takes a piece, then goes to each other family member. You each break off a piece of the other’s, and wish each other something- health, happiness, etc. Then you eat the piece that you broke off. It’s nice, eating the wish of one you love.
December 21st, 2008 at 3:28 pm
We go to a local tree farm and cut down a fresh tree, and while the boys are decorating it, I bake cookies.
On Christmas Eve we go out driving after dark and look at all the light displays in our neighborhood.
Merry Christmas, everyone!!
December 21st, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Our favoriet Christmas tradition is the dinner! We have a feast of tamales, spanish rice, black bean soup, lots of fresh condiments(cilatro, onions, olives, lettuce, tomato, cheese), and tons of laughter.
December 21st, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Our longstanding family tradition is fondly known as “Cruel Christmas”. Each year after our Thanksgiving Dinner, the 9 siblings draw names for Christmas gifting. Not content with just boring old names on a slip of paper, the more literary sibs get together earlier in the day and create a customized poem for each family member, generally a ‘gentle’ bit of ridicule about a well-known foible or an event from the previous year. We’ve covered everything from weddings, divorces, babies, jobs lost and found, annoying and/or endearing habits and more in our annual ‘roast’.
The in-laws, cousins and grandkids, plus various friends have all begged to be included in the fun and torture. A grand tradition, but definitely only for those who have a quirky sense of humor (and the ability to laugh at themselves!)
December 21st, 2008 at 3:42 pm
My favorite holiday tradition involves my mom wrapping the same box of ribbon candy up and giving it to one of us as a gift. I think this box of ribbon candy has been circulating since 1980 or so…
December 21st, 2008 at 3:45 pm
My two favourite traditions are:
1. Opening stockings Christmas morning. It takes us a good hour of opening and admiring the items in it. We make our stockings a big part of our day. After that we open gifts and then have a big breakfast and chill until dinner.
2. Spending Christmas with our families that live 5 hours away from us. We travel sometime around Christmas Eve, depending on the weather, and we spend time with both of our families. It’s one of the only times of the year we can get everyone together in one place. Even with 25 or so for each dinner, it’s great.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!
December 21st, 2008 at 3:50 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is my Mom’s Christmas day brunch. We make two types of quiche, sticky rolls, sausage, along with biscuits and gravy. Yum! My husband and I literally look forward to it all year.
December 21st, 2008 at 3:59 pm
What a great thought Sharon, thanks.
My family traditions are all so important to me. This year, we will be too far away to go to Christmas breakfast at my grandparents house. My aunts, uncles, cousins, parents and sister all go there every year. I will be cooking Grandma’s special breakfast though.
Also, on Christmas eve, growing up, we always ate a supper of appetizers, and watched A Christmas Carol with Allistair Sim. We will be doing that at our house this year, after we come home from church. I can’t wait.
In elementary school, a boy in my class was Jewish, and his mom would organize a Hannukah party every year. We would eat latke’s, MMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmm, play dreidle games for peanuts, and dance. I still make the latke’s every year, it is another favorite of mine. I love this time of year.
December 21st, 2008 at 4:30 pm
This is a great way to remember all those Christmas memories…
Growing up, we would go to Mass on Christmas Eve, then get home and make homemade pizzas. After dinner, we would then open gifts.
Now that I’ve got a family of my own, we do things a little differently - the husband and I ferociously wrap gifts on Christmas Eve, put them under the tree, and try to get a few hours of sleep before our girls wake us up at 6am or so because Santa came and left them gifts.
This year, we’re starting a new tradition of going out and seeing a movie on Christmas Day after the gifts have been opened.
December 21st, 2008 at 4:42 pm
There are two holiday traditions that I cling to with all the strength in my wee fingers: we always celebrate Christmas Eve at my grandmother’s house, and we open our stockings on December 6th. I never even considered that other Christmas-celebrating families did things differently until I grew up, found a fella, and realized that his family worked the holidays in a totally different way. Every year my husband still asks what we are doing, and no matter how many times I give him the withering glance and say definitively that I am going to my grandma’s on Christmas Eve, it’s just never taken root in his brain the way it was impressed onto mine.
December 21st, 2008 at 4:48 pm
One of my favorite traditions is the neighborhood ornament exchange that has been going on for 18 years! We eat, drink and have a great time stealing ornaments from each other. Even though we are neighbors, I don’t see some of them very often so it is nice to relax and catch up on the year. Another plus is that we never get snowed out because no one has more than a block to walk to the party! The only way to make it a better party would be to entice some of them to start knitting.
December 21st, 2008 at 4:52 pm
We have lots of traditions for Christmas, but my absolute favorite holiday tradition is on New Years Day. My father always said that whatever you do on New Years Day sets the tone for the rest of the year. So as a child, no matter how crappy the weather, we always went sailing - one year I cursed and huddled in a freezing cockpit with him, another was 60 degrees and we saw a pod of whales.
Now, we go to the beach with a group of friends for New Years every year. The kids play, the adults play, we have a lovely beachy time - even if the weather is nasty.
December 21st, 2008 at 4:52 pm
My favorite tradition is the new hat! We live in Alabama, and it isn’t cold here often. However, every year I let each child choose a yarn they love and I knit them a new hat to their specifications. They pick tassles, pom poms, gnome point, ear flaps and EVERYTHING!
December 21st, 2008 at 4:56 pm
We always have a big breakfast on Christmas morning before opening our presents, was started 6 years ago with my husband.
On Christmas Eve we go down to Colonial Williamsburg to listen to the story of the first Christmas in the colonies & watch them light the Christmas tree. This is where my husband proposed to me 6 years ago & I always look forward to it & it means so much to both of us.
December 21st, 2008 at 5:11 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is the simple Christmas Eve we spend at home making smores with the kids, getting new Christmas pajamas and letting them open one present.
December 21st, 2008 at 5:13 pm
we have a family tradtion called “good buddy.” my husband has four brothers.. and there are five of us wives as well as his parents that participate. when we go to his parent’s house to decorate their three TOGETHER.. we then pick names out of a basket. you have to then do nice things for this person all the way up until christmas.. it doesn’t have to be expensive.. maybe some ice cream that they like or something small.. then on chistmas you have to try to figure out who your good buddy is.. the funny this is that normally.. people are asking other people for suggestions on what their person likes.. so we sometimes figure it out beforehand!
and plus.. all the guys don’t care and sometimes just are so obvious.. 
December 21st, 2008 at 5:24 pm
We started this tradition when my oldest was about 3. We open one present on Christmas Eve - always PJ’s, which the kids wear to bed. Christmas morning we open presents, then eat cinnamon rolls.
The biggest one - we stay home Christmas morning or most of the day. We were tired of traveling when the kids were little. It got to the point it wasn’t enjoyable for anyone.
December 21st, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Every year we get each of the kids an ornament of their own. Then when we decorate the tree we start with the kids putting each of their special ornaments in year order on the tree.
December 21st, 2008 at 5:40 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is decorating the tree together. We make hot chocolate, cookies and finger foods, crank up some holiday music, pull out our favorite ornaments and go to town!
December 21st, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Our favorite traditions are new pj’s on Christmas Eve, reading several Christmas themed bedtime stories while eating shortbread cookies and drinking milk, some of which we leave out for Santa, of course. In the morning the stockings are opened right away and after breakfast the gifts under the tree are taken care of. The rest of the day is spent together playing with all the new toys and things. Actually, most of the day is spent in those new pj’s.
December 21st, 2008 at 6:02 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is hanging up the stockings the night before “Christmas” As our family has grown and moved away we no longer celebrate on the day but we always celebrate.
December 21st, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Every year as far back as I can remember my mom and I sit down and string popcorn and cranberries while watching White Christmas. Later we use the strings to decorate the tree and feed the birds outside.
December 21st, 2008 at 6:32 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is baking the cookies on Christmas Eve that we leave out for Santa. Last year, I realized we were out of flour and it was too late to go out and buy some, so me and the girls got on the internet and googled flour free cookies. Before then, I didn’t know you could make peanut butter cookies out of basically peanut butter and brown sugar! We had some hershey’s kisses, and so we plopped a hershey kiss on top of each cookie before baking it. They turned out pretty good! “Santa” ate them all!
December 21st, 2008 at 6:39 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is Christmas Eve, after we’re home from church and the kids are finally in bed (gets later and later the older they get!), my husband and I put the gifts out under the tree, turn out the lights and just enjoy the peace and quiet. The he goes to bed and I sit there a while longer enjoying the peace and quiet, and usually a glass of wine.
December 21st, 2008 at 7:00 pm
My Christmas tree is my favourite tradition. I have a white tree with white lights. and about 500 seashells all painted gold. I have scallop shells the size of a CD all the way down to spiral shells an inch long. At the top is a huge starfish, tied on with organza ribbon. I’ve done this tree about eight years now and I love it more each year. My daughter did most of the decorating this year, and I think she did a better job than I would have.
Last Christmas was spent driving cross country in an RV from Idaho to Philadelphia after getting married. We left the 23rd, spent Christmas Eve in an emergency room in Nebraska due to an infected hangnail exacerbated by the hottub in the honeymoon suite. Christmas Day our gift to each other was a hot shower in the Flying J truck stop. I really hope *that* doesn’t become a tradition!
December 21st, 2008 at 7:18 pm
No real hard-fast Christmas traditions, but we do like to see the Hand Bell concert at a local church and drive around and look at all the lights. Happy Holidays!
December 21st, 2008 at 7:51 pm
My favorite Christmas tradition is hands-down opening stockings Christmas morning and seeing the looks on the kids’ faces when they see what Santa has left them under the tree. Other than that, my favorite tradition is making snowflakes with the girls and hanging them from the ceiling everywhere, creating our own special winter wonderland.
Awesome contest, Sharon! I love reading everyone’s responses. Merry Christmas everyone!
December 21st, 2008 at 8:22 pm
My favorite Christmas tradition is when my husband and I put up the tree together. We have bunches of mismatched ornaments that we’ve collected over the years, and we have fun remembering past years as we decorate the tree. We always have a bottle of champagne chilled that we sip as we decorate. Old Gabe, the Christmas angel gets put on top of the tree first. We’ve had him since we got married!
December 21st, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Ever since DH and I had celebrated our first Christmas, we’ve always gotten a dated ornament for the Christmas tree. It’s fun hanging them up and seeing how many years we’ve spent together.
I love watching The Muppet’s Christmas Carol and all those classic Christmas specials (Rudolph, Frosty, etc).
We usually try to get to a Christmas service on Christmas Eve. Last year we were in the hospital with our newly born daughter, so we didn’t go to church. After church we get to open one present. Christmas morning I let DH sleep as long as I can (if I make it to 8 before presents that’s good for me) and then we open presents. After presents we have breakfast and just enjoy the day together.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Every year we play John Lennon’s Imagine and Happy Christmas when we start opening presents. It’s something my father started with us when we were little kids and now I do it to remember him and include him in the day.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:36 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is decorateing cookies with my daughter and spending Christmas with my family just enjoying each other with no stress of work.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Christmas PJs! The kids open their Christmas PJs on Christmas Eve, and wear them to bed so they have cute festive pajamas for pics on Christmas morning.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:37 pm
There are so many great traditions to choose from; baking cookie, listening to Christmas music while decorating the house, driving to see all the Christmas lights. I could go on and on.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:38 pm
I’ve lived in South Korea for the past three years and while it’s taken a while to get used to things I now love it here. Christmas in SK is for couples though and so my favourite tradition involves a little bit of giving and a little bit of receiving. There’s no custom of giving friends gifts here, but I give mine little gift bags usually filled with a mix of stuff from home and things I’ve cooked. No mean feat considering my “kitchen” consists of one hotplate. One year my gifts were carmex lip balms and Terry’s chocolate oranges and the looks on people’s faces were priceless. It’s so easy to make people here happy. So that’s the giving part. The receiving part is I have a relative who every year sends me the most wonderful parcel filled with Christmas gifts - there are always chocolates and a book, but other small surprises, too. It’s the only parcel I ever receive and all the more treasured for that. Living back home, I always got a lot of stuff and unfortunately, I can’t really distinguish one Christmas from another. For the past three years, Christmas has been special and memorable.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Tradition #1 is watching Charlie Brown’s Christmas. I can’t recall a year where we didn’t watch that!
Tradition #2 since having the children has been baking cookies with Grandpa.
Tradition #3 that I’ll be starting this year is baking a birthday cake for Jesus. This year’s cake will be an organic marble cake with organic fudge frosting.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:38 pm
my faveorite holiday tradition is going to my mom’s and ordering take out chinese and watching our collective gaggle of dogs open their pressents.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:38 pm
I enjoy cutting down a Christmas tree with my children and grandchildren and coming home and having hot cocoa and fighting with getting the tree to stand up straight
December 21st, 2008 at 8:39 pm
My favorite tradition is watching all the old Rankin/Bass cartoon specials. Reminds me of my childhood and now my kids are loving them as well.
Happy Holidays!
December 21st, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Every Christmas Eve we have a nice dinner and dessert (I usually make pie) and then everyone gets in their jammies and we snuggle under blankets and watch National Lampoon Christmas Vacation. It’s fun!
December 21st, 2008 at 8:39 pm
My favorite tradition is the decorating off our tree. It has a bit of a twist to it, as I don’t participate! For the last 10 years, my husband and kids have sent me to bed with a girly movie and a glass of wine. They do all the decorating without me. It keeps my stress level down, and the kids always love it when I act all surprised to wake up the next morning to a decorated tree.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Our favorite holiday tradition is going with my husband’s family to a local tree farm to get our tree. The kids sit on Santa’s lap afterwards and we have hot chocolate and popcorn.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:40 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is getting dressed up for Christmas Eve Mass and going with all my siblings and neices and nephews. It’s been exciting every year to see how our family has grown. I also love baking cookies.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:42 pm
We have a Christmas eve tradition of eating Italian food. When I was llittle I would not eat turkey, stuffing, gravy or any of the other foods that we had on Christmas day. My Mom spoiled me by starting the Christmas eve tradition for me of making her delicious spaghetti sauce and stuffed shells. 40 years later and she is still making it! What a great tradition!
December 21st, 2008 at 8:42 pm
My favorite tradition is cuddling with my sisters until the appointed hour of 7 am on Christmas morning. We would giggle and sing silly songs in anticipation of opening our gifts. I’m sure we woke our parents up every year.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:43 pm
For years I’ve played the Nutcracker Suite on Christmas morning, and dined on chips and onion dip after we open our presents. Don’t ask why or how - my family just laughs, and I’ve been doing it for 37 years:-)
December 21st, 2008 at 8:45 pm
My favourite tradition is getting new pyjamas from my MIL; every Christmas Eve each of the kids and grandkids gets new PJs. Since purchasing new PJs is pretty far down on my list of spending priorities (hello yarn!) it’s great to know that once a year I get a specially-picked-out-for-me set.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:45 pm
my favorite tradition is putting up the tree at my own house. normally i spend christmas with my best friend and my godsons so i miss out on my tree for the week. but this year, i’m home and enjoying my tree and all the decorations at home.
plus the cookies aren’t that bad either.. or peppermint bark or or or.. =)
December 21st, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Ours is a little cliche and rather recent actually. My older daughter suggested we start reading ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas as a family on Christmas Eve over hot cocoa, so that my youngest daughter would have memories of special traditions in our family of me and my three kids.
I think it is incredibly sweet that a teenager wanted to build holiday traditions for her sister who is 13 years younger.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Getting to open one present each on Christmas eve (normally PJs to wear that night)
watching old movies and relaxing on the deck with a glass of wine (it’s summer here) while the kids play in the garden
December 21st, 2008 at 8:46 pm
My favorite tradition is making and decorating cookies each Christmas. We’d often have neighborhood kids stop by to help and they’d get to take their cookies home with them. We have one special sugar cookie recipe we use to decorate then we would often choose another cookie recipe to make from the “recipe books” that our mother made for us. She would buy three copies of magazines and cut out Christmas cookie, cake, and pie recipes then paste them on to paper and put them into three ring binders. That way, we all had copies of the recipes to pass down in the family.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:49 pm
I have two holiday traditions, one with my family and another with my fiance’s family.
My mom and I spend a day baking goodies galore and make plates for neighbors and friends. Then my dad and I trek through whatever the Michigan winter weather may bring (this year-18 inches of snow) to deliver them.
On Christmas Eve, after a candle-light church service and family dinner we all settle in for the Muppet’s Christmas Carol.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:49 pm
One Christmas Tradition is the Christmas Pickle. My I hide the glass pickle ornament deep into the Christmas tree and then my boys come out and the first one to find the pickle ornament receives an extra gift. The gift is usually a game the entire family can enjoy together. This tradition was passed down from my grandparents. It is one the boys to forward to every Christmas Morning.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:49 pm
Every year we bake all of our favorite cookies. Seems like I am baking for days on end. On Christmas Eve we go to the family christmas service, then come home and hang stockings. After the kids are in bed, the rest of the presents are wrapped, stockings are stuffed. On Christmas morning we take turns reading the Christmas story from Luke before opening presents. Then the gift unwrapping frenzy begins. If only I could wrap them as quickly as they unwrap them
December 21st, 2008 at 8:49 pm
We have a neighborhood tradition. We make and distribute luminaries for the neighborhood. We start at 7am Christmas eve filling bags with sand and candles. The kids ride on the back of pick up trucks and set them out. When the sun goes down the whole neighborhood lights up.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Our favorite tradition is making a batch of hot mulled cider and playing Christmas music while everyone helps decorate the tree and put up lights in the living room. No TV and no cell phones allowed.
Our other tradition is my daughters are allowed to open one gift on Christmas Eve. After 17 years they both know it will be pj’s and look forward to new pj’s for the morning pictures.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Hmmmm, this is tough. I HATE the holiday season so coming up with a favorite tradition isn’t easy for me!
I guess I would have to say that my favorite tradition is baking cookies for gifts - but I have not been able to do it for years now, so I hope that will count!
I think my new favorite can be the Holiday Giveaway Extravaganza Spectacular Spectacle
There you go!
** (and thank you for doing this, it is very generous of you guys!!)
December 21st, 2008 at 8:52 pm
We have many, but one favorite is to dress the children in warm pajamas, and give them cocoa and a candy cane to enjoy while we drive around to look at Christmas lights. We also listen to seasonal music in the car.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:54 pm
My family always gets together at my Mom’s house on Christmas Eve. After dinner, we have our annual “Weapons of Mass Destruction” battle. (Hear me out…lol.) Early in December, my Mom goes to the dollar store and buys a bunch of toy weapons…dart guns, blow guns, etc.. She wraps them and puts them in a big bag and we all get to pick one after Christmas Eve dinner. You don’t know what it’ll be till you open it. As soon as she says, “GO!”, we all tear into the packages and proceed to shoot each other silly. Sounds insane, but it’s so much fun and we look forward to the epic battle each year.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Our favorite tradition is baking the cookies you roll out and cut, then decorate with colored icing and sprinkles. It’s not only because they are so good, and that it’s fun and creative. The best part is the time spent with the family talking and laughing and comparing our various gingerbread mens’ “clothing.” It’s something we’ve done every year since I can remember, and it never loses its charm.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:55 pm
My oldest son and his wife are both young doctros doing their residencies, which menas that they do not get Christmas day off (no seniority). Instead, they fly out to visit for New Years. Realizng this is the way things will be for the next few years, we established a new tradition last year. We have a “cook off”. What this means is everyone gets a partner (with 5 kids, spouses, girlfriends, and extended family there are lots of participants) and they all have to come up with a part of the meal. We had a blast last year! The kitchen was a disaster zone, but it was a great time. It was fun to see the different dishes that the pairs made.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Our family holiday tradition is dinner with one half of the family on Christmas Eve, seafood galore and making sure not to touch anything in the living room so my Aunt wouldn’t have a coronary, then the trading of the gift cards because no one ever knows what to give the other people! Then my aunt goes through her presents and immediately re gifts what she doesn’t want to whoever was there. Then on Christmas day we go to the other half of the family, the food is usually fried chicken and greens and corn bread, then rescuing the dried out tree from catching on fire from the lights we thought we threw out the year before!
December 21st, 2008 at 8:56 pm
We make awful looking (but yummy tasting) Christmas cookies every year. It’s even more fun now that I have a toddler who wants to help decorate them ;). Also, the stockings seem to have evolved into our favorite part of Christmas morning. We go all out with stocking stuffers :). Then we open presents and laze around for the rest of the day and conclude with a huge turkey dinner. *sigh* Can’t wait!
December 21st, 2008 at 8:56 pm
My favorite tradition is our family Chanukah party. We play a take on blackjack called Kvitlech (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kvitlech) and eat traditional donuts, sufganiyot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufganiyah). And talk and laugh and catch up.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:57 pm
My favorite holiday tradition? It’s good luck for your first visitor of the year to be a dark haired man, so my husband always walks out the door after midnight and comes back in. I don’t know if that qualifies for the superstition, but it’s fun. Also, one of the kids each year has to wear the santa hat to pass out the presents. It’s fun! If the kids are younger and can’t read, my husband prints out little pictures of the gift recipients, and all they have to do is match picture to person. I love seeing all these traditions! There’s some great ideas here.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Our favorite tradition, because we do it with friends each year, is a hay ride through a neighborhood where most homes decorate for Christmas. The city helps on the big trees and it is amazing to see the different decorations, colors and lights each year. Residents come up with the most clever ideas in Winterhaven.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Over the years, we’ve developed our own traditions in addition to keeping some from our families of origin. So, we still have subs for Christmas Eve lunch, we still make the pfefferneuse and celebrate St. Nicholas on December 5, and we still go to church on Christmas Eve. But we also make sure to go to Elizabeth Farms to take a horse drawn wagon ride to the fields to find the perfect Christmas tree, listen to Lessons and Carols from England, and have beef bourginon for our Christmas dinner.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:59 pm
my favorite holiday tradition is sitting around the table with my family wrapping tamales. we all take part in putting them together and have a lot of fun telling stories and laughing with one another. making tamales together is a lot of fun in a family as large as mine because everyone works together and no one feels like they’re doing too much work.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:59 pm
We start a 2-day Christmas decoration marathon the morning after Thanksgiving. Inside and out. We go all out. The children love to do the tree with Dad, while I do the exterior lights and nativity display. Then we do the mantle with stockings and greenery, then the rest of the house. You can count on it like clockwork.
Merry Christmas!
December 21st, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Each year we celebrate the birth of Jesus with a Polish traditional meal. We have perogies, fish, mushroom soup, and green beans. Before this meal we each take a piece of bread covered in honey, topped with a prune & raw garlic & eat it VERY quickly.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:01 pm
My favorite tradition is popovers. I love making popovers once a year. Yummy. A standing rib roast, potatoes, gravy, veggies and popovers.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Well, we’re starting new traditions with our almost-5-year-old daughter (and now our new little boy, 8 weeks old!) Early in the morning, after opening presents and wading through the wrapping paper debris, we sit down as a family to a delicious homemade french toast casserole, taking some time to relax with each other, no presents allowed at the table, before the craziness of travelling to family members’ houses ensues! Although next year, I vote we start the tradition of Christmas in Florida with Grandma and Grandpa - nothing like a Christmas stroll on the beach at sunset!
December 21st, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Our Christmas tradition is to go to early evening Mass on Christmas Eve (and it’s always 5 degrees out and I used to wear a skirt, but I got tired of frozen ankles and sensibly wear long pants now), then out to a fancy Italian restaurant for dinner. This will be the first time in 22 years that our oldest son won’t be with us on Christmas Eve — but he will be flying in the next morning.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:06 pm
My fave tradition is that we have our big celebration on Christmas Eve, but on Christmas Day we spend the whole day in our jammies playing with our new presents, eating junk and just having a relaxing holiday together. I look forward to it always.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Eggnog. Our family has a secret recipe that has lots of bourbon and cream. Just delicious. I remember as a little kid getting to sip it (with nutmeg on top) out of a silver goblet. I felt so grown up. Nowadays I make it before my in-laws arrive and sip it all through the Christmas prep and cooking. I hate to think of the calories, but it’s Christmas only once a year. Wish I could share some with you all!
December 21st, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Our Christmas tradition? Reading the Night Before Christmas, *on* the night before Christmas. Only the version illustrated by Tasha Tudor will do!
December 21st, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Our family does a gift exchange for the siblings on Christmas Eve. These are always the most mysterious looking packages under the tree, and sometimes the funniest.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:11 pm
My favorite Christmas tradition is baking with my mom. We spend the entire week of Christmas making cookies, cakes, and all kinds of goodies. On the few years I haven’t made it home for Christmas, it just hasn’t felt right.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:11 pm
We’re just starting to make our own traditions as a family, so it will be interesting as years come to see what develops!
My favourite one from growing up was the gift giving game. We’d have a stack of little stocking stuffer like gifts wrapped in the centre of the circle. You could choose to take a present or take someone elses present if the dice came up with your seat. By the end of the night every is laughing and have a nice little stack of gifts to open!
December 21st, 2008 at 9:12 pm
I have 3 small kids (under 4 years old), so they’re just starting to understand Christmas and that Santa comes. They’ve been dancing around the tree since we got it a week ago.
My favorite thing we’ve done so far is to decorate the tree. They got to put the ornaments on, so our tree is conspicuously empty at the top. But they’re so proud of their work.
I’m also excited about making cookies with them for them to leave for Santa.
It’s all magical this year, because I get to see it through my children’s eyes.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:14 pm
I make killer chex mix and it is not a holiday season without at least two or three batches!
December 21st, 2008 at 9:16 pm
If I had to pick a favorite I guess I’d have to say putting up and decorating our Christmas tree. It signals that the Christmas season is *here* and puts the house and us in the Christmas spirit.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:16 pm
My family never really had traditions while growing up, and my own family is young, so this year we’re just starting to make some of our own traditions.
My two and a half year old is stoked about making cookies for Santa, and I have to admit, baking and decorating cookies is one of my favorite things about this holiday. (And eating them too!) I hope to make it one of the big exciting things about this season in our home in the years to come. It’s a tradition in the making, so hopefully, it counts.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:17 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is baking cookies with my sons and decorating them while we watch “It’s a Wonderful Life”. We’ve been doing it for almost 25 years!
December 21st, 2008 at 9:20 pm
I love making gingerbread houses with my family while listening to the John Denver/Muppets Christmas album.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:20 pm
My mom’s neighbor’s Christmas coffee cake. I think because it is the only tradition from my early childhood that still continues.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:21 pm
It’s all about the lights for me. When I was a kid, we lived by a monastery/Shrine in Massachusetts that had the most fabulous light displays. Now that I live in the DC area and have young children of my own, we do Zoo Lights in DC, Symphony of Lights in Columbia and the lights at Seneca State Park in Gaithersburg. Light it up!
December 21st, 2008 at 9:22 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is decorating! I love the preparation. First, you have to bake cookies because what else would you eat?! Then first the Christmas CDs. Light a Christmasy smelling candle. Then crack open a bottle of champagne (or two). The champagne and cookies are essential. Then pour of the memories of Christmas’ past as you pull each ornament from the box. And then drink some more champagne….
December 21st, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Well, our tradition came about from my husband’s side. Christmas Eve his dad (the Polish one of the Sicilian Family!) would make cioppino. My husband has always had to work Christmas Eve, and often I do too. So we have Cioppino on Christmas Day now. Christmas Eve is set aside for Mass, sandwiches, and opening presents from friends. Every year it seems as tho more and more people want some of the cioppino….
December 21st, 2008 at 9:25 pm
One of my favorite traditions from when I was growing up is making Santa Snacks. I remember my brother and I sneaking them for breakfast on Christmas morning. Yum!
What we’ve started with our own kids is each year they get a new ornament for the tree. It’s fun to see what they’ve gotten from years past when we decorate. We also gather all of our Christmas books and wrap them up individually and for a couple of weeks before Christmas we unwrap one a night and read that for our bedtime story.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Our tradition is to open one present on christmas eve - it was always a really hard choice for me as a kid, and now with my son it takes HOURS for him to pick out which one to open.
Happy holidays! Can’t wait for my shipment of Mulled Wine!
December 21st, 2008 at 9:27 pm
My favorite Christmas tradition is two-fold. As my children were growing up, they were each given an ornament that reflected something special about their lives in that year. This was given two weeks prior to Christmas when we would decorate our house and tree. AND… Each gift had a handmade tag/paper ornament. Before each gift was opened, the special message was read to everyone and then placed on the tree. Then the gift was opened. These kinds of ‘ornaments’ accumulated quickly. We strung garland across every doorway and window and hung those paper tags from them. My children are in their 20’s now and still remember the ornament/tags that they both received and made. I have suggested that we put them into scrapbooks, but, neither are ready to do that. This still continues to this day.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Every year, the children and I ride the bus into downtown Seattle, go to the holiday carousel at Westlake Center, and then ride the monorail to Seattle Center, where we visit Winterfest and the Pacific Science Center. This has been a family tradition since my oldest was four and we lived in the middle of nowhere and had no car. We now live in Seattle and my eldest is 15, but my two sons still look forward to it every year.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:29 pm
My favorite family tradition is on Christmas eve we all go over to my in-laws and have a huge family get together. First we have a wonderful spaghetti dinner. Then one of the kids reads the story of the birth of Christ from the family bible. After that we open gifts. Its such a wonderful time with family and friends.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:29 pm
I’ve always loved Christmas although my family doesn’t celebrate it. My husband and I have a favorite tradition to celebrate Hanukkah - we put our holiday gifts under our menorah. It’s our version of leaving gifts under a Christmas tree.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:32 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is “The Ride”. It’s from my husband’s family, actually, back from when his parents were kids and needed to have Santa come earlier on Christmas Eve because of his grandfather’s work commitments. All the kids would pile into the car, driven around by one of the uncles, and listen to Christmas music while looking at all the pretty lights through town. I still like doing this with my inlaws and plan to do a ride of our own with our three little boys this year.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:32 pm
My favorite tradition is writing Christmas cards. It makes me get in touch with people I may have lost touch with through out the year. It makes me remember all the important people in my life.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Chex Mix!! For some unknown reason, it’s the only time of the year we make it. It’s gone in a trice, and we swear we’ll make more “soon” but it’s always the next Christmas! Go figure.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Many years ago, when my now husband and I had just started dating (at that point, only a few weeks!), I came to visit his family on Christmas eve and brought them Peanut Blossom cookies (pb cookies with a kiss in the middle). So, now every Christmas Eve I make those same cookies for my hubs and we exchange handmade ornaments by the light of our big tree. It warms my heart to think about doing that for the rest of our lives.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:35 pm
We have lots of traditions in our family, but the two I love the most are waking up and having Bloody Marys with the family after or during the gift opening and having my Nana’s twice baked potatoes, standing rib roast, asparagus, rolls, and Charlotte Rouse for dessert.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Wow, I have to knit those socks!
One of our traditions was to always let the kids open one present on Christmas Eve. It was ALWAYS a set of pajamas! To this day, my daughter says when she gets new pajamas, it feels like Christmas.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:36 pm
making christmas cookies!
December 21st, 2008 at 9:38 pm
My favourite holiday tradition is the tradition my family has for handing out our presents. The tradition is that the youngest child in the family hands them out. My 3 year old son will be up to the job this year (last year and he was non-compliant and the year before he wasn’t walking) so the tradition will be even more special for me
December 21st, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Ooh, holiday traditions. I have to pick one? Well, my favorite holiday tradition surrounds going to the tree farm to cut down our tree. It’s always a big outing where my parents meets us there-and this year we met with friends at the farm as well. We traipse around and, when we find and cut our perfect tree, we cut it down and shout “timber” like a group of silly, happy fools. Once we’ve got our trees we come over for a big, hot breakfast at my house so we can warm up both our hearts and bodies. This year, the excitement was doubled because my little one was was so excited about the Christmas tree. She’s only 18 months but loves that tree and learned to say “Christmas tree” the day we cut it down. I love the magic of the holidays more now because I get to see her find the magic.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:39 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is putting up our Christmas tree with all the ornaments that we have collected through the years.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:41 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is two-fold: making holiday cards and baking gingersnaps (and a rotating selection of other cookies) with my sister :o)
December 21st, 2008 at 9:42 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is getting together christmas eve at my parents. We bake cookies and snacks for the men and of course a huge dinner and we also exchange gifts.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:42 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is sitting with my family on Christmas morning and unwrapping gifts. Nothing special, but I LOVE to watch my kiddos faces as they see all their new toys and shrug at the clothes they get! hehe.
I feel lucky and blessed to have such a simple pleasure in life.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:44 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is only a few years old. Since a big piece of the holidays is about music for me, this event is a favorite.We have been getting together with three other families (eight adults and ten kids total) for an evening of dinner followed by singing and playing Christmas carols. It was just this past Saturday night; we had two cellos, a viola, two flutes, two trumpets, an oboe and a glockenspiel to accompany the singing. We came up with new ideas about alternating verses (so the singers weren’t always trying to sing over the brass) and just had a rollicking good time. We started joking that next year we should record a CD!
December 21st, 2008 at 9:45 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is having Christmas eve celebrations with friends, not family. It makes us remember to include people that may not have family around. It also gives us a great break from too-much-family-itis.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Christmas eve dinner is Kentucky Fried Chicken. We eat the dinner, then open our gifts. It’s the only time of the year we get KFC.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:47 pm
I love watching all the TV shows like Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman… we can’t put up a tree because our cats climb it and by Yule morning all the ornaments are knocked off. My husband and I walk Christmas Lane, a part of town where everyone goes through extreme decorations. I am also one of the rare people who LOVE fruit cake and can’t wait until that starts showing up on store shelves. My mom, every year, used to make fruit cake and send me a loaf or two. She is tired and has dementia now so I don’t get her home made fruit cake (which is the best) but the tradition stays with me.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:48 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is simple, but special. When I Set up the nativity set each year, I always leave baby Jesus out. On Christmas Eve I go to midnight service alone (my daughter’s too young and my husband has to stay with her) and return to a dark, warm home. I turn teh light son the three, place baby Jesus in the nativity and say prayers. Then it’s off to bed for the night, calm and peaceful.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:51 pm
My favorite tradition is writing & sending Christmas cards. I love to remember some things from the past year and share them with special friends & family.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:52 pm
My favorite tradition is a fairly new one that I adopted from my partner whose done it all her life - we celebrate St. Nick’s night. It’s when we exchange our stockings and listen to Christmas music and drink hot chocolate. It such a nice, quiet, sweet time for us. Love it!
December 21st, 2008 at 9:54 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is taking the kids to see Christmas lights each year. There is a place near our house that has lights, camel and donkey rides and Christmas activities. It’s always freezing but the kids love it!
December 21st, 2008 at 9:55 pm
My favorite tradition is midnight mass which is actually at 10 PM.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:57 pm
My newest and becoming my favourite tradition is giving my children the knit gift of their choice. My eldest daughters (4 and 3) for the past couple of years have found a toy pattern in a knitting book or come up with their own fantastic ideas and asked me to knit them for Christmas. I have only recently taken up knitting and so at first I thought this was quite the challenge but I have knit chickens and chicks, ducks and ducklings, unicorns, monsters and cupcakes! I love giving them hand knit gifts, even though it isn’t much of a surprise! So far this traditions beats the cookie making, tree trimming and the Christmas eve walk we do, to look at all the lights!
December 21st, 2008 at 9:58 pm
My favorite tradition is decorating the tree, we make hot chocolate and play music and all have a fun time, I look forward to it every year.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:59 pm
My twin boys (almost 7) and I make Christmas ornaments out of construction paper, geegaws (our word), sparkles and whatever else strikes us as pretty. Pretty, of course, changes with the age. this year we even made styrofoam balls and toothpicks into ornaments and have glued plastic animals and babies to paper and hung those. Our tree is rather eccentric.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:01 pm
My favorite Christmas tradition is our Christmas Eve dinner. As a child, my mother would make clam chowder every Christmas Eve. Now that I have a family of my own, I get to make it for them. Followed by frosting sugar cookies for Santa. My son talks about this for weeks before the actual event. I love that he is just as excited about making cookies and decorating them, as he is about presents. The recipes have been handed down throgh my mothers side of the family and I’m honored to be able to carry on that tradition to my kids.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:02 pm
My favorite Christmas tradition is singing carols with our girls. When they were little we’d all 4 (hubby, me & 2 girls) sing carols all the hour and a half long drive to Grandma’s. The girls are grown and have children of their own, but when we get together on Christmas one will start singing and the rest will join in. Truly, I think it’s our girls’ favorite tradition too!
Happy Holidays to All of You! And a Healthy New Year!
December 21st, 2008 at 10:03 pm
My favorite tradition is picking out new ornaments. Each year the whole family gets to pick out one that is “them”. I love decorating the tree each year remembering the year we went to Disney, when the girls were into princesses, when they were into soccer, etc. All of the items are reflection of them at a time in their lives. Mine are usually glittery…..I’m attracted to shiny objects
December 21st, 2008 at 10:07 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is cooking foods that my grandmothers made when I was a child for the holidays. I want my children to be able to experience the joy that I experienced as a child at Christmas and food was such a central part of our time together.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:07 pm
My favorite Holiday tradition is our family party, which is held about a week prior to Christmas. My immediate family (brothers, mother) rarely gets together, so when we do it is special. It’s a quiet get-together, but it’s special because we are together. This year I hosted (we take turns!) so it was even more special. It’s been a tough year for a variety of reasons, so having “Christmas” at our house this year felt especially, well, special.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:09 pm
My favorite Christmas tradition is family. The day we celebrate Christmas changes from year to year, but getting the whole family together is the best part. And when we are opening presents we always have to listen to the Cabbage Patch Christmas album.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:10 pm
We do a ton of baking. My kids favorite after the cookies is homemade Parker House Rolls. The entire house smells so nice. We also spend the day watching our favorite Christmas movies starting with A Christmas Story. Then we end the day with a visit to the town square to see the lights.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Our holiday traditions have changed a lot as us kids all moved out and stuff, but we do always make time to gather together. Growing up, my parents had great albums with holiday music that we played while we decorated the tree and sat in front of the fire.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:11 pm
My favorite old tradition is how my brother and I have always been allowed to open our stocking before our parents wake up. Presents have to wait until a set time, but stockings were left on the stairs and we could get them as soon as we woke up. Since I’ve never been able to sleep at all on Christmas Eve (finally started to get a little sleep about 3 years ago) this used to happen at about 4:30 or 5 in the morning. And there would always be some small puzzle or something to help hold us over for another 2 hours.
My favorite new tradition is that we started going out to dinner on Christmas Eve. 6 or 7 years ago my Mom decided it was too exhausting to cook big meals two days in a row. So we decided to go to a DC inn called the Tabard Inn. We’ve gone every year since. It is fantastic and they always remember us even though it’s usually the only time each year that we go there. It’s such a cozy spot that it feels like eating at home, without the cooking and cleaning up.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Tradition?
Besides frantically running around cleaning like a homicidal maniac because no one ever comes to my house any other time of the year?
I make rugelach. Lots and lots of rugelach.
(By the way, you know when my browser spell checks ‘rugelach’ it comes up with ‘archangel’. Sweet.)
Love to everyone– that’s my main tradition. From the heart.
Peace ~ fey
December 21st, 2008 at 10:14 pm
My favorite holiday tradition started when I married my husband. My family always opened presents on Christmas morning, but his family always opened them on Christmas Eve. I very happily adopted his family’s tradition ~ and every year even though I am a grown adult I gleefully feel like a little kid opening presents a night too early. It’s the best!
December 21st, 2008 at 10:17 pm
My favorite Christmas tradition is taking the kids to the Christmas Eve service at church and watching them in their angel and shepherd costumes in the pageant. Then we drive home the long way looking at all the lights and they open a present before going to bed
December 21st, 2008 at 10:18 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is evening walks to look at Christmas lights with my family. (this is way more fun now that I live in South Florida rather than trudging through snow!) My husband and our dogs love to stroll through all the neighborhoods and enjoy all the colorful displays throughout town.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:19 pm
My favorite tradition is getting the kids new jammies for Christmas eve. I don’t announce it or anything, they just appear on the kids’ beds. They have fun guessing where they came from; was it an early visit from Santa? Did the elves sneak away from the workshop and drop them off? Fairies? The dog? I don’t admit it being me, but don’t outright deny it either. So fun!
December 21st, 2008 at 10:19 pm
In our house, Christmas Eve is a bigger deal than Christmas. The whole family comes to my mom’s house (from both sides, even though my parents have not been together for over 20 years). We sit in front of the fireplace chatting and catching up, mom cooks a big dinner, and we open presents. Then, when everyone goes home, the immediate family opens all the gifts under that tree (that we used to open on Christmas morning as kids) and drink Bailey’s.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:19 pm
My family has Italian heritage and my favorite tradition at Christmas is all the wonderful food! We do the seven fish Christmas Eve dinner and my mom, aunt and I all make at least 7-10 different types of Italian christmas cookies. I’m in charge of “tarole” - an Italian pastry recipe that’s been handed down in our family. It’s kind of tricky and it takes about 2 months to prepare the filling so it’s ready for Christmas. It’s just makes Christmas special (and delicious!).
December 21st, 2008 at 10:22 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is to EAT! I love trying all the various foods that people make for the holidays.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:22 pm
My favorite Christmas tradition is the huge breakfast we all enjoy on Christmas morning once the gifts have all been opened. We have eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, and lots of fun. I will always treasure the memories of all of our breakfasts together as a family and how blessed we are to have each other.
I hope you and your family have a blessed and happy holiday season.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:22 pm
My favorite tradition is baking & decorating cookies. Both of my kids just love this. It take about 2 hrs but they plug along until they are all done!!
December 21st, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Our favourite tradition is to have the family watch Polar Express on Christmas Eve. We never get tired of watching such a wonderful movie.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:28 pm
We have tried to create some different traditions for our son than what we grew up with. We make a non-traditional Christmas Eve dinner…Fettucini Alfredo with Smoked Salmon. We open a couple of presents on Christmas Eve and go to Church and then we open more presents on Christmas morning followed by Belgian Waffles. We don’t do Christmas cookies but we do have other favorites that we try to have each year. We also love to give the dog the wrapping paper to shred…he loves that and he loves to destroy (terrorize his Christmas presents) so that is part of the fun as well. The hardest part is being away from extended family. We either travel which means we can’t do our small family traditions or we stay home and miss our grandparents,sibblings, cousins and friends. The Blessings and the bittersweet!
December 21st, 2008 at 10:28 pm
We have three books that we read every Christmas Eve. Winnie the Pooh’s Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and a Mickey Mouse version of The Night Before Christmas. We started when my son was a baby. He’s 16 now, and he still listens. I don’t know if he’s enjoying it, or if he’s just humoring me, but either way, we still do it. (I hope he’s enjoying it!)
Debbie
December 21st, 2008 at 10:29 pm
Hi! My favorite tradition is something my family has done since way before I was born. We have a big party with music and food every Christmas Eve. Then we go to midnight mass. Once mass is over we head home and open our presents. (Santa always mysteriously stops by while we are at mass.)
December 21st, 2008 at 10:30 pm
My favorite tradition growing up was going to my Granny’s house on Christmas morning; she had these huge stockings she’d made for all of us, and they were always filled with things like knee-highs and apples and oranges, LOL! And on Christmas morning, she always made fresh homemade doughnuts. We are now far away, but I still miss my Granny’s house on Christmas morning.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Not many of the family traditions I knew as a child have survived into my adulthood. I lived alone in a small apartment for so long that even a tree and decorations were abandoned. Now that I have a significant other, we celebrate with his family on Christmas Eve. There is a constant flow of people, tons of food (including my fabulous pecan pies!), gifts, and we don’t get home until about 3 in the morning. Christmas Day is just the two of us.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Each year my boyfriend and I go pick out a tree together, when we get it home and after he places it in the stand, I string the lights, then he decorates the tree while I cook dinner or bake goodies. We generally finish the last of the decorations together, then sit back enjoy a nice dinner and admire our handiwork by the fire. Oh and did I mention the prime rib and yorkshire pudding on Christmas Day!
December 21st, 2008 at 10:32 pm
My new favourite tradition is watching my son open his presents on chanukah. Whether it is something made or bought (we give him something small each night) the joy and delight he gets from receiving a wrapped gift is a pleasure to experience.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:36 pm
My husband’s Grandma Betty, before her eyesight failed her, would knit slippers for everyone in the family. At the family Christmas party, she’d have a giant box full of hand-knit slippers in various colors and sizes, and she would invite us to dig in a pick the pair we wanted most. Such a generous gesture. I knew she spent many, many days each year stitching her love for us all into those slippers. The first pair I ever received, I wore daily for nearly two years before I wore them out. The last year she knit slippers for us — nearly 17 years ago now — I took a few pair home. I still have two pair in the bottom of my sock bin. I don’t wear them because I want to make them last, but every time I dig through the sock bin, I put my hands on them and remember Grandma Betty and her hands that seemed able to knit anything.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:36 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is our family Christmas party. My mom has eight sisters and all our extended families gather together shortly before Christmas for a massive party. There are over a hundred of us and for many, it’s the only time all year we see each other. Within the party itself, my favorite tradition is the shopping bag contest. This activity started more than 70 years ago when my grandmother had 9 girls running around the house while she tried to cook Christmas Eve dinner. She sat the girls down with crayons and shopping bags and told them the best shopping bag would get to open gifts first. Seventy years later, it’s turned into an elaborate contest that almost everyone participates in. I turned 49 this year and I’ve never missed a party!
December 21st, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Years ago, my kids starting clamoring to open a present on Christmas Eve. I finally gave in, but I chose the present they would each open … each girls’ present was a new pair of pajamas. So now every year, they get to open 1 present Christmas Eve and it’s always new pjs. My middle daughter (now 12 y.o.) finally figured it out last year and commented … it’s always pjs!
December 21st, 2008 at 10:37 pm
When we were kids, my father would take us for a walk to get our Christmas tree on Christmas Eve because they were marked down, or if we were lucky, free. He’d drag the tree behind him to get it home. Once we got home and he set the tree in its wobbly stand, it was time to decorate. There was one ornament that was considered special. The child who found it first and hung it on the tree was able to open one of their gifts on Christmas Eve. It was always exciting to see who’d find it first. As adults, we’ve altered the tradition by letting everyone open one gift on Christmas Eve.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:38 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is making tamales with my family. We all take turns working different ’stations’ around the table, chatting and having fun. There’s tons of food, family, and friends. For me, it’s what’s the holidays are all about.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Oh — our favorite tradition? Definitely the fabulous appetizers we eat after Christmas Eve worship–we look forward to them all year! Early in my first marriage we suffered through the in-law’s hideous oyster stew. The night my father-in-law literally kicked and hit the 4-year-old at the table because he just couldn’t eat that bitter brew I just knew there had to be a better way to live. That was the last Christmas Eve spent in their house, the last oyster I’ve ever eaten, and a whole world of fabulous appetizers has appeared. This year, for the very first time, I can’t be with my now-adult daughter for Christmas Eve. And on the 20th we made a table full of delicious appetizers and her three little ones, her fabulous husband, and my wonderful-second-husband all sat down, rejoiced in the birth of Jesus and the meaning of Christmas, and pigged out!
Thanks for letting me share a very happy night!
LINDA
December 21st, 2008 at 10:42 pm
My parents announced their separation two Christmas’ ago so the holidays have been a challenge for my siblings and I these last 2 years. To try and bring happiness and new tradition into Christmas we (my siblings and our spouses) have started drawing secret names within our group and whosever name you get, you fill a stocking for them filled with stuff you know they will love. We give each other our stockings on Christmas morning. My favorite part is thinking privately about that person and choosing small things they would really love. It also makes me feel good to know there is someone out there thinking the same things about me.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Our Christmas tradition started out taking place after attending christmas mass with the kids - neighborhoods surrounding the church always have luminaria lit all through the streets, so we would pile everyone into the car and drive the streets without car lights for at least an hour, looking at how the luminaria lit up the neighborhoods - along with the holiday lights of course.
Now that we attend midnight services, we go out early to see the luminaria before attending church.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:42 pm
My favorite tradition is taking the kids to the tree farm and picking out our tree. Once we pick it out, we take a family picture in front of it for our Christmas cards before we cut it down. We bring it home and have hot cocoa and cookies.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:46 pm
My favorite family tradition is making (and eating!) homemade ravioli. The recipe and pasta machine were handed down from my grandmother. Everyone has a “job”, from kneading and rolling out the dough to cooking the filling to stuffing and pinching the pasta. It is a real family project!
December 21st, 2008 at 10:47 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is actually a new-ish one that I got from my husband when we first started dating. That first year, he presented me with 2 cards on Christmas Eve - a funny one, and a very thoughtful romantic one. Now, each year, we exchange one of each with each other when we are finally alone on Christmas Eve. We also each get to open one present afterwards. Something I grew up doing as a kid and still really enjoy sharing with him
Congratulations on a successful & wonderful year and I hope that 2009 is even better for all of you! Happy Holidays!!
December 21st, 2008 at 10:48 pm
My favourite holiday tradition happens Christmas Eve. Ever since we were children, we had a huge Ukranian feast with 12 meatless dishes on Christmas Eve. After a huge dinner with pyrogies, salmon, and other goodies, Santa came to visit. He always had a small gift for us and made us promise to be asleep when he would come back later with the good stuff.
My children loved that Santa came to see them, and now their children can’t wait for him to come.
The bigger kids try to guess who it is, but we all know that it truly is Santa.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Christmas eve we spend with my in laws. We always have sandwiches with all the fixins and open presents. Christmas morning we usual go to my parents house and open presents and later eat dinner. This year we are having Christmas eve and Christmas day at my house. I miss Christmas eve as a child the most. We would go to mass. Afterward, we would go to my grandparent’s house. My granny would make all these candies and cookies and oh so much deliciously, unhealthy goodness. There was homemade eggnog and ham and you would graze until you were ready to pop. Then we would open presents. Unfortunately, my grandparents moved away and now my grandmother has alzheimer’s.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Oh, how I would love to win! I am hoping someone extends my memberships here at home or at least gives me some yarn cash
My favorite tradition is waking up early on Christmas morning, eating monkey bread and egg bake while opening presents with my family.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Being Italian, my favorite holiday tradition is eating non-stop on Thanksgiving and Christmas! We would literally start eating around noon or so, and continue until about 7pm or so. Starting with soup, then homemade pasta and meatballs, continuing with what a lot of people think of as “traditional” Christmas food (ham et. al), followed by salad (this is always eaten LAST!), then dessert, and finally sitting around eating roasted chestnuts. Yum!
December 21st, 2008 at 10:54 pm
I have to say that my Fave holiday tradition is going tobogganing christmas day!! we tend to have about 12 feet of snow by then…and it’s fantastic. Now that I have a child it’s goign to be amazing to keep the tradition that was started when my brother and I were little going
December 21st, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Our favorite tradition is to stay in our PJ’s all day on Thanksgiving. Sometimes we have to rush to visit with relatives for other holidays but on Thanksgiving we make sure that we don’t need to go anywhere. It’s all about spending the day together.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:55 pm
My husband and I spend Christmas Eve alone together. We don’t have kids, but we do have 4 dogs. During the day, we take them for a long walk and give them special treats. Then, my husband and I go out for a late lunch/early dinner to a favorite restaurant. Then, we come home, have a fire, watch “A Christmas Story” or “It’s a Wonderful Life” and drink champagne. It’s nice to have a quiet day before the insanity of Christmas Day and our visits out to family and friends.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:59 pm
My favorite Christmas tradition growing up was watching the Wizard of Oz and the Sound of Music. Now that I’m older and have kids of my own, it takes on an even greater meaning by getting to share that tradition with the next generation. We even get my son singing!
December 21st, 2008 at 11:07 pm
We live out of state from both mine and DH’s families so we’ve started to build our very own traditions. On Christmas Eve we host as many families from church that can fit in our home for dinner and then attend the family service with everyone and return to our home for dessert, coffee and great fellowship. We’ll miss doing it this year since our new son was born just over a week ago and momma still needs some rest time.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:10 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is one I married into. Following the Danish tradition of my father-in-law we have a big “smorgasbord” on Christmas Eve. There is some required fare such as wonton soup, Spam pizzas, deviled eggs, and “stinky cheeses.” Delicious fun!
December 21st, 2008 at 11:11 pm
My favorite Christmas tradition was watching “Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas,” this old, fairly obscure early Muppet special. When I met my now-husband 3 years ago, we knew that we were destined to be a couple, as it was our first Christmas together. I ashamedly revealed to him my favorite holiday movie, and I just described it — no title — and he laughed and yelled the title. It was fate, I think, to finally date the one other person in the world who loves Emmett Otter as much as I did! So now it’s our tradition to watch it together every Christmas eve. Hopefully, by next Christmas, we can watch it together with our first child!
December 21st, 2008 at 11:14 pm
My family has always done our main celebration on Christmas eve. We have a huge feast, open presents and enjoy each other’s company. The last few years, though, since my parents moved far away, we’ve missed the tradition and have to try to get together across the distance on that day. I suppose we need to create a new tradition!
December 21st, 2008 at 11:17 pm
My favorite part of the holiday is decorating the tree with all our old ornaments and remembering the years they came from. We don’t do latkes in my family but the Christmas Eve tamales are a special treat. There’s no family outting to cut a tree but sometimes it takes the whole family to get the artificial one out of the attic. We dip pretzels in chocolate and bake cookies. And all the aunts and uncles and cousins come to our house for the big Christmas gorging. It’s a great holiday.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:18 pm
We watch lots of movies, eat all day, have candles going, and try to take it moment for moment instead of rushing thru the day.
This holiday is extra special, having my husband deploying in January, we are trying to make it as memorable as we can for the kids.
Happy Holidays!
December 21st, 2008 at 11:23 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is taking my daughter to see The Nutcracker, just the two of us. We make a day of it, get all dressed up, go out for lunch, really enjoy our Girlie Time together. It’s magical to see the world through her eyes for the day, to be totally in the moment with her.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:23 pm
every year we bundle everyone up and brave the freezing temps to see the christmas light display at the idaho botanical gardens. it really is spectacular! there are cookies and hot beverages, and santa is there with one of his reindeer:: the real santa of course, not one of those dept. store santas
we went just last night in fact! we had a blast!
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=winter%20garden%20aglow&w=all
happy holidays!
xo,
erika
December 21st, 2008 at 11:33 pm
We always have a big Ukrainian feast every xmas eve. We make perogies, cabbage rolls, and soup and basically overdose on food. I am not sure why we do this because the Ukrainian is way back in the family, but this tradition has stuck.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:34 pm
We always watch a Muppet Christmas Carol and eat cinnamon rolls after the presents are opened. Yum =-]
December 21st, 2008 at 11:40 pm
My favorite Christmas tradition is attending our little churches Christmas Eve service where we sing and share and then all light a candle and join hands in a big circle around the room and sing a last song together. Such a special time!
December 21st, 2008 at 11:41 pm
Neither my mother or my grandmother were much into cooking during the holidays, so it’s taken me 20 years to accumulate, test, and decide on my holday recipes. It’s nice to know that my children have fond memories of Thanksgiving and Christmas meals and want to make the same things for their families.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:42 pm
Every year my extend family gathers at someone’s home on Christmas Eve and we eat and drink and laugh and usually we have a gift exchange but this year we adopted a needy family instead.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Hmmm… I think my favorite Christmas tradition is going to Midnight church services on Christmas eve. It will be extra special this year as my 10 year old son will be an acolyte for that service. :o) I also look forward to our family breakfast that morning. I do breakfast casserole, and homemade cinnamon buns. Delicious!
December 21st, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Our holiday traditions consist of doing a family Christmas Eve party at one of my extended family members homes. Complete with yummy food, good conversation, and of course presents!!! We also do a yearly round robin gift exchange for the adults. It is very fun. In the last 2 years it has become tradition for us to make a 4 hour drive to the town of my birth to visit with my Grandmothers. Both of them lost their husbands within a month of each other and have little to no family in the area. We love to spend time with them and it gives our children a chance to develope memories with Grandmas that they rarely see. Holidays are all about family after all.
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:03 am
My favorite holiday tradition is putting up and decorating our Christmas tree. Now that our son is nearing 2, the look on his face when he puts an ornament on the tree and the lights turn on is the best feeling in the world!
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:15 am
We have a special Christmas Eve dinner and then we all watch It’s A Wonderful Life. Christmas morning used to start very early when the kids were little but now, thankfully, they sleep in. We start with stockings, eat some breakfast, open presents. Then we lounge around until we make dinner. Various relatives and friends have joined us over the years.
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:16 am
OK, I have quite a few family “traditions” that I have carried forward from my childhood. I am the youngest of 6 kids, and I didn’t find out until I was in my early 20s that the traditions that I grew up with actually started with me! That Christmas present I always opened on Christmas Eve? Yep, that started because I finally wore my Mother down. The Blueberry Buckle on Christmas morning! Yep, harassed her for that too. Poor woman, lol.
The one tradition I know started before my time was the Christmas stocking that were hand-knit by my Grandmother, a master knitted if I ever knew one. Since she passed away the needles have been passed to my Mom since I am a crocheter instead of a knitter. But she has made my husband and 2 girls stockings to match mine including the soft angora hair for Santa’s beard.
I’m looking forward to actually being at my Mom’s house this week for Christmas for the 2nd time in 10 years. Yay, here comes the blueberry buckle!
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:20 am
My favorite holiday tradition? That’s hard to say, I have so many! Baking shortbread cookies, our knitting group’s holiday party complete with Secret Santa, decorating the tree while watching a Christmas movie, watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and Elf at LEAST three times each from Thanksgiving through New Years, watching the cats play under the Christmas tree, and most of all visiting hubby’s family, especially seeing the neice and nephew
This year we should see snow for the first time in 5 years - heading to Denver, CO!!
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:30 am
My favorite holiday tradition is making cookies. I make several different kinds (and fudge). My 8 yo helps. It would be shameful to give Santa anything but homemade.
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:30 am
Well this is funny, as my “kids” are now 29, 26, and 22 and we still laugh when then come over early in the morning and “beg” us to get out of bed to see what Santa has left to start our day. We make coffee now, instead of hot chocalate, and then enjoy our day remembering years of Christmas celebrations. This year will be particuarly special as we start a NEW TRADITION of going to my oldest daughter’s house, bright and early, to get my first grandson up, to start the day’s celebrations and adding new memories of family through the new Little Guy’s Eyes!
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:25 am
Since my kids are older now, we have a new tradition that we started a few years ago - we fill each others stockings with handmade gifts. They can be baked, crafted, sewn or recorded, but they have to be made by the giver. It’s been really fun and way more meaningful than the typical ’stocking stuffer’ for us.
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:30 am
My husband has a toy train hobby which is extensive already, but at Christmas it expands to the livingroom. He designs a lovely train layout on the floor around the tree and presents. We have to get a spray bottle of water handy to keep the mini schnauzers from attacking the train as it chugs around- I think it pushes their ratting instinct into high gear and they really want to kill that train- but then they’d rather not get wet, so the train wins and we all enjoy the scene. Happy Holidays everyone! Thanks Three Irish Girls!
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:36 am
I love attending our town’s tree lighting ceremony which we follow by taking the kids to see Santa. It’s a great way to start the holiday season.
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:39 am
We never really had a tradition growing up, but since having children of my own I was looking forward to starting one. So now every year we buy a gift for a child the same age as ours and donate it to a charity such as Toys for Tots. I hate to think of any child not having anything to open on Christmas morning.
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:39 am
The first that comes to mind is one that we have carried over from my childhood - after we get home from Christmas Eve church service, we each open one gift - a new pair of jammies to wear to bed that night. I am particularly excited for this year as it is our first with the kids having matching jammies!
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:41 am
family! no matter what we do, we do it together. My husband and kids, my parents, siblings, in laws, we are all really close. Most years we draw names for gifts, this year we aren’ doing grown up gifts. It’s really about the time spent together. We cook, eat, look at lights, watch silly movies. (White Christmas, A Christmas Story, and National Lampoons) we stay up too late, play card games that the inlaws don’t get. We decorate the tree with decorations from my childhood that are bent, stained and smashed but still have a place on the tree.
We do a lot, too much, every year, but at the end of it all, it’s us. Together.
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:43 am
This will sound strange but our family Christmas tradition is to watch “The Sound of Music” after dinner. I don’t remember how this tradition started but last year, after a move, we lost the DVD and Christmas was not the same. So of course, I had to buy the 40th Anniversary DVD edition and now we are back on track.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas this year!
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:44 am
My favorite holiday tradition is choosing the Christmas tree and decorating it. We look through all of the trees till we find the one that calls out to us to take it home, then we drag out all the ornaments and talk about where they came from and who got them while we listen to Christmas music. After its all done my husband makes himself some eggnog and we all watch a Christmas movie together.
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:55 am
We don’t have a great tradition yet. Our oldest kid just turned 4, so he is really excited about it. So far our tradition is going to family’s houses, but we’d like to also have an ornament tradition, and a tradition of having the kids participate in the Giving Tree.
JD
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:13 am
Traditionally, my favorite holiday tradition has been my husbands baking frenzy. Even though we give away 90% of what he bakes, I love what he makes. All of his recipes are decades (some over a century) family recipes that were brought over by his parents and grandparents fleeing Germany during the Hitler years. They are made every winter and offered as gifts for all the various holidays to honor the family that made it out and survived, as well as those who didn’t.
But I think my new favorite will be one we started this year. Instead of buying gifts for everyone, we donated the money we would have spent to one charity in the families’ names to honor both families. We buy each other gifts that are cost no more than $25 and then send out cards to everyone letting them know which charity we chose in their name. This year it was Heifer International. I have a feeling it’s going to be fun to go through and debate which charity we will choose each year. There are many deserving candidates out there, and we’ve resolved to never choose a charity to which we regularly donate.
Oh - and he still did the baking. But I had more fun choosing the charity.
Happy Holidays to all!
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:24 am
My favourite holiday tradition - well, actually it is two: every Christmas we have a gathering in my stable; we eat cookies and drink “gløgg” surrounded by all of our horses. We go for a ride in sledges, and the kids love this happening. One of my old horses also loves this - cause he knows he will get cookies, he knows the “routine”!
The other one is to pick out the Christmas tree. We have our own “forest” - with trees, and the thing is; we pick out the three we feel no one else would have picked - a crooked not-so-pretty tree, and then; with a little arrangement and so on- we try to make it a beauty! (we have all the oppurtunity to pick a real nice one, but ….everybody deserves a chance, even a tree!)
From Norway: I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year!
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:40 am
I am Chinese-American and our Christmas dinners are composed of various Chinese dishes along with the more traditional turkey and trimmings. Growing up, I always wished we could just have what I thought of as the typical American Christmas meal so I could fit in with my other friends. I’m glad I grew out of that narrow-minded attitude and came to understand that every family makes their own traditions. Now, I treasure and look forward to these dinners!
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:42 am
Getting together for a Christmas tea with friends. It started when I was a kid with my mom and some school friends and evolved from there.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:54 am
We don’t celebrate the holidays but when the days are short like this we love to snuggle and watch movies with popcorn or bake and now that my older dd’s are knitting we knit together too!
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:55 am
Since marrying DH (different culture) and have children (now have 3) I have started some a couple of new traditions. Firstly the children get to choose a new ornament for the Christmas tree. This helps get the ornament stash up, and it makes dressing the tree more special as they remember the ornaments, and who chose them.
And then on Christmas Eve they get to open one present, Christmas pjs
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:08 am
holiday question
We love to bake cookies before christmas so we can eat them on christmas eve after church.
Usually they are sugar cookies.
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:43 am
As many others, our tradition started without our realizing it. Each year the kids and I make our own Christmas ornaments, paper chains, popcorn garland, etc. This Christmas-craftaganza has grown so much that we now make our own tree as well! It started with the realization that cutting down a tree to use for a week was such a waste and irresponsible. We had considered purchasing a ‘fake’ tree but thought more of the three “R’s” and remembered the mountain of cardboard boxes stored in our basement. We cut out shapes to fashion a 3-D tree and hang our hand-crafted ornaments on it. We take pictures and when the holidays are over, we dis-assemble the tree, saving the cardboard for the kids to draw on or for projects, etc. We save a small piece of the cardboard for the next year’s ornament, where we stick the picture of this year’s tree!
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:43 am
In our part of Asia, gift-giving is not part of CHristmas holiday tradition. The tradition I loved most as a kid was having Santa (or Sinterklas, as we call him) come and give out presents (pre-given to him by participating parents).
His helpers, though, the Suartepits (I think it might have come from the German Schwartz Piet, because they’re midnight black and scary), I didn’t like at all. They bag naughty kids to be sent off to the North Pole.
I’d like my kids to have fond memories of Sinterklas as well, and I’ll make sure they’ll get their share of Christmas fright from Suartepit too
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:21 am
We don’t really have any big holiday traditions… my favorite part is just being together, hoping we’ve found each other the perfect gifts, and celebrating the spirit and meaning of the season.
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:23 am
I absolutely love Boxing Day - all of the men in the family go out to watch football (soccer) and I stay in with my mum and my sister, playing with new toys and chatting. It is still a lovely festival atmosphere but so much more relaxed that Christmas Day itself. We always have homemade chips (fries!) with cold turkey for dinner too!
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:28 am
Well, coming from a family of mostly scandinavian heritage, we follow my old family tradition of using the tree from the previous Christmas as the Good Yule Log to start the following Christmas morning’s fire. When the tree has dried (outside after the holiday is over and decorations are off and the birds have used it for shelter from the Nebraska storms all winter) we cut the trunk into several small logs which we store through the sping/summer/fall and, on Christmas Eve after carol’s are sung and socks are hung (by the chimney with care) we lay the fire for Christmas morning. Before the children are allowed downstairs, Dad goes down to light the fire and turn on the tree. With wonder and large eyes glowing from the visit of Santa in the night (milk drunk — cookies eaten — carrots consumed by Santa and his reindeer of course), the carol’s play on the stereo and the wonderful smell of burning pine tree — last year’s beloved Christmas tree and this year’s Good Yule Log — fills the air, our nostrils and our hearts with the joys/smells/memories of Christmases past/present/future.
“. . . and I heard him exclain ‘er he drove out of sight, ‘Happy Christmas to all . . . and to All a Good Night’ . . .”
With love and blessings from the plains of Nebraska to the Three Irish Girls.
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:29 am
you wanted to know what our tradition for the holiday season is to go to Midnight Mass and then we all go home to the grandparents house to open our presents.
Christmas Day is spent eating our lavish dinner and being with one another.
what more can you ask of life.
Merry Christmas to You and Your Family. Happy New Year and many, many more to come
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:30 am
Our big holiday celebration is Thanksgiving, and every four years this includes a BIG family reunion. With five kids, eight granddaughters and one grandson (adopted), and four great grandsons (no great granddaughters), and five members of our extended “best friends” family, we stuff us all into our little house for a very big tummy stuffing Thanksgiving meal (three different stuffings, two different cranberry side dishes and three different pies (two of each).) One family comes from Maine, one from NYC, one from California and the rest from the greater Pacific Northwest. Then we are retreat to our various abodes for a calm and relatively casual Christmas/Chanukah holiday with our individual families and the other extended families they each have. At Thanksgiving we only have drum sticks to dispose of, no wrapping paper, no lost batteries, no dry tree needles or broken bulbs. A quiet, small Christmas/Chanukah is relaxing, rejuvenating and happily peaceful, remembering the happy, smiling faces of five kids, eight granddaughters and one grandson (adopted), and four great grandsons (no great granddaughters), and five members of our extended “best friends” family. We love this tradition.
BTW, I am absolutely IN LOVE WITH YOUR YARN!!!
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:03 am
My favorite holiday tradition is chinese food on Christmas eve. Strange for an Irish Catholic family? why yes!!
It started years ago when my dad’s aunt dropped by and except for the future christmas dinner there was not much to eat in the house. So dad ordered up some chinese food. The next year she called and asked could we do it again. Twenty years later I think it is the only “tradition” that has stuck with us no matter what state we end up in!!
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanakah, Joyous Kwanza or festivus
Pj
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:15 am
My husband is active duty Navy and I am a hairdresser on the base here in Japan where Christmas is not a holiday. Every Christmas we ask every sailor we come into contact with what they are doing for Christmas, everyone who says they have no plans come to our home to celebrate with us.
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:44 am
My favourite tradition is going to church. I come from a pretty unreligious family, but grew up in an area where church was strong. I have been singing in church choires for years and love to come to church. Especially for christmas where there are so many people they have to stand, where there are so many children, looking so happy, and there is just a very special athmosphere in church on that special day. I was sick last year and couldnt go. Hopefully this year I get to bring my kids to church to enjoy the beautiful music and the special atmosphere.
Merry christmas to all.
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:45 am
We have a nice dinner at my grandparent’s house on Christmas Eve followed by opening presents, having a wrapping paper fight, and more eating. Everyone of age sits around the table and enjoys glass after glass of wine, some of which home-brewed from the previous year. Oh, the conversations are grand and it sure does make Christmas morning interesting!
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:16 am
On Christmas Eve just before bed, we sit down in our jammies and read Twas the Night Before Christmas. Then, after we read it, we write in the front cover who read it and the date.
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:18 am
my favorite holiday tradition is where we go to celebrate christmas eve, as we do christmas day with each of our immediate family… i have 4 brothers and 3 sisters, so one of us we “host” the annual christmas eve somewhere “new” each yaer.. with all the grandkids etc bacame too much for our mom (who is no longer with us) so for the past 11 years we have just been taking turns…from who can find the craziest holiday hat to the surprises “dishes” we bring we all love to try new things… it has been quite the tradition to see who can up with the most liked dishof the night!!
oh and usually my cheescake cookies take the prize.. dont ask why. if i dont bake them i cant go :). another sad but true Holiday tradition around here…
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:43 am
We couldn’t have kids, so it’s just the two of us. For dinner we make a prime rib. We have gifts for the 7 cats &2 dogs. We open presents for everyone and start dinner. We put fake antlers on the great Dane and laugh like crazy. The rest of the day is filled with movies and playing with gifts and the pets, not to mention knitting.
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:45 am
This is the first year that my son really “gets” Christmas, so I am trying to include some of my favorite childhood traditions into his memories of Christmas. One of my favorites was each year my grandfather would make us ornaments that had our names on them and the year. So on Christmas eve we are going to have an ornament making party while we are waiting for Santa’s cookies to cook!!
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:56 am
My favorite Christmas tradition is reading “The Night Before Christmas” to my kid and husband. It’s the only time we read it during the holiday season, and it’s truly something they look forward to (yes, even my husband). I have also been buying my children special ornaments each year, reflecting something that happened in their lives. This year my son’s ornament is a lab puppy.
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:57 am
I’m not sure if we’ve gotten into traditions yet. The girls are still pretty young, so I’m playing things by ear. Traditions I’d like to start this year with my girls are cookie decorating (we’re going to do this sometime this week) and latke making. I made latkes at their school this year and smelled like I’d bathed in Eau de Latke for the rest of the day!
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:07 am
Every Christmas morning, we make a big fuss going downstairs to see if Santa has come to our house. I have my daughter wait & of course take pictures as she descends the stairs. Last year I had to wake her (she’s 17!). My husband & I have special Christmas bathrobes that we wear each year as we open gifts….it’s funny seeing us in the same outfit …ageing of course!
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:13 am
My favorite holiday tradition would be my son’s advent calendar. It’s a wooden chimney, and each day a “brick” is pulled out and a little Santa figure falls down the chimney a bit. On the last day, he falls into the fireplace. My son is 14 this year, and he was still excited to get it out and set it up (and let me tell you, it takes a lot to excite my too-cool-for-school 14 year old!).
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:34 am
We go to my MIL and watch all the kids open gifts, I used to be really big on doing lots of things, but over the years they have slipped away.
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:35 am
My favorite tradition is simply baking in the kitchen. I loved doing it when I was little and now my son gets to join in the fun. Spending an afternoon with my mom or grandmother making treats and then watching everyone enjoy. Ahhhhh
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:46 am
Our family all gets together on Christmas Eve. We have dinner and open the presents from each other that are under the tree. Then, during the night, Santa comes and fills all the stocking and leaves more gifts for the kids. So much fun
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:47 am
We do a pretty low key Christmas, it’s sort of our response to all the craziness that comes with the holiday. In my immediate family we get three presents. Something you want ( usually that’s the biggie) something you need and something to wear. That and the kids have taken to stuffing each other’s stockings. We also do a non traditional Christmas dinner. Fruit, cheeses, antipasto. It encourages family to gather around the table throughout the day, and visitors feel comfortable stopping in.
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:51 am
We have so many holiday traditions, it’s hard to pick one favorite. I suppose the favorite is making a gingerbread house. When my brothers and I were kids, my grandmother sent us a kit in the mail every year, and the three of us would put it together right before Christmas. I have continued to do this with my kids, and every year we try to get at least one of my brothers involved as well. This year, the kids and I, my mom, my youngest brother and his girlfriend put together out gingerbread house. There was frosting everywhere, candies bouncing all over the floor and rolling under the fridge and stove … but we had a great time!
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:52 am
Our family tradition is to go to the tree farm on Black Friday and decorate it that weekend. We also use an advent calendar to mark the days. And finally, we celebrate on the Solstice since we drive to family for Christmas and I make a Buche de Noel (Yule Log Cake) for dessert on Solstice. Of course there is also cookie baking and I make a fruit cake, mmm.
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:53 am
We have so many holiday traditions that it’s difficult to choose just one favorite. One of my favorites is that every Christmas evening after all the other guests have left (I always do Christmas in our family), we watch Christmas Vacation. No matter how many times I’ve seen that movie, I always laugh. Maybe I’m just so happy to finally get to relax!
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:59 am
My favorite holiday tradition is giving each other new pjs on Christmas Eve. Its fun to pick them out and then we get to wear them all morning on Xmas Day. We don’t do a family outing for our tree. We have a fake one but we do decorate it together.
OWe watch a couple of movies on Xmas Eve and Day vorite A Christmas Story and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:01 am
One of our traditions is to come home after Christmas Eve service (where at least one or two of the three kids has sung) and the kids unwrap their jammies from Nana. They get dressed up in their jammies, and we take off in the van to look at the luminaries that are placed up and down our historic south end Main Street. We also catch some of the more popular sites in Findlay, Ohio including the gentleman who has absolutely no yard but has at least 100 of those plastic Santas and inflatables.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:03 am
My favorite holidat tradition is baking cookies for my family and friends. My other tradition new tradition is inviting friends over for Christmas Day that have on where else to go. You can see how much this means to them as otherwise they would be alone. We have done this for many years now and Christmas would not be the same without them to enjoy this special day. As this is what Christmas is all about “sharing”. May all your Christmas dreams come true.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:17 am
Our favorite tradition is getting together with my family on Christmas eve
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:18 am
No clue what a latke is…but we do make Christmas Mix every year. In the spirit of Christmas here’s the recipe
6 c. Crispix
3 c. Cheerios
2 c. Pretzel Sticks
1 pound M&M’s
1 pound white almond bark
melt the bark…pour over the mix…let harden…break apart.
You will make it more than once I guarantee it!
Other than that my most fave tradition is watching the movie White Christmas.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:19 am
We have a lot of family traditions also. With our kiddos, we visit a special Santa in a little house at Utica Square. While we are waiting in line, we drink hot cocoa and sometimes, sing Christmas carols.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:24 am
Favorite tradition would have to be baking cookies. It’s the only time of the year that I manage to carve out enough time to do it and there’s just something about a house that smells like fresh baked cookies….
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:25 am
Turning all the lights in the house out then starting with 1 candle which is left from previous year we light candles in every room in the house and on front and back steps.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:28 am
Driving around and looking at the Christmas displays and lights on Christmas Eve. Hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas and a happy & healthy 2009.
Marie
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:29 am
My favorite holiday tradition has to be making gifts for my family and friends. I really like creating things for specific people and seeing their reactions to what I’ve made. It makes me feel all awkward and happy and proud. I still give some gifts that I’ve bought, but for the most part handmade is the way I go on gifts.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:40 am
My favorite holiday tradition is actually my favorite auntie’s tradition. She makes the best, to-die-for, pecan toffee and every Christmas gives me a tin full of it. No, I don’t share and yes, I eat it all! YUM!
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:44 am
I just discovered a tradition that I didn’t even know was a tradition until this year. My girls asked me “Are we going to get those new pajamas that you wrap and put on our beds the night before Christmas?” I love that - my first tradition with *my* little family:)
Happy Holidays!
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:48 am
Making hot chocolate and watching A White Christmas with my mom after all our presents are unwrapped.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:48 am
We usually celebrate Xmas on Xmas Eve. We put baby Jesus in the “pesebre”, as a symbol that he has been born. Then we pray, and sign carols for about 15 minutes. Then we have a HUGE dinner. In the mean time, all children are shoving up their mouths with food, because they know you can only open the presents after you are done eating. Then we open the presents.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:50 am
Fondue for Christmas Eve Dinner. Its easy to prepare and the meal takes hours so its a great way to spend time with the family.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:54 am
I think my favorite family Christmas tradition is our family party. I have a huge family (my Nana has 8 kids, 21 grankids and 21 great gran kids!) plus we add in freinds and general craziness abounds. We have a gift swap and a potluck dinner but the best part is just catching up and spending time with my family.
Other then that the thing I love the most about the holidays is how my family gets so excited to have a handmade gift from me under the tree!
Thanks for a great giveaway! Happy Holidays!
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:59 am
I think fondue might be our tradition, but I am just not sure. Otherwise it would be…ummm…opening presents.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:00 am
My favorite Christmas tradition is the only one that has survived the death of grandparents and the relocation of Christmas from my family hometown in New Hampshire to my nephews’ hometown in Texas. We had many traditions that were lost with certain individuals (my uncle Tosh’s homemade ice cream) or geography (the fresh cut tree from a famliy friend’s Christmas tree farm in NH ~ this one persisted as far South as Virginia!), but my mother’s cranberry muffins on Christmas morning have stayed with us no matter where we are or who is celebrating with us. And I believe that even after my mother passes on (at least 20 years from now), we’ll still begin every Christmas morning with her special recipe.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:02 am
Being with family is the best.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:03 am
Favorite Holiday tradition? The Chanukah carnival at my son’s school! I usually escort one of the classes around the carnival, and I always have a ball. Plus I get to teach the little ones how to eat latkes afterward!
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:08 am
I would have to say my favorite holiday tradition is our New Years Eve tradition. We’ve been getting together with good friends for about 25 years, and have only missed 1 year! We started before we had kids and always went out, once the kids came along we’d alternate going to each other’s house and spending the night. Food ALWAYS includes shrimp cocktail, steak, and lobster, among many other things! And a BIG breakfast in the morning. Their kids are grown and doing their own thing now while we still have a couple at home. We’re still going strong. There is something to be said for good friends!
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:16 am
My favorite tradition is my mom’s early Christmas dinner for my brothers and sister and all our children. We don’t live all that far apart (3hrs) but regular life doesn’t allow us to see each other as often as we’d like. Because she does it well in advance of Christmas no one feels too rushed or has another party to get off to. This year we added sledding to the day. It sounds silly, but doing dishes with my brothers after dinner brought tears to my eyes — remembering the years when the same task brought on name-calling and arguing.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:17 am
No real traditions except getting together with family and doing gift exchange. Everyone puts their name in a hat and then we pick names. Keeps the cost down. I would love to win a sock club membership!! I had one, but could not afford to keep it:( Thank you for the chance to win!!!
Happy Holidays!! Sandi
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:18 am
How festive!
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:24 am
My favorite tradition is that we spend Christmas Eve at our neighbors house. We’ve done it since I was a little kid, and now I always look forward to seeing our surrogate family that night!
Also.. another tradition ,I suppose, is my mother telling my brothers and I not to eat the Christmas cookies! I don’t think it will ever be clear what the greater purpose of these cookies is, but it definitely does not involve the three of us eating them
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:25 am
For many years our family has joined at my house for Christmas Breakfast and gift opening. My parents were amicably divorced and they and their spouses came. We exchanged gifts watched my DD open her gifts ate breakfast casserole and took lots of pictures. We would reflect on our good fortune. This is not happening this year due to life changes.
The night before Christmas we gather at my Dad’s for dinner and Dad reads The Night Before Christmas. He always gets carolers and we stand in the cold and listen to them.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:29 am
My favorite tradition is getting a live tree and decorating it with ornaments from my childhood. I love pulling out the decorations and remembering their stories from Christmas’ past. The smell of the pine and the lights are what get me in the mood for Christmas.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:41 am
My favourite holiday tradition is watching animated holiday specials with a dear friend of mine. How the Grinch Stole Christmas always makes it on, and usually The Tick Loves Santa and the Pinky and the Brain Christmas special. She always has baked treats handy too. It’s a wonderful oasis of relaxation in the often stressful Christmas trip home.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:45 am
We always chose one gift on Christmas Eve to open. On Christmas morning, my 2 brothers and I would wake up to the Chipmunks singing Christmas songs and hot chocolate. Now, with my own kids, we are starting these traditions as well as a few of our in. My daughter helped me with the tree this year (she’s 3) and we are going to bake Christmas cookies together on Christmas Eve to leave out for Santa. She’s really getting into the whole Christmas thing this year!
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:46 am
Our family traditions include filling my handknitted stockings (for adults and cats) - no kids, but we summon our inner childlike love of the season. Baking mince tarts, making my grandmother’s recipe for spiced beef. Cutting down our own tree and decorating it with ornaments full of meaning, and a Christmas Eve listening to the Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College Cambridge. These are the traditions that define our festive season. Joy to the world!
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:46 am
With everyone’s busy lives around holidays we try to make more homemade meals and treats to share with our family and friends. it’s a nice way to share in the holiday spirit.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:46 am
We always go to visit friends & then to Grandmas for Christmas dinner.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:48 am
My favorite family tradition is hiding the pickle every year in the tree. As the kids have grown, we keep getting a smaller and smaller pickle. I try to be really sneaky and not let anyone see it if it is the year a smaller one is introduced, but sometimes I takes days for anyone to find it. It gives each of us a chance to really look at the ornaments on the tree and remember who, when, and why we have each one there.
My favorite personal tradition is going to Christmas Eve Midnight Service. The peace and calm that begins such a glorious holiday is a great way to really remember what we are celebrating. Though it is coming home from that, when I hide the pickle and can’t remember myself where I put it.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:52 am
Traditions
- Yes to the latkes, always this time of year
- The orange at the bottom of the socking - the same one every year - handmade, of course
- The dinner with the close friends and their family, who have made us a part of them
- The tree, with soft ornaments that won’t break when the cats knock them down, as they do, repeatedly.
Best wishes to all!
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:52 am
Fundue on Christmas Eve
yum.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:56 am
Every Christmas morning, after the gifts have been opened, and the paper has been tossed away, my mother (and grandmother before her) always prepared a wonderful breakfast of “Dutch Babies”. Now that I have my own family, I’ve continued the tradition, and I prepare a breakfast feast complete with “Dutch Babies”! (Dutch Babies are a sort of German Pancake which is cooked in your oven and topped with powdered sugar and butter.)
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:57 am
I buy a new special bauble for our christmas tree. I look out for something unusual or commemorative for that year. This year i’m starting a new tradition.. i’ve nearly finished crocheting our 2yr old little boy his 1st xmas stocking and have been having fun collecting bits and pieces to go him it
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:58 am
My favorite Christmas tradition is all of the baking we do throughout the season. My husband and I get up early on weekend mornings, put on tons of Christmas music, and bake 40 loaves of bread and dozens and dozens of different cookies. We then package them up and give them to our family, friends and coworkers. It’s always nice to receive something yummy and handmade with love.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:59 am
One of our favorite family traditions is looking for the pickle on the Christmas tree (too- I just read the previous comment). This is a blown glass pickle ornament and the tradition goes that whomever finds it has good luck for the next year. It has morphed into whoever find it gets the loose change around the house since young kids are always lucky anyway! My kids don’t even say hi to grandma- they make a beeline to the tree until it is found- sometimes hours!
Our other favorite is putting up the nativity scene- it’s the first thing to go up and last thing to go down. It’s in the center of the house so it is a reminder everyday of the Reason for the season.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:59 am
Growing up in a military family sometimes meant being packed out on Christmas Eve. But no matter what, the creche that my brother * I picked out when we were really small living in Naples was always set up. Living on my own, I rarely pt up a Christmas tree but the creche is always set up. Christmas is not Christmas without the creche set up. And this yea, I added some green roving to the set-up so the sheep have some wool to play in.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:05 am
As someone with a 12/24 birthday I can honestly say that my favorite holiday tradition is cake that night!
My other favorite holiday traditions are in transition - I’m in the process of converting to Judaism, and so this year will bring a menorah to my family’s big Christmas gathering. I love that they are interested, and are encouraging me to teach them, and hope that the house smells like latkes for weeks afterward!
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:06 am
Every year as a child my parents would pack me up into the car to go see “the real Santa”. This meant we were going to Frankenmuth. It’s a little Bavarian town just north of Flint, Mi. It was about a 2 hour drive, and for a small child who usually fell asleep in the car–I was convinced we had driven to the north pole. The whole town is just oozing with Christmas.
It’s a lie we’ve perpetuated with my own children–until this year anyhow. We’ve since moved to another state and can no longer continue that tradition. It’s probably the one thing that make my heart ache about moving away.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:06 am
My favourite holiday tradition is fom growing up. Now that we live away from all our families, it’s difficult, but it’s still a favourite of mine.
Every Christmas Eve afternoon, I seemed to fall asleep watching the lights on the tree while mom made the traditional ‘eraser soup’ (aka Oyster stew). After all the dinner dishes were cleared, we’d all gather around dad as he read the Original Christmas story from the Bible. After, one of us kids would play ‘Santa’ and pass out the presents. Most of the presents were new clothes and such that we’d all dress up in to go to the Midnight Service. The next morning, while mom and dad enjoyed their coffee, us kids would tear into our stockings. After, mom made our Christmas Quiche for brunch and then we’d all nap.
I still crave that quiche to this day and I haven’t lived at home for over 16 years!!!
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:10 am
I receive some nice fibery gifts (with my birthday close by) each year. This year, it is your sock club and a fiber club.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:15 am
Our tradition, that started when our now 21 year old was only 2, is to watch “Christmas Eve on Sesame Street”. I still love to see Cookie Monster writing his letter to Santa. He’s so crazy for cookies, cupcakes, etc that he keeps eating the pencils, typewriter and even telephone. So sweet!
Happy Holidays to all!
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:17 am
My favorite tradition is listening to my husband and daughters recite the blessing as they llight the channukah candles, if course their favorite is eating the latkes as they come out of the the fry pan.We always go to a movie on christmas day.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:19 am
Since my kids are starting to get into the spirit of giving from the heart, my very favorite part of the Christmas season this year so far has been taking my oldest daughter to shop. She saved money that she earned so she could spend it on presents that she carefully chose for the family. To see the joy in her face really sparked something inside of me. I think this is going to replace opening PJs on Christmas Eve as my new favorite tradition.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:22 am
I am starting to make my own holiday traditions with my husband. The first one we made continues to be my favorite: each year we select a fancy (generally pricey) crystal or porcelain ornament with the year inscribed on it. We look forward, many years from now, hanging these ornaments on our trees with our kids and grandkids and maybe even great-grandkids, hearing them exclaim, “WOW, Grandma, 2008 was SO LONG AGO!!”
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:31 am
We have a basket. The kids get one piece of straw for every kind deed or prayer. If it is full by Christmas, which it always is, I place a baby Jesus doll in it with a ton of candy.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:31 am
My favorite holiday tradition is our Christmas eve dinner of tamales and beans and guacamole. When I was younger, we would always have Christmas eve dinner with family in south Texas. I have fond memories of an amazing Mexican feast. Now that my grandparents have passed away, my mother has continued the tradition.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:36 am
I really love making a new ornament for the tree each year. This year my daughter is nearly 2, and she helped make ornaments for the first time! I love that every year when we unpack the ornaments we are reminded of all of our past Christmases together.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:38 am
My favorite holiday tradition is stashing empty cardboard tubes from wrapping paper near my bed, then getting up before my brother and whaling on him to make sure that he doesn’t dely the festivities. This was a great idea until he started sleeping with a tube so that he could fight back
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:42 am
Since there’s just my brother and me left of our family, we celebrate with his wife’s family. They all live close by, and gather at their mother’s house on Christmas Day night for dinner. Grandma fixes the meat, and each family brings a dish to share. That way the kids get to open presents at home in the morning, and mom and dad get time to put things together and clean up the wrapping paper and boxes without having to cook a major meal too. And then they go to Grandma’s, play with their cousins and feast.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:43 am
We always had a present from Santa Mouse in our Christmas tree. There was a children’s book about Santa Mouse. For the life of me I can’t remember the whole story but I think he gets lost on Christmas Eve and is trying to make it back to Santa’s sleigh. Ever since hearing the story we had a present in our tree from Santa Mouse.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:45 am
My favorite holiday tradition is new pjs for the fam on Christmas Eve night. It is a present to open (which eliminates the whine of “can’t we open just ONE present?!”), it is functional, warm, cozy and transitions them well into bed on an exciting night.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:52 am
Our favorite holidya tradition is going tobogganing. We tend to get a lot of snow here and we all love it! My dad, who is 65, also comes along for the rides
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:58 am
Christmas dinner - it has be include turkey (just like Thanksgiving) and rutabagas (AKA yellow turnips or swedes).
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:07 am
My husband is Italian and they have my favorite holiday tradition. His whole family gets together on Christmas Eve and his cousin’s house. There is so much food - if we stayed for a month there would still be leftovers! The Italian tradition is to eat 7 fish dishes on Christmas Eve - I love it but my poor husband will not eat fish. After dinner we all go down to the basement and exchnage gifts - nothing extravagant - more along the lines of “I am thinking about you”. The back upstairs for Italian pastries and coffee. By now it is after midnight and can you beleive they all drink espresso - I am the wimp as I am the only one that drinks decaf. It is just so much fun getting together with everyone . There are so many laughs and hugs!
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:18 am
My favorite holiday tradition is when my husband and I sit down on Christmas Eve after the kiddos have been tucked into bed and open our gifts to each other alone. It’s nice to have that time with just the two of us to reconnect!
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:28 am
For the last 7 years, we have celebrated Christmas Eve by making a gingerbread house. Two weeks beforehand I bake up the forms (and of course the trees and gingerbread men) and let them harden. The weekend before, we go on a candy hunt (which is hard, since my daughter, now 14, is allergic to nuts, so everything has to be nut-free) On Christmas Eve, my son (now 11) and daughter take over, and first construct the house, using royal icing, and then decorate away until midnight, while my husband and I oversee (but don’t touch!) The evening passes way too quickly, and then they are ready for bed and Santa can have the house to himself! (Even though they are past truly believing in Santa, the tradition continues.) Happy to share!
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:30 am
We always make a cookie recipe from my husband’s family . It’s a molasses roll out cookie dough that’s been passed down for 150 years (they tell me). It always gets cut into the shape of Christmas trees, frosted and decorated with sprinkles. It was a messy process when the kids were small, but now it brings back great memories. For Christmas dinner, we always have a ham, so we can use the ham bone to make the black-eyed peas for New Year’s Day. You wouldn’t dare miss them here in Texas–they’re your good luck for next year! Merry Christmas, ya’ll!
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:32 am
Buying for the Angel Tree. When my girls were small they took great delight in buying gifts for a child of their choosing from the local angel tree. The trees were set up at the local banks and we would stop and choose someone usually in their age range. The girls took great care in the buying and wrapping as we explained this child might only get these gifts. Even now, with my girls long grown up I still look forward to our church putting up its angel tree and choosing someone to buy for. This year, as I have no grandchildren yet, I chose a 6 month old girl and had great fun buying lovely pink outfits and toys for her. It warms my heart.
And a Merry Christmas to you and yours!
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:37 am
My favorite holiday tradition is spenging Christmas Day with my entire family! I am so blessed to have 2 sisters and a brother living here in town, as well as both of my parents still with us. And many nieces and nephews, with a new niece-in-law coming in August (but we’ve had a few Christmas Days with her already!)
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:41 am
My favorite holiday tradition is my mom’s Rouladen. MMMMMMMMMMMMMM!
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:44 am
Since I’m not religious, there’s no ceremony or family event that appeals to us as a tradition.
We listen to Bach every morning, and like the fact that there’s more Bach at this time of year is wonderful, but I think that the chance to make a year-end letter to send to our friends and relatives is my happiest holiday tradition. It gives us a chance to think about our life and what we have done, and where we are going.
Best holiday greetings to you all.
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:45 am
My dad would always hold us up to put the angle on the tree for a special picture…every year…all three girls, up until I left for the Air Force at 21! So he would be completely swamped by a 20 yr old, 17 yr old, and 13 yr old at the time. Yeah, you could barely see him in the pics anymore, I don’t know how he did it! But now I make my husband do the same thing with my kids every year! He just goes along with it, because it was the only tradition that really meant much to me growing up!
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:46 am
My most favorite and long-lasting holiday tradition started when my four kids were very small. Our tree stood in our living room and my husband and I would play Santa after the kids were asleep (yep, that usually was around four in the morning), and the wrapped package took up the entire living room floor. We didn’t want the kids to see them before we got up (usually they woke up as soon as we dragged ourselves into bed) so we would hang a sheet across the living room archway and the kids just knew better than to go beyond that sheet. The excitement in the children’s eyes as they anticipated what was behind the sheet was something to see. While the sheet was still up my husband would go into the living room to light the tree and bring out the children’s stockings for them to open…..then…..the sheet would come down and the kids were speechless.
Today my children are grown but the tradition goes on…my youngest at 30 still insists that the sheet be in place, that the tree be lit before the sheet comes down, and that her stocking be brought out by her father. And you know what? I love it.
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:59 am
It’s a pretty new tradition, but definitely has become my favorite. Instead of exchanging presents, 4 other friends and I adopt a needy family and buy clothes, household items, toys, etc. for them. We make a night of doing the shopping - pretty amusing watching 5 childless people try to figure out what fits children of various ages - and then we go out to dinner. None of us are actually in town for Christmas so this tradition makes sure that we make time for each other during the holidays and we put our money where it can do much better good.
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:03 pm
My favorite traditions are baking and decorating cookies, now with my kids being old enough to help. I have the same Betty Crocker cookie cookbook that my mom used. We also get the kids a new ornament every year.
My favorite “new” tradition is going to Taos Pueblo Christmas Eve for the procession of the Virgin. They build huge bonfires and everyone from the Pueblo and the town comes out. It’s wonderful being outside with friends and neighbors watching the fires light the cold, dark winter night. Afterward, we go out to dinner with friends and family.
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:03 pm
One of our favorite traditions, is that if we are home on the night of the Winter Solstice, is to not turn on any lights and avoid using electricity. This takes some planning to have an early because cooking by candlelight is a bit hazardous to me. LOL
But it’s a wonderful quiet evening to reflect the past year and the coming year. To enjoy family and good food.
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:10 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is driving around on Christmas eve to look at all the beautifully decorated houses in a suburb near my home. There are lights and candles and decorations galore and everything looks so beautiful especially if there is snow!
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Our family tradition is on christmas eve we all get a gift of p.j.’s. So then on christmas we all stay in our gifted p.j.’s all day and stay home together. The p.j.’s make it so no one can leave, everyone is together, and naps are very easy!!!! It has been a tradition for years and is such a popular one it will stay around for years to come.
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Our family always cuts down a tree from somewhere on our farm. We could look for this tree well in advance, but of course we never do and always find ourselves desperate a week before Christmas stomping around in the cold and rain or snow… one year we decided to drive around, and used the truck headlights to see to cut the tree… and ran down the battery in the truck so we had to walk almost a mile back to the house in the sleet. One year we’ll get our acts together and locate the tree in September instead!
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:18 pm
What a great idea! I love reading everyone’s traditions (and I’m thinking about how I can incorporate a few into our Xmas fun!). Besides the usual gatherings of family and friends, my favorite tradition is the one that gets the kids to behave for a whole month! We have some Gumby figures that are dressed up like elves and we them move around when the kids are sleeping. We tell them that they’re Santa’s elves who are here to keep an eye on their behavior.
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:29 pm
My husband and I have known eachother for 10 years…..and he always takes me to Longwood Gardens to see the holiday display. It is so magical there. I love the lights and the flowers and the fact that it is something we do every year. Longwood is extra special to me since the hubby proposed to me there as well.
This is a fun contest. It is cool to read everyone elses traditions. We are an interfaith family and it is nice to get some ideas about things to start up when we have kids!
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:45 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is watching the George C Scott version of A Christmas Carol every Christmas eve. We don’t have television service, so normally our television sits idle…a dust collector. But, at least fifteen years ago (maybe more!), DH started this lovely tradition. Our three girls have grown up with the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future; even now, at ages 21, 18, and 16, they look forward to sitting down to this classic each Christmas Eve.
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:45 pm
I make vanilla ice cream balls and roll them in green tinted coconut, freeze them , then serve in fancy cut champagne glasses with hot fudge. Only once a year!!!
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:46 pm
My Favorite holiday tradition is taking all 3 of my kids to see christmas lights (Bright Nights in Stanley Park). We have a miniature train that rides through a park that is fully decorated with lights. I love watching their faces light up everytime we go…It is by far my favorite tradition. A close second is reading christmas books and cuddling on the couch with the kids and a cup of hot chocolate with mini marshmallows!
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Well, our tradition is having strawberry shortcake for dinner Christmas Eve, and opening one present each. Then, on Christmas morning, we have green eggs and ham and french toast for breakfast, and open the rest of the gifts. Merry Christmas!
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Now that my daughter is grown, my favorite tradition is getting together with her bake cookies, watch Elf, and enjoy some holiday cheer!
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:04 pm
We are still trying on different things in our family, but one tradition that seems to have stuck is that we have a big pancake breakfast on Christmas morning BEFORE we open our presents. This gives my parents a chance to come over and be here to see the grandkids rip through the wrapping paper. Surprisingly, my kids are great about this. We have always done it this way in order to include my parents but now it is just part of our family. They also know they are NOT allowed to go downstairs on Christmas morning until Mommy is ready… and that is never before 9am! I get to video them coming down the stairs and getting their first look at the presents. They know if they mess that up by peeking…. they will go immediately on the naughty list and all of their presents will disappear! LOL
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:07 pm
My favorite Christmas tradition comes from my childhood. Every Christmas Eve my father would bundle all the kids up and take us for a drive around town looking at all the Christmas lights. Then, when we got home my mother told us we had JUST missed Santa who dropped off all of our presents which were now under the tree!
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:27 pm
We buy a live tree to use as a Christmas tree, then plant it in the yard after Christmas. My boys are still little, so we’re working on other traditions as we go!
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Every year my family treks out on the monring of the 26th and we go ornament shopping. Every child that is 16 and under is allowed to purchase a few ornaments to be added to their ornament box. It was started so that when a child moves away from home or gets married, they have something to decorate their tree and remind them of Christmas with their family.
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:41 pm
My favorite holiday traditions are all the holiday baking that goes on. We start of course with Sugar cookies for Santa and then make cranberry bread for the family, all while drinking hot coco stirred with a candycane
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:49 pm
My favorite norwegian tradition is to drink gløg with friends and family. It is a sweet drink that goes well with christmas cookies and fun.
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:56 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is baking cut out cookies with my Mom. We are both so busy it’s sometimes hard to find time to get together throughout the year but we always make time for this at the holidays. We enjoy spending a few hours chatting and catching up over the rolling pin, dough and colored sprinkles. This year was extra special because my Grandma (who is 93!) is with us. This fall she moved into the assisted living apartments at the nursing home where my Mom works. It’s been hard to see her have to leave her home and she’s not able to do things she used to love (like her needlepoint). But she joined us in the baking and really seemed to enjoy helping us decorate the cookies. I feel really blessed to have her with us this Christmas.
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:58 pm
One of my favorite traditions is watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. We watch it every year, and it still cracks us up!
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:59 pm
I love baking for the holidays. Some years I make my own decorations. I don’t get to do that all the time but when I do I love it.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Puting the Christmas tree up after Thanksgiving dinner…Hanging our plastic mistletoe up ..everyone always hits it with their heads…
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:21 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is taking my family to the candlelight church service on Christmas eve. The trees decorated, the bell choir, the carols, the candles…it is simply magical!
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:25 pm
I have two favorite traditions: hanging stockings and baking cookies!
I like hanging stockings because it’s probably the only part of decorating the house for christmas that doesn’t involve acrobatics (stringing Christmas lights), handiling fragile materials (putting out nativity scene), having my baby picture insulted (decorating the tree), or dizzying lights and music (dancing Santas). Hanging stockings is easy, and I am good at it.
I didn’t even realize that baking cookies was a tradition of mine until all my coworkers started asking me, “So, are you baking cookies anytime soon?” ever so casually and smoothly. In the past I’ve made my mom’s roll out sugar cookies with homemade frosting. The recipe is basically all butter and sugar, and it’s to die for. I’ll bake some as soon as my Christmas knitting is done. Maybe they’ll be Valentine cookies instead…
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Fried Turkey!! It’s wonderful, but peanut oil ends up everywhere! The whole family ends up picking pieces off before it makes it to the table. Dad always gets a little upset!
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:30 pm
We have many Christmas traditions, picking a favorite is tough! We set up our Christmas nativity scene every year as a family while listening to Christmas music and getting “in the spirit” Every year we talk about how things have changed since the last time we set it up.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:37 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is making my families special peanutbutter and chocolate brownies with my mom. Every Christmas Eve we spend all night in the kitchen making them together.
However! I moved out of my parents’ house last year and my mom had a lot of water damage stuff going on at her house which made the kitchen virtually useless.
We were both totally bummed about not making brownies last year. In a stroke of genius I told her to pack up her mixer and come to my house to make them. We had just as much fun here, even though my kitchen is half the size of hers! My mom told me to keep having it here so when I have a child of my own we can keep the tradition going with three generations!
Ok, I need kleenex!
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:44 pm
My 7 year old son and I live far from the rest of our family so it’s often just the two of us at Christmas. On Christmas eve, we call each family member and open our gifts from them while on the phone with them. It makes us feel more connected. After we’ve spoken to everyone, we put on The (original) Grinch and build our gingerbread house.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:49 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is the white elephant gift exchange. It is amazing to see the truly horrible items that people in my family come up with to exchange.
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Now that my boys are getting a little older, I’m really enjoying the tradition of baking christmas cookies with them. The recipes have been passed down through our family and I enjoy making a huge mess with my kids in the kitchen and telling them all about how I used to make these cookies with my mom.
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:48 pm
The first thing that came to mind for our tradition:
From Dec. 26th until New Year’s we try to stay in the house to be together as a family and not leaving the house unless necessary. We play games and just try to do everything as a family. This has always been great joy for the family.
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:32 pm
My favorite tradition is getting together with family. We thought that was going to get even easier this year with my parents finally retiring and moving to CA to be near us - but we got a 2 year corporate assignment in Fl and my step-son and his family moved away to Oregon. We’re still managing to get together this Christmas though!
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Our favorite holiday tradition is making Christmas cookies! My children love hanging stockings by the fireplace so it’s a close one for them, they can’t pick which they prefer! Happy Holidays!
Teri
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:02 pm
We always make “Martha Washington Candy”–for as long as I can remember my mom has made this for gifts and so do we. It’s basically chopped pecans, Eagle brand milk, and powdered sugar and vanilla rolled into balls and dipped in chocolate. All to be bagged up and given away! The recipe makes tons and we spend hours rolling and dipping….It’s the only memory of Christmas that is consistent! We always save bags to put in the stockings…so even though my children are now in their teens…they always look for the MW candy in the stocking…right next to a new toothbrush!
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:09 pm
What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Starting last year, it has been watching my son have more fun trying to eat the wrapping paper than playing with the toys we buy him - he’s not 2 yet, so there’s hope he’ll out grow the eating but the squeals of joy I hope never fade!
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:13 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is listening to Christmas music until I’m sick of it while decorating the tree. As Carter gets older, it is even more exciting as he knows the words to the carols and also loves to “help” in his own special way.
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:16 pm
My favorite tradition has come to be driving up to see my family on Christmas Eve, listening to the radio, a combination of traditional music and parody, and knowing I will be seeing loved ones I see so rarely, if at all, throughout the year. Since my family has always opened presents on Christmas Eve - we’re all bad on keeping secrets and waiting to see people be happy, it makes a bright evening even brighter.
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:27 pm
I love the way we go about decorating our tree. It must be done after dark, so the lights are especially pretty. We turn off most of the lamps in the room, light a few candles, and put on holiday music. Our two children are in charge of all things aesthetic, and watching their design process is always great fun for my husband and me. Over the years, we’ve also turned over most of the actual work to them, too. We take a few photos, maybe film a couple of minutes with the video camera, but all in all we just try to enjoy the moment. Hot drinks all around as we admire the results!
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Hi ladies,. Merry Christmas to you all!
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:42 pm
My favorite tradition has always been reading the book “Gingerbears” on Christmas Eve. Now that I’m all grown up with a little one of my own, I plan to read her this book every year, too. Merry Christmas!
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:43 pm
My favourite holiday tradition is playing crokinole. That’s what we do after Christmas dinner, and usually several other times throughout the holiday season when family and friends visit.
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:48 pm
My husband’s Jewish, and I’m completely nondenominational (although my family celebrates a very secular sort of Xmas), so on the years when we don’t travel to visit family, we go to the movie theater at the mall on Christmas day and watch two or three movies, and then get Chinese food. It’s pretty much my favorite way to spend the holiday.
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:57 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is to give each of my children a Christmas ornament or maybe even two every year for Christmas. By the time they left home, they had enough to decorate a small tree. I still continue the tradition with them, but this year I am carrying it to the next generation by giving my new granddaughter her first ornament to start her collection. It’s fun to try to find a special ornament that fits with their interests/personalities and/or some special event in their lives.
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:36 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is that our immediate family spends the day together. We started it when our daughter was in junior high and the traveling mixed in with the sports schedule just got absurd. And we loved it and have been doing it ever since. We travel to our families other weekends–but not that day. Our daughter who is in a relationship, announced to her SO the other day, the day is sacred.. do what you want, I’m with my folks. I was surprised, I’ll take it every year I can get it. Yes, we hunt and take down a balsam fir every year–I just can’t get enough of the smell.
Happy Holidays to all.
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:38 pm
What is your favorite holiday tradition?
getting socks. My dad started a tradition a few years ago, of giveing all the women holiday decorated socks in our stocking to open at christmas. They are always cheerful, usually sparkly, and definantly something we all look forward to.
I started making Santa cookies with my daughter and my two nieces. I let one of them (oldest first) choose a cookie from my big cookie book, and we make them together. This year is my daughters turn to choose
We are making chocolate chip oatmeal raisin cookies.
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:40 pm
If we venture north from TX to see my husband’s family for Christmas, I always enjoy going to his Aunt Betty’s house on Christmas Eve. About 15 to 20 of us gather at her house to eat, play games, and just visit.
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:55 pm
My favorite tradition is making the gingerbread cookies with the kids (now 21, 21 and 17) which we still do …every year!
Then, Christmas breakfast with the entire family!
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:00 pm
When I was growing up, my father would read the
Christmas story to me as I sat on his lap.He is now deceased but I have tried to continue this tradition with my own kids. They are 15 and 13 years old and a tad bit heavy to sit on my lap but I still read the story to them as we sit by the fire.
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:15 pm
What is your favorite holiday tradition?
My favorite tradition would have to be on Christmas eve we always snuggle and read a special story to the kids before we tuck them in. Then Christmas morning we are woke by the kids jumping on us which is the best ever!
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:31 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is baking cookies with my kids. All of us in the kitchen, the radio playing in the background……it’s so peaceful and relaxing.
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:41 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is at the end of the day we all plop on the couch, at ease with two thoughts: it’s finally OVER and we’ve survived another holiday season.
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:41 pm
My favoritie holiday tradition is viewing the East Peoria Festival of Lights display with my kids.
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:49 pm
My favorite holiday tradition is heading to the in laws for Christmas Eve dinner & waiting to see if the Pajama Elves came to our house while we were gone. They always leave the kids new pajamas for Christmas…
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Well, I’m not Jewish, but my husband is, and so we get to celebrate Hannukah and Christmas both. We just setled down after my favorite Hannukah tradition–the latkes. Our family’s little joke on the tradition is that if you light a latke, the oil in it will burn for 8 days and nights… We’re talking calories, but also delicious. We make homemade applesauce, and use sour cream too. For the latkes, you grate the potatoes (food processor), put them in a colandar to turn red, rinse the heck out of them, and the red starch washes out. Then you are supposed to squeeze the water out, which is a coooooold job on a winter night. Turns out, I realized a couple years ago that you can put the potatoes in the salad spinner. Voila! Then mix with grated onion, eggs, a bit of flour, and fry until you drop. Put on paper towels to soak up some of the excess oil, or your stomach will burn for eight days and nights… We have a great night every time. A holiday tradition.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:40 pm
We’re still trying to figure out our own traditions, but I love putting the tree up - our son is now our “assistant.” At almost 5, he’s understanding a lot more, and we’ve been making cookies (Jello cookies are some of our favorite Christmas cookies (besides other traditional ones)), fudge (both chocolate and brown sugar), and decorating the tree. One tradition we carry on from my childhood is Christmas morning when we’re opening presents, the youngest goes first, and up the line to the oldest, one present at a time as we go around the circle. Usually the youngest ones are the ones who distribute all the presents under the tree, too, so they get to handle all of them and guess what might be inside. I can’t wait to go home tonight and start on the cookies. Thank you for all the comments - they’re not only fun to read, but gives me ideas, too!
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:50 pm
my family always plays a board or card game on christmas eve after taking a drive around the area to look a lights
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:53 pm
presents *blush*
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:13 pm
I have come to love buying stocking stuffers for our 2 ‘kids’ stockings. Always, the XL Toblerone bar for the candy and fun items this year include the Coleman camping toilet paper for our daughter, perhaps some new boxer shorts for the son…just silly little gifts that get wrapped and placed in the stocking. The stocking is what is especially ’special’–hand knit from Nana who is no longer with us..
… - they are about 2 feet long and stretch out to about 4 feet with all the presents. We love the stockings and watching the ‘kids’ open them…
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:35 pm
My fav “tradition” happens Christmas evening. Everyone is stuffed, but still eating pies, etc. We play a family board game (a new one each year) Lots of manipulating the rules because no one knows for sure how to play the new game. It is just a fun time for everyone.
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:22 pm
Well, 9 your time is 6 my time, and I don’t get home till 8, so I missed out. Just wanted to say I love your yarns and colors! Our favorite tradition is making the little kids “perform” before they get to open presents. My parents’ living room has a fireplace with bricks on the floor where they always stood to do their show. The grandkids are now in their 20’s, and they still will get up there and sing! Merry Christmas to you-all!!!
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:11 am
We always ate breakfast on the little toy dishes we would get for Christmas, complete with tiny biscuits made by my mom. i will be doing this with my son this year for the first time.
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:27 am
Our favorite tradition is making cookies with family and friends. Every year we pick someone’s kitchen and each person who’s there gets to pick one recipe to make. Some years if there are a lot of people we can end up with more than a dozen or two of different types of cookies!!! The kids all have fun with this as they try to outdo the most elaborate cookie from previous years. Of course the big reason for cookies is to leave them for Santa and the small hay cookies for the reindeer!!
Merry Christmas
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:08 pm
My favorite traditions of christmas are making cookies at grandma’s house and getting everything all ready as soon as thanksgiving is over:) Also the shopping craze the day after x*mas!
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Now that I’m a grandmother, the best Hanukkah tradition is when all three granddaughters and their parents, grand parents get together and open all the Hanukkah presents at one time. The girls have a great time! And my husband and I get to enjoy all the excitement. This year one of my sisters, her husband and 2 of her kids will joining us. I can’t wait. We light the memorah, sing the blessings and just enjoy being together. The girls are almost 5, almost 3 and almost 2 . Happy Holidays to all!