View Full Version : Christmas Traditions
Hi Folks,
Most families have Christmas traditions such as when they open the pressies and who they have for dinner, Queens speech (yes or noooo way!), smoked salmon and Bucks Fizz for breakfast..that sort of thing!
How will you 'do' Christmas this year?:)
Karia
Hubby & I stay in bed and boys bring us a pressie each until they are all unwrapped. We get up, tidy up the paper and have a cooked breakfast. We then decant to my mums and open more pressies. We have dinner at 3 as we cannot abide the Queens Speech. Dinner takes AGES as my mum goes overboard. I provide the puddings, which we have after the first round of dishes have been done. (no dishwasher bar family members). We then sit and chill with various drinks and watch the Christmas movie or a DVD. Mum then makes soup and rolls and snacks later in the evening - to soak up the alcohol naturally. The bairns gather up their pressies etc and we head home. We all try and stay calm and friendly as Christmas is a happy family occasion.:lol:
At this juncture - I say bah humbug to all those who snub this family occasion as you don't know what your missing. To all those who have little or no family....A Very Merry Christmas...x...x...x...x
alanatkie
30-Nov-07, 16:50
Kids are allowed to open 1 present before bed on Xmas Eve.
Then before hubby & i go to bed we open all our presents & tidy the paper away.
Kids wake up in the morning so we all come down stairs together - they have to have breakfast before they are allowed in to the sitting room to see what Santa has left. If im lucky i get a glass o champers while i watch them rip open the pressies.
All the relatives call or get called in due course to say thanks for what they got then kids can eat & play with what ever they want til dinner around 3.
I once stayed with someone who served Chinese take-away food for the whole of Christmas and Indian take-away food at New Year..it was different!:eek:
Best bit was pulling the (prawn) crackers!:lol:
Karia
we get wakened up by the jumping on the bed and shouts of "santa's been", we then go through to the sitting room and open the presents, There is no way I would make the kids wait, :(after all its more their day than the adults.
Then we tidy up and have breakfast, the rest of the day is spend lazing about till dinner, then more lazing about afterwards:Razz
changilass
30-Nov-07, 17:27
As hubby is working christmas day, we will still have our dinner with all the trimmings but at tea time, pressies will wait till boxing day, luckily mini changi is too young for this to be an issue.
Boxing day we will open pressies as soon as everyone is out of bed (if you don't get up you get to cuddle a pack of frozen peas lol), then we will have gammon butties and champers for brekkie, we have our own tradition of beef wellington on boxingday. We will just take the day as it comes and have fun.
Get up early and check there are no lambs and if we are lucky get all the animals fed before the bairn gets up (shes a sound sleeper). Open the pressies while having breakfast infront of a peat fire. Have dinner about 2.00pm. Feed and check the animals again, and thats Christmas Day. Its been that way since I can remember and I hope it never changes. Oh by the way yes it is lovely to find a new born lamb or calf on Christmas day not so much fun on Hogmany or New Years though.
What we used to do with our kids (long, long time ago, as we've eight grand-children now) - pass the Zimmer! was that on Christmas Eve there would be a knock on the front door (arranged by getting a neighbour to knock and run off) the kids would rush to the door and there would be two empty sacks on the step to put on the end of the bed - left there by Father Christmas of course! - we still rag Tim (37) who was overheard to say "Dad, I can still see him up there look!".
We never put decorations up till Xmas eve, so the next duty was for a large candle to be put into the window so 'his' helpers could find the house again, then it was off to bed for the kids.
As soon as they were settled, wife and I set about putting up the decs, lights and of course the tree - with the big pressies underneath.. and that was it till about 5am when; "he's been"! and had kids jumping all over our bed..
Wife and I would then creep downstairs and call the kids down - we have many photos of amazed and wondrous faces as they came into the room - ah the spirit of Christmas!
AND our own kids do the same routine for there kids - aint that nice?
donnalee1994
30-Nov-07, 18:30
Well they all sound lovely,mine starts early (normally just gone to bed)the kids are in there teens now but still get excited they come and tell us there pressies are under the tree,they open them then i clean away the mess,then i start dinner would eat round about 1 to 2 but the dinner goes in the bin hubby too hung over to eat and the kids full off chocolate lol,and for tea we will have a salad with a few specials and off coarse the dreaded box off biscuits,must admit i enjoy boxing day better much less stress and the dinner gets eaten :lol:
I know exactly what you mean Donnalee!
The day gets so hyped and worried about, planned for and worst of all costs us a fortune. As a result of that and 'Family christmas images' from the media, we feel a failure if it isn't perfect and get too stressed to actually enjoy it.:eek:
Boxing day is much more relaxed!:D
karia
Christmas day only gets hyped and worried about if you let it (like most things in life). We all appreciate a day when we can all be together and just have a lovely time. I know that is not possible for everyone but I am sure no-one would grudge the pleasure to those who can.
orkneylass
30-Nov-07, 22:14
My mother is German so we used to fuse the customs a bit. We had a cold meats and salads dinner on Xmas eve followed by the presents, with just the sweetie filled stocking to wake up to on Xmas day. We used to have relatives round on Xmas eve and we could not open our presents until after the meal - I have never forgotton the agony of "another cup of tea Auntie?", which she always had, so we had to wait another 15 minutes!
We still have a cold German style meal on Xmas eve, but we open presents on Xmas day and have the big roast meal. I too have lovely memories of my son telling me he heard the reindeer hooves on the roof in the night - the boys are a bit older now. My oldest has lived away from home for a few years now and had to work last Xmas, so having him home and all being together will make things traditional again this year.
The most stressful thing used to be finding lots of silly llittle things for the Xmas stockings and spending hours wrapping them up - did away with this 2 years ago!
[quote=orkneylass;304217
The most stressful thing used to be finding lots of silly llittle things for the Xmas stockings and spending hours wrapping them up - did away with this 2 years ago![/quote]
That's the best bit..for the recipient at least!:D
So much more thought is needed for the 'stocking fillers' as everything costs so much these days.
Kariax
Bucks Fizz in morning Croissants and Crackerbarrel cheese a must ( I know its a after dinner cheese ) but the kids love it
open presents !!! followed by traditional Xmas lunch either before or just after 3pm or rather the Queen OH in RN 23 yrs so fairly traditional for us sleep !!! and interactive dvd or film probably more sleep with the
the Xmas sweets now being served loads of Champers or Pink Australian Fizzy
but this year we are are lucky and grateful as a family we have had a hard year with Bereavement Illness & Family breakups and such like shocks and laughter but on we all go to 2008 whatever that brings
My kids enjoy their stockings more than the main pressies!they are always amazed at the different things that are in them!I love watching their faces!We always have to have croissants too,but the booze stays shut until lunch...if not I would never make it lol! x
we try not to get up to early 7ish, head down stairs and start unwrapping, would never make the wee one wait to long, then we attempt breakfast, this year is the 1st year it will just be the 3 of us as want a quiet xmas, i dont drink on xmas, dont believe in it, its not about drink, well not for me
I have just realized that the 'Queen's Speech' will not be on the television at 11 in the morning, but a reasonable time in the afternoon. Eastern Standard Time does have its drawbacks.
Lolabelle
01-Dec-07, 21:45
Our day starts with a 5am phone call from my sister, and we go to her house and wake her kids and watch them open their presents while drinking coffee and eating lollies for breakfast.
We nominate a house each year and everyone goes there for either lunch or dinner, depending on what inlaws are doing. The are usually about 30 all up, and sometimes we have a few strays that have no family in the area etc...
For some reason we continue to have a full on Christmas dinner, roast turkey, Chicken (for me who doesn't like turkey) and vegies, gravy, plumb pudding etc. All this is nice to eat, but cooking it in 40 degree heat is usually a bit awful.
Then after we are all stuffed and sleepy we have a present lucky dip. As there are so many people, everyone just buys a girl present if you are a girl and a boy present if you are a boy, there is a price limit and everything gets put into boy or girl box, and then you pick a pressie. Gina and I often conspire to get each others if we know they are good ones:eek:, don't tell anyone!
I have had some great presents, and some really dumb ones, but it is all good fun and we usually all roll home about 9pm.
Get up early and check there are no lambs and if we are lucky get all the animals fed before the bairn gets up (shes a sound sleeper). Open the pressies while having breakfast infront of a peat fire. Have dinner about 2.00pm. Feed and check the animals again, and thats Christmas Day. Its been that way since I can remember and I hope it never changes. Oh by the way yes it is lovely to find a new born lamb or calf on Christmas day not so much fun on Hogmany or New Years though.
Your xmas day sounds wonderful. Wish our was like that . jan x
Margaret M.
03-Dec-07, 00:20
The whole family comes to my house for Christmas Eve -- I usually serve practically every appetizer known to man since we all love making a meal of those, lasagna, macaroni and cheese, salad, garlic bread and lots of desserts. Then we open all the gifts I have for them. On Christmas Day, we all go to my son's house and have the traditional dinner (minus the meat for my daughter, daughter-in-law, and me) and open all the other gifts.
As a family we've been through a lot of changes in the last few years- major bereavements, as well as several house moves....and the appearance of a new generation!
The family dynamic has changed a lot and now we've only just started to build new traditions within this different framework. :)
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