Your favorite holiday tradition

[tarasattva]

DD is 2 this year and we are starting to think about what holiday traditions we'd like to have in our family.

What traditions did you have growing up that you remember fondly or what things do you do with your family now that are special to you?

[Chamomile Girl]

We don't have much in my family because my parents divorced when I was 11 and all traditions pretty much went by the wayside .

But my husband's family would all sing Christmas carols together on Christmas day because his grandma loved to hear her family sing. Unfortunately they stopped when she died. He really misses that tradition.

[gbailey]

My mother let us all open one Christmas gift on New Years Eve and the two of us watched Miracle on 34th Street together. The original.

[StephandOwen]

Christmas jammies! Santa always sneaks into the house sometime on Christmas Eve (when we're out visiting, driving around looking at lights, etc) and leaves one gift on the childs bed. That child is allowed to open it on Christmas Eve. It's always pajamas and almost always winter/holiday themed. This year Santa is leaving 2 gifts on ds's bed- his pj's and a pair of pj's (Christmas themed pj's from Build-a-bear) for his favorite bear, Greg.

We did the pj's on Christmas eve gift when I was a kid

ETA- ds is terrified of Santa and doesn't want Santa in the house... so we may alter this tradition and leave a gift outside on the back deck... depending on the weather.

[busymama77]

We have a couple of traditions that DH and I started even before DS was born.
His parents have a dinner, set up the train set and all of that good stuff on Christmas Eve. It's nice and relaxing and we don't have to do a thing. Our other tradition, is to visit a local park that has an awesome light display. This year, we switched it up by going through the park in a horse drawn carriage. Very cold & windy, but very cool at the same time!

[maddymama]

Originally Posted by StephandOwen

ETA- ds is terrified of Santa and doesn't want Santa in the house... so we may alter this tradition and leave a gift outside on the back deck... depending on the weather.

ROTFLMAO
How funny!

We always watch the Muppet Xmas Carol on XMas eve. Wonderful show! Oh, and my mom always made excellent egg nog every Xmas day.
~maddymama

[North_Of_60]

Christmas jammies for sure! We also do appetizers for dinner on Christmas eve. We had a cheese ball, assorted pickles, meats and cheeses, some wine for those who were old enough, crackers, dips, etc. We just snack all night long. I do the same thing now with my husband and daughter. And then when she goes to bed we spend the night putting stuff together and setting up for the morning.

All the must have's and memories are of food. I found a Terry's chocolate orange the the other day and almost fell over. I LOVE those things and haven't seen them where I live since I moved here. I used to have my mom send them to me. So I bought 3.

[StephandOwen]

Originally Posted by maddymama

ROTFLMAO
How funny!

Last year he insisted there was no Santa and that Mom and Jason bring him all the gifts. So every gift under the tree last year was signed from mom and Jason. This year he's decided there is a Santa (peer pressure from kids at school, I'm sure) and Santa can bring him a gift, but he has to leave it outside. I'm sure that's where he'll leave his cookies and milk to Santa too. And make sure the doors are locked (we don't have a chimney).

[VisionaryMom]

We go to Kentucky Horse Park and drive through the lights, which are awesome. Then you can go inside to the Horse Museum. They have crafters, Santa, and a group of retired gentlemen who set up an amazing model train room.

Then we go outside, have cocoa, and pet the animals at the petting zoo. The admission is $15 per car, and everything else is free (except the cocoa), so it's not an expensive tradition.

This year we'll start doing Christmas pjs to add to the usual reading of Twas the Night Before Christmas.

[zinemama]

I was raised with secular Christmas and my mother went all-out on the cookies. None of your generic sugar cookies with colored icing, no sir. These were seriously deluxe cookies. She must have made at least 10 kinds each year, all kept in tins in the freezer until Christmas Eve. We had so much fun making those cookies and assembling gift packages for friends and neighbors.

I've gone back to my roots and dh and I are raising the kids Jewish. But as I see it, a cookie's a cookie. My freezer is filling with tins even now.

[InMediasRes]

Homemade cinnamon rolls, for sure (Christmas morning).

We also have a tree/house decorating party about two weeks before Christmas that's always super fun. Missed it this year because my mom didn't tell me about it until the night before and we already had plans for the day.

[StephandOwen]

Originally Posted by BrandiRhoades

We go to Kentucky Horse Park and drive through the lights, which are awesome.

You must be near me I think we're going there this weekend for a drive. We don't get out of the car and do the extras though, just drive through

We also read Twas The Night Before Christmas at bedtime.

[jeanine123]

Driving around looking at all the Christmas lights. We did that when I was a kid and I still love to do it to this day. We've been driving around with the kids and they really get a kick out of it too. Also making candy and cookies. My mom used to make all sorts of candy and sugar cookies to have on hand for when company came between Christmas and New Years. I still make the cookies with the kids but not the candy since nobody comes to visit and we certainly don't need to eat all of that. Though now that I think of it, we might try making some next year for our neighborhood holiday party.

[jeanine123]

Originally Posted by Chamomile Girl

But my husband's family would all sing Christmas carols together on Christmas day because his grandma loved to hear her family sing. Unfortunately they stopped when she died. He really misses that tradition.

Oh, that reminds me of the year we went caroling with friends! My dad had a team of Belgian draft horses and he hitched them up to our big wagon with their sleigh bells on. One of our friends dressed up as Santa and we went through town caroling. I remember the looks on the faces of the folks at the retirement home we stopped at, especially the man we bought our farm from. They all remembered having draft horses on their farms when they were kids and were just thrilled to see them. So much fun and such great memories. It would have become an annual tradition but unfortunately dad passed away suddenly the following spring. Thank you though for bringing up that memory, I'll have to keep it in mind once the kids are older. I am so not a singer but DH and the kids are and I think they may get a kick out of caroling.

[bellamama0809]

Holiday Traditions

We've had so many wonderful Christmas traditions over the years. My favorites:

When we were kids we used to have the entire family sleep over at my parents house - everyone was in sleeping bags on our living room floor - aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.! Then on Christmas morning, all the kids opened gifts together. The night before, all of the adults (sometimes 15 or more!) would get together and stuff stockings like a group of elves! Even today, we still get stocking stuffers for all of our family members since our family is too large to still get regular gifts for everyone. Of course it's the getting together that is the best part of the tradition. We were sad to see the sleepovers go though.

*Each Christmas morning we make pannukakku (Finnish pancake)-- a delicious concoction of eggs, butter and sugar in a jelly roll pan, complete with strawberries and maple syrup for toppings.

*Christmas Eve: midnight candlelight service at church with the family - which always ended with the glow of candles and an a capella singing of Silent Night - both a peaceful and moving end to the evening, and beginning to Christmas.

*Christmas Eve: we'd usually drive by a local house that had an especially impressive light/decorations display. As kids, we loved that and always looked forward to it. Still do.

I look forward to passing these traditions and creating new ones with our LO!

[inkslinger]

We have a lot, H and I both really love Christmas.

- His family always has an 'open house' kind of party on Christmas Eve. We eat chili or clam chowder & hors d'oeuvres, his dad reads the Christmas story from the Bible, and we have a gift exchange (usually each person brings a wrapped board game or gift, we draw numbers & choose a gift)

- We drive around on Christmas Eve with the girls and look at lights

- The girls get new Christmas PJ's on Christmas Eve

- Christmas morning we do stockings/santa presents at our house, then head over to my parents house for presents, mimosas and breakfast.

[~pi]

We write letters to each other and open them Christmas morning. The timing of this has varied a little. For younger kids, it's too long to wait a whole year, but we do try to do them in advance. DH and I write our letters to each other on New Year's Eve and open them the following Christmas.

[MtBikeLover]

We didn't really have a lot of traditions as a kid except to go around and look at lights on Christmas eve.

With my kids, I am trying to incorporate more traditions. We always make and decorate cookies, we decorate a gingerbread house, and make the reindeer food (glitter and oatmeal) to sprinkle on the yard for Santa's reindeer. We watch Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer on TV. And last year I added a new one - cutting down our own Christmas tree. That one is my favorite!!!

[WinterPearl]

We didn't have very many, but I remember always making and decorating sugar cookies and then picking the ones out for Santa and each other. We also got the pjs the night before and watched Christmas cartoons the whole day, no matter whose house we went to.

[Chryseis]

Originally Posted by North_Of_60

Christmas jammies for sure! We also do appetizers for dinner on Christmas eve. We had a cheese ball, assorted pickles, meats and cheeses, some wine for those who were old enough, crackers, dips, etc. We just snack all night long. I do the same thing now with my husband and daughter. And then when she goes to bed we spend the night putting stuff together and setting up for the morning.
o

Oh, we did the appetizers on Christmas Even, too. All sorts of delicious things, cheese, crackers, shrimp cocktail, buffalo wings, etc. Hot and cold. One of my favorite things. My husband's family has Oyster Stew.

I also enjoyed my mother's "Christmas Treat" table. She always set it up a few days before Christmas. It had cookies and candies and the contents changed every day. Absolutely delicious (and just terrible for everyone).