Christmas traditions

What traditions do you have with your family? I would really like to start some now that my son is 3 and kind of understands Christmas...

Please share, doesn't have to be just for kids, anything you have

Re: Christmas traditions

I bumped this on the Parenting Page as well..Old Holiday Traditions Thread

Christmas traditions

well, i come from a big italian family. some traditions we have kept over the years is to only eat fish on Christmas Eve. We stay up as late as possible and go to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. When we were little, if we were good, we were allowed to open one present before we went to bed. On Christmas morning, we would all wake up and have a big pancake breakfast and open all ofour presents.
Ever since DH & I were married, his family pretty much follows the same traditions. Although they always played Bingo on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day when the whole family was together. Or a good game of italian card playing - which always ended in one person calling another one a cheater or not playing correctly and someone huffing off in a pout, LOL!

Re: Christmas traditions

Christmas traditions

I bake cookies with my gf's a week before Christmas. Christmas Eve we were always allowed to open 1 small gift when we got home from the family party that I still continue. On Christmas Eve we put out cookies, milk and carrots for the reindeer. Sometimes we went to midnight mass as a child but I didn't carry on that tradition. On Christmas before breakfast still in our pjs we would open our stockings first then take a break to eat some sort of breakfast then open gifts. Santa presents were always wrapped in Santa paper not to be confused with other gifts. Also a week or 2 before we'd drive around and look at all the lights and go into the city and go to Macy's and Rockefeller Center. Christmas is by far my favorite holiday and I can't wait to have my LO so next year we can carry on our traditions. Also the Friday after thanksgiving for always tree trimming day and dh and I make sure we get a new ornament every year. Those eight ornaments are my favorite bc they represent the time we have been together and are something we both cherish. We plan to buy an ornament a year for our little one so when they move out they have ornaments to take with them.

Re: Christmas traditions

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Message edited 11/12/2012 4:21:23 PM.

Re: Christmas traditions

Christmas traditions

Another thing we do is to do toys for tots. We chose a you under a certain amount and buy a boy you and a girl toy. When I was little we used to do the angels in the mall and my parents would make me chose the gifts so I understood Christmas was about thinking of others.

Re: Christmas traditions

Every year, my mom gets my sister and I (and now, my DH) Christmas-themed pajamas. She's done this every year since we were babies.

And she also gets my sister and I matching angel ornaments every year.

Christmas traditions

When I was living at home we got Christmas pajamas (not necessarily Christmas themed) to open on Christmas Eve. We would go to church, come home and eat fish, and then open the gifts between siblings and the pajamas from my parents. I was JUST talking to DH about this because now that we'll have a kid next Christmas, I want to continue the tradition and get him a set of pajamas each year for Christmas Eve!

Re: Christmas traditions

my mom still to this day gives us new PJ's every christmas. when we lived with her we would go to toys r us and each pick out a toy and also get one group toy to play with together...we would get new pjs too. When we got home we would get in our PJs and play with our toys until midnight and then open our gifts. we always left cookies and milk out for santa...and we left boxes with food for the camels under our bed for 3 kings day (epiphany)

I would like to get the elf on a shelf, plant tic tacs to make magic christmas cookies that grow overnight, wrap the doorway to the livingroom so he has to break through it.

since my family always opened gifts at midnight and DH's opened on christmas morning...this tradition is perfect bc he'll get a gift the night before and still get to open the rest on christmas morning.

Message edited 11/12/2012 6:28:10 PM.

Christmas traditions

My SIL has a special, fancy looking key that they hang on the tree. She tells the kids that it's how Santa comes into the house since they don't have a fireplace.

Not really a tradition but I think it's a interesting idea re: Santa w/ kids... Santa leaves a few gifts that are ok... not the best gifts. Those are reserved for the parents. So that way when they no longer believe in Santa, it's ok b/c those gifts weren't that great anyway lol.

Re: Christmas traditions

We usually do a lot. Off the top of my head...

The kids make ornaments with their pictures on them every year for our tree and the grandparents.

They each get an ornament that represents something important from that year for them.

I write them a letter from Santa, mail them in a bigger envelope to the North Pole, Alaska postmaster and they then cancel them from up there and mail to my kids. They get so excited when they show up in the mailbox.

Last year I wrapped 24 different Christmas books and they took turns picking one per night starting Dec 1 as part of our countdown. The kids loved it, but they were all lost in the flooding, so I'm not sure I'll be able to replace them all in time.

My mom gives them a non-candy advent calendar. They take turns opening a door each day.

We set up the nativity Thanksgiving weekend and the wise men slowly move closer and closer from across the room until they arrive on Little Christmas. And Jesus doesn't go into the manger until after the kids go to sleep on Christmas Eve. A lot of the nativity set was lost in the flood, but the creche and holy family are fine.

We have an advent wreath we light each night and read a reflection. I think that was also lost in the flood.

They get special PJs for Christmas Eve.

We do the Elf on the Shelf, starting Thanksgiving night. I have to check, but I think she was lost in the flood.

I have the kids shop with me and deliver gifts to charitable organizations. We sponsor 1 or 2 kids from NYCares Winter Wishes. We donate to John Theissen's Children's Foundation through their school. We also donate to Toys for Tots. We pick one or two military units looking for morale items or items for military working dogs and send them holiday boxes.

Christmas traditions

omg dh and i are christmas fanatics

1. i've done xmas cookies for *years*..this year i'm finally getting to host a cookie swap party which i'll keep as a yearly tradition
2. we pretty much exclusively listen to xmas music/watch xmas movies from black friday on
3. we see the rockettes each year in the city/have a date/see the tree
4. we get a new ornament from martin viette each year to represent that year, along with a new one from lenox
5. christmas eve we do at my inlaws
6. christmas day is at my parents
7. christmas eve we do 1 present
8. this year we're chopping down our tree for the first time-again something i want to continue
9. my mil has a handmade wooden advent calendar, and she made us one for our house

i'll have to think-i know there's more

eta..we also do the ornament each year from the trunk of our tree

Message edited 11/13/2012 8:43:30 AM.

Christmas traditions

We don't do much since its just the two of us, but I want to do much more once we have children.

- on my birthday (nov 28) we go and pick out our tree. we decorate it the first saturday of december. we both work on saturday this year, so we will be doing it on sunday. we listen to christmas music and usually order pizza afterwards.

- we have the tree attendant cut off a small section of our tree and poke a hole through so we can write the year in it and it becomes an ornament. we also name our tree after the tree attendant (DHs tradition)

- this year, I wanted to start going to the city to see the tree and see the christmas spectacular, so we will be doing this from now on.

- we pick out a new ornament for our tree

- every friday night we watch a christmas themed movie and wrap presents.

- we buy new christmas pjs and open them on christmas eve.

- christmas eve dinner with my family, dessert with his dads side. christmas morning with my parents, and the afternoon with his moms side. we have our own christmas dinner together and we exchange gifts.

Message edited 11/12/2012 7:17:57 PM.

Christmas traditions

I love Christmas makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. Dh thinks I'm a bit of a fanatic but oh well.

Re: Christmas traditions

Christmas traditions

As other Italian posters said, we have the fish dinner on Christmas Eve. Then we open one present, it's always our new Christmas PJ's so that the next morning we have cute pictures. Yes we do not all wake up in the same house anymore, but we all have pictures at our respective houses in the Christmas PJ's!!

Re: Christmas traditions

It's only FH & I for now so we have a big decorating weekend-cookies, christmas movies, pj's, etc. :)

My mom has plenty of tradtions-we're Portuguese so fish on Christmas Eve. We've always had a Santa come to the house at midnight... even though I'm now the youngest at 23. LOL. No small children but we still do it! My family opens everything at midnight so FH & I make the morning our thing.