Christmas Traditions!

[K2]

Merry Christmas Eve everyone! What are your plans for today and tomorrow? What are your family traditions? How do you like to celebrate? Please share your Christmas memories and let us know! God bless everyone.

[Ghost]

Every year my mother hides the german pickle in the tree. And whoever finds it gets a prize. We've been trying to find The Gerken but... Stores don't have it or they sell out.

The Gerken is a smaller version of the pickle, only about an inch and a half long.
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On the 23rd we celebrate my parents' anniversary. On the 24 we tend to open presents after noms. I'm usually the reindeer(Instead of rudolph I'm vixen). On the 25, we kinda just chill and cook a ham or turkey.

My cousins are here this year. So we have extra funs and presents.

[Embodiment of Cringe]

Our traditions?

We open presents on the midnight of Christmas Eve, because we seriously cannot wait. We just do our own thing after that, seeing as we hardly ever see our other family anymore. But we have plans to go to my Father's side of the family for dinner. Our mother's side kinda kidnapped her mother from her. With a lawyer. Stating that we were mistreating her beyond all repair.
We kept up with her health to a T. They then ran her down by not keeping up with her medical stuff and she was forced to go to a retirement home. Christmas with them has been not only forever awkward, but also fights break out. We never visit them anymore.

Also, Santa Zai is now tradition.

[Orga the Strange]

Well, normally me and maw'd be hangin' out with family, but those worthless bastards ran off to spend christmas down in virginia with the other half's family. So it's basically like any day right now. Excpet at midnight I'll probably open up my knife present I picked out for myself. Yay.

[Nisorin]

Christmas Eve is only a holiday starting at suppertime for us. We open one present after dinner, or after my sister gets out of work this year, and then we basically do our own thing. Tomorrow we go through stockings as soon as we wake up, after breakfast we do the actual presents. The cats get the wrapping paper. XD


Then there's Christmas Dinner around 2, desert around 5 or 6. That's about it.

[Queen Bright]

Just another day...
Even for the ones that celebrate (grandmas the only one who doesn't)
No peace, family caring. Just the same old, stuff that was on every other day.
Christmas and the other end of the year 'family' holidays only seems to always bring out the worst in my family.

[The Blade]

Our family gets to open a single present on Christmas Eve and then we have to wait for Christmas morning to open the rest, usually at around 6 in the morning :<

On Christmas day the rest of the family come around, presents get given out and opened and then Dinner is made and served for us all at around 5 in the afternoon. After that it's basically just a big family get together and party, there's usually some alcohol involved and we all just have a good time :3 Christmas is an awesome time in our family~

[UnStellar]

I legitimately thought my families tradition of one present on christmas eve and the rest on the christmas day was exclusive to us, haha. But we do that, get up early and open stockings, which always have candy and an orange. Why an orange I do not know. We always get pajamas hand made by my grandmother, so we open those and wear them all day. They're so cozy. We usually watch lots of christmas movies and have a simple dinner, because we cook alot on thanksgiving so we just veg for christmas.

This year is different, we had it early and ignored a lot of tradition because my Dad and brother will be in the dreaded North Dakota oilfields come Christmas day.

[K2]

Before I was born my Dad's side of the family would always have Christmas at my great-grandparents house one night with my grandfather's family and then we'd have just first cousins/aunts/uncles and us and my grandparents at my grandparents house later. Well my great-grandparents have passed away but we still have a Christmas with my great uncle and his wife and kids, and then we also have a gathering without them. So on the 24th (today) in the Afternoon we meet at someone's house (depending on who volunteers) with my Dad's side of the family including great uncle's family. We have a huge family so we draw names at random in July and everyone is responsible for getting someone else a gift.

We do the same thing Christmas Eve night (just got home) but without my great uncle and his family. That's always at my Grandmother's House. So by the end of the night we've gotten two gifts apiece and given two gifts. At the earlier celebration it's tradition for someone (this year it was me) to read the Nativity scene from the Bible. Then everyone gets their cameras out and my uncle holds up a movie director slate thing and calls out, "Tape One!" and then we record everyone getting their presents, youngest to oldest. Which was especially cute this year as my cousin has a new baby, the first of a new generation. We also do youngest to oldest at the second gathering and take pictures/maybe record but don't really do anything too special there, and we have dinner at my grandmother's house.

So then we (my Dad, Mom, brother, and I) come home and maybe curl up on the couch and watch some Christmas movies or specials then retire to bed. We wake up in the morning, open presents and empty our stockings, and kinda lounge around in our pajamas for a bit before finally getting ready and heading out for Christmas breakfast, again at my grandmother's on my Dad's side. We give presents (and receive) from my Grandparents exclusively that day and just enjoy Christmas together, usually my cousins and I will find the fourwheelers/dirtbikes/gokarts/whatever and go mud riding and get our Christmas clothes all dirty. Lol.

Then around 12 we head home briefly, rest/change/whatever, and head to my Mom's side of the family which is usually more lax. It's always held at my aunt's house who generally invites my Uncle's family as well so they can combine the two Christmas gatherings. It was awkward sharing Christmas with my Uncle's family (who aren't my family) for awhile but we've gotten used to it now and I've gotten to know them very well. They typically cook food a bit more bland over there and there's nobody my age there but as I've gotten older I've learned to cherish the time spent with them.

Then after Christmas lunch we make our way home, take off our shoes and just lounge. I usually entertain myself with my new gifts and/or watch TV and eventually get online to talk to you guys. For supper we either go without or have leftovers, but that's okay because there's usually plenty of Christmas cookies to snack on. Which reminds me, I think I'll go bake some now, or maybe make some egg nogg.

[Ragnar the Red]

Christmas Eve is pretty ordinarily until we get to 4:00 or so in the afternoon when we all head to church. I am usually the only one in my family not playing or singing for the candlelight service. After that we go home and get take out Chinese for dinner. We eat it, often enjoying a Christmas movie of some sort as we do. Next we hang the stockings. Lastly, and optionally, we read Twas the Night Before Christmas and the nativity story from the gospel of Luke. This year was great because we were all joking around as my mom read a night before christmas. The climax of our comedy was when we got to the eight tiny reindeer and I put a plush Rudolf on her head. She smacked it across the room, and I have never seen a reindeer fly so fast!

Anyway, back to tradition. TRADITION! sorry. We aren't allowed to go downstairs without my parents, and we aren't allowed to wake them before eight. Waking them before eight is no longer a problem since my younger sister and I are now high-school aged and can sleep till noon. In past years it has been a frustration to my parents who longed to sleep in. One year, when we were very little, my sister and I rushed in, jumped on the bed, clock in hand, screaming, "IT'S 8:00! IT'S 8:00!" My mom then told us that we were holding the clock upside down. We most certainly were not holding the clock upside down. When we go downstairs, we open our stockings, which always has a pen and pad (so we can keep a log of the gifts of those who aren't in the room with us), lots of candy, and an orange (UnStellar, you're not alone). To be more specific, it is a tiny, easy to peal tangerine or clementine that happens to be in season that time of year, and it is probably there because it fits in the toe of the stocking better than anything else imaginable!

After that we have breakfast. It is always something sweet an cinnamony. This year it was a coffee cake my mom was trying out. We also have tiny, easy to peal oranges. My mom and dad also have mimosas (champagne and orange juice). After that we open all the presents for a while, and periodically eat our bits of candy. Usually we also listen to music as well. This year we didn't, and I think that may have been partly due to me and my sister's adverse reaction to the Yule Log. It's weird to have a burning log on the TV sitting across from your real fireplace in the middle of winter. Anyway, after that it's pretty much a toss up. We usually watch a movie that was gifted during the openings.

[K2]

It's so cool hearing everyone's traditions. I quite enjoy having a large family.