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Anyone have anything you ALWAYS do for x-mas??
I always start off at my dads with my bro. Then my sister comes over for a little while and we go over to my moms (bro me and sis and her fam) then we do the thing there and just hang out with family and have a nice supper. After that we go to a movie with everyone :)
My fav part of it is my family all getting together. It doesn't happen a lot...
My traditions have changed from what they were when I was little, once my husband and I began dating and intertwined our families. And they'll change again when we start having kids. But for now, it's like this...
On Christmas Eve, I go to Christmas Eve mass with my husband and his family. Then we head to one of his uncle's houses (two uncles alternate years they have everyone over). My husband and his family (parents and 2 brothers) plus the family of the uncle hosting, plus the uncle and his family that isn't hosting, plus an aunt, a great aunt and uncle and cousins are all there.
This is our first Christmas married so what we have planned for Christmas Day is waking up early, opening our own presents to each other here, going down to my parents house and opening presents there and hanging out and having dinner. After dinner we'll head over to my husband's parents house for drinks and desserts for a few hours. My parents will join us there.
It was ALWAYS Christmas Eve at Grandmom's, Christmas day with Dad's family. When my Grandmom passed away, mom started to do the Christmas Eve thing... its a huge affair with the whole family there. At least 50 people. Many of whom I never see except Christmas Eve. I see my dad's family Christmas Eve now too. Now I spend Christmas Day with hubby's family.
We always open one gift from each other Christmas Eve... usually something little, and no, its not new PJs! :D
Were always aloud to open only one gift on Christmas Eve. :p
We always have a nice big supper, with turky, ham and all that good stuff.
Me and my mom bake cookies together for Christmas.
And the family gets together, and like you slleipnir, it doesn't happen alot with us, and its nice. :)
Those are some of the things we do every year.
Every year my mom's family and I have dinner at xmas eve. My cousins and I open a few presents. This is why I love xmas, I love been with my family for the dinners. On xmas day we have a brunch together and then I go to my dads house to open some presents and stuff.
Every year on Christmas eve we go over to my aunts house and have a big dinner and then exchange presents. TBS always has a 24 hour marathon of the Christmas Story, so we leave it on the entire time we are there. The rule is that as soon as we've seen the movie twice through it's time to go home. Then Christmas morning it's just me, my parents and sister. We open up our gifts from "santa" then sit around the house all day.
We spend Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with my husbands family. We open our gifts to each other Christmas Eve when we get home, right after the furkids open theirs! :)
we open presents christams eve, never christmas morning. and then we have stockings christmas morning. and we always have the big christmas supper on christmas eve :p its the finnish way of celibrating it :p spending christmas with family is a rarity though, as NONE of my relatives live in the provence, my absolute closest relatives live in calgary, an 8 hour drive. the rest live in kellowna, kamloops, toranto, prince george and totally differnt countrys :eek: which is why I am going to prince george this year, I am happy but I am not happy, because I dont get to spend christmas with my babies, but I do get to see family that I have not seen in 4-5 years. I am supposed to be satisified with just Kari lol but I still want Happy to come :(
We spend Christmas Eve at Paul's Mom's house, and open our presents from them, and they each open one present, usually ours.
Christmas Day (now that Dad is retired and we can *gasp* have Christmas on Christmas) we gather my whole family at my sister's house - her house is the biggest, so we can all eat in the same room without having to have double-decker tables - and have either dessert and presents or dinner and present over there.
Another Christmas season tradition is getting as many family-members and friends to a Messiah Sing as possible. We have been doing this for 20 years and several times had three generations there, and usually have representaives in all four parts.
On Christmas eve we alwasy go to my Aunt's house for a family gathering type thing. We aren't allowed to open any gifts on Chtistmas eve, I think it's more fun to open them all on Christmas morning anyway:D For Christmas dinner we either have it at our house r we go to my Grandma's. This year we're going to my Grnadma's house:) I think that's all we ever do for Christmas.
My own very annoying Christmas tradition is waking up around 5:30am! i hate getting up early but on Christmas I alwasy do, i don't know why though.
One tradition my family and I have always done since my brother and I were little... I wonder. ;) Could it be.. yes, it would be. My brother and I waking up at 5am, go jump on mom and dad's bed, wake them up, and then head on downstairs to see what Santa brought us. However, when we were really little, we used to sleep in my bed because we wanted to wait until 5am "together". And, it's usually us waking my mom up. My dad sleeps on the couch. But of course, this is the most important tradition above all. I can't believe many of you forgot that. ;)
In all seriousness, our traditions have changed over the years due to newborns in the family, grandchildren, etc etc. What used to happen was Christmas Eve, our family would go have dinner and open presents with my dad's side of the family. The three siblings from my Grandma Cassell (my dad's grandma), which were Grandma Bess (my grandma), Uncle Guy, and Aunt Jacque, would switch off every 3 years with having dinner at their house. After my grandma didn't have a house anymore and could not host the dinner, my Aunt Jacque took her years over, and now my cousin Kim does hers, now that she's passed away. But NOW, we still do eat with them as if it's Christmas Eve, but because my Aunt Jacque has 2 new grandchildren they like to be with on Christmas Eve (they live out of town) we eat with all of them the Sunday before Christmas Day. So this year, that's December 19th.
On Christmas morning, we wake up at 5, see what Santa brought us, fall asleep downstairs until about 8 or 9, wake up, and open other gifts. Gifts between my brother and I, and gifts for my parents from my brother and I. Then, sometime Christmas morning, we head down to my grandmother's house. Eventually, sometime that night, or the next night, or whenever everybody is free (since it's a Saturday this year, it'll be interesting when we actually get together for the dinner) we'll have a Christmas dinner with my mom's side of the family and open presents later that night. We usually stay down there a few extra nights.. just because we love it.
When we were little, my grandparents would come up either Christmas Eve or early Christmas morning (I forget, now that I think about it..). My grandmother and my dad would battle in the kitchen trying to fix us a biiiiiig breakfast. My uncle, his wife, his kids, my Grandma Bess, and maybe a few more people, and us would all have breakfast together, and then open gifts between eachother. We'd save the gifts from my grandparents (mom's parents) and us for that night. Then they'd all leave, and we'd all go back down to my grandparents' house. That night (when our schedules were less hectic) we'd go over to my uncle's house to have dinner. All I remember from those were those NASTY baby corns my uncle always wanted me to eat, and my great-grandfather who would always crack me up when he spoke.
Sigh, I miss the good ole days, when people were less frantic about their schedules. I wish my grandfather, Dandy, was still alive. He knows how to keep the Christmas spirit alive.. sadly, this will be the first Christmas without him. This past Thanksgiving was the first Thanksgiving without him. That's all I've ever known, that's all my mom's ever known. It's sad, very sad. And everytime I sit down to make my Christmas list out for people I need to buy for, I always put "Dandy" and list things he'd want or might want.. then it dawns on me. :*(