What traditions does your family have for Christmas?

Terry Gyimah

Championship Contender
All of us have traditions in our families year after year especially when it comes to celebrating Christmas so I know I am curious to know what people's traditions are as far as family traditions go for Christmas? I will go ahead and start:

For Christmas in my family:

- Christmas Eve (December 24th)- On Christmas Eve night, my brother, sister and myself we go off with our father since my parents are divorced so we go to my grandmother's house for the 24th. At my grandmother's house usually my whole entire family is there at the house extended family on my father's side that being aunts, uncles, cousins and in-laws all on my father's side since I have a pretty huge family. There are a lot of us like I am talking a lot and the house is usually packed every year. We usually party on the 24th in terms of dancing to music, eating, drinking the whole nine yards and at this party there is usually a lot of food. There is usually a lot of alcohol by that I mean wine and beer specifically. Also at the house my cousins who I am close in age with and I we usually just watch TV downstairs in the basement while music plays down there. My little cousins my younger cousins generally create lots of mischief on Christmas Eve especially in my grandmother's house you know how little kids can be. We usually party until the wee hours of the morning until everyone goes home.

- Christmas Day (December 25th)- On Christmas Day morning since I live with my mom, my brother, sister and myself along with my mother and grandmother my mother's mother we open gifts on Christmas Day morning downstairs. We also have breakfast with each other basically just spending time together as a family and my mother basically cooks up a storm on Christmas especially for us kids but also for my grandmother too she also helps my mother in the cooking. Meanwhile my little brother and I are generally competitive with each other in terms of playing video games with each other but also we spend the day watching NBA basketball before we have lunch with my sister, mother and grandmother. Then my brother, sister and myself spend time getting ready to go out with my father who basically comes to pick us up to go to my uncle my dad's brother's house for Christmas Day. Then when we do get to my uncle's on Christmas Day my whole entire extended family is at my uncle's house like I am talking my whole entire family again. My cousins and I then are in the living room as we all watch NBA basketball on a huge screen as we all go crazy. Meanwhile my aunts and uncles are basically dancing to music while everyone is eating Christmas dinner and my grandmother is also there too right in the thick of it.

- Boxing Day (December 26th)- Basically what goes on on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in my family basically it is a repeat again but we spend the day of the 26th at my aunt's house like think of a Christmas after party

- New Years Eve (December 31st)- As for New Years Eve my whole entire family and myself we spend it at any one of my aunts or uncles' houses it generally changes each and every year as far as whose house we celebrate it at but as for New Years we all basically just spend it counting down the hours to the New Year while we reflect on everything that has happened the past year and how we will make the New Year so much better than the last year. We generally hold hands while we do it and we basically pray too. After the New Year as soon as it is a reality we basically celebrate hugging one another and then we just go on about partying until the wee hours of the morning.


* This is strictly my tradition though since I come from an African family well I am Canadian too since I was born in Canada but have African ancestry, specifically Ghanaian
 
We used to go to grandma's and my parents would unleash a whole year's worth of suppressed hostility while drinking. Presents, carols and shouting on Christmas Eve and food, church and resentment on Christmas Day.

I've still to find my Irish Catholic ancestor... ;)
 
Christmas- We buy a fruit cake or two (they typically become available in shops everywhere around that time of the year)... and we eat the cake. Boxing day- Watch the boxing day test cricket match, if one is on, otherwise just enjoy the holidays relaxing. Finally, on new year's day, we try to spend it safe and sound, because of our superstitious belief that if the first day goes well, the rest of the year will go well too. :D
 
Ever wondered how a Swedish christmas is?

We start four weeks before with christmas market down town and we will light up a candle once every Sunday in four Sundays before christmas, to count down.

Lucia is basically the only saint we celebrate, a big tip is to see the celebrations once. They are really beautiful.

Then it will be christmas, yet just to be odd we celebrate christmas at the 24th of December. I think it is so as we had some celebration at that day before we became christians.

How is our day then, you may ask. Well we start in the morning by having some delicious breakfast all together. A kick up before we will start to cook the christmas food in hours, sigh. At least it will be yummy!

Eventually, after all cooking it will be lunch time. Time for the Swedish "smörgårdsbord" which literally means that we take a table and fill it with lots of different christmas dishes. Such as sausages, salads, meatballs, fish, Jansson's Temptation, ham and much more. Christmas here is very much about food, always been.

When we have put long time at eating and talking then we will go and cuddle up in the sofa. Now its time for all the TV show! Which has been sent exact the same since... the 60's perhaps? However everyone will watch even if we know all the lines. With that we will eat some candy, Lucia saffron buns, ginger breads and drink some mulled wine.

Oh now the TV show is over. Then it is time for the Santa if there are kids. Typical is that the dad in the house will say "Oh i forgot to buy the magazine! Ah!" and will leave the house. Short after the Santa will knock the door. (Absolutely no connection seen there no ;) ). Presents will be given out and we will have some free time for our own.

Then it is time for... guess what...more food! We will at the evening eat some rice pudding with cinnamon and sugar. Don't get the almond, that will for most families mean you will take the dishes!

The following days we will meet other family members and try to eat up the left overs, good luck for that...

Then it is time for what everyone waits for, the BIG SALE. This is Sweden's sort of Black Friday sale. So want something? Come here!

That's all I guess :eek:
 
Glad to see that there is some hints of actual tradition in these posts, rather than simply saying that "my grandparents come around for Christmas dinner/I go to the local pub for a Christmas Eve drink" like those count as a tradition.

As for me, aside from decorations, presents and a turkey dinner, there is literally nothing I would count as being a tradition in our house.
 
My Christmas run up starts the 1st of December where I put up my tree and wear my first Christmas jumper of the year.

Here it is:

CVKLeCZWEAEmPjQ.jpg:large


Next up is Fenwicks window which is a christmas display in the main department store in town. Then it's the works Christmas do.
 
Every year since 1994, my brother, dad, and I watch the Boxing Day football matches. My brother supports Liverpool, my dad supports Newcastle, and I support Arsenal. This year, the Liverpool match is on at 3, the Newcastle match is on at 5:30, and the Arsenal match is on at 7:45, so it's worked out perfectly.

Since I've turned 18, we've evolved the tradition so that whoever's team concedes a goal has to buy the next round. Suffice to say, my dad usually has to buy most rounds...
 
Every year since 1994, my brother, dad, and I watch the Boxing Day football matches. My brother supports Liverpool, my dad supports Newcastle, and I support Arsenal. This year, the Liverpool match is on at 3, the Newcastle match is on at 5:30, and the Arsenal match is on at 7:45, so it's worked out perfectly.

Since I've turned 18, we've evolved the tradition so that whoever's team concedes a goal has to buy the next round. Suffice to say, my dad usually has to buy most rounds...

If Liverpool don't concede, does that mean you'll be nursing your pints til the Newcastle game?

As for mine, nothing too crazy:

Up to Aberdeen a week before Christmas day.

Me and my best pal buy each other a bottle of whisky the weekend before Christmas then go to the pub for the rest of the day

Presents get wrapped on Christmas Eve during the day, Mass in the evening.

It used to be one or the other but now me and my parents watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation then the Father Ted Christmas special after Mass.

Christmas Day at the parents'. Mum's parents, my sisters and their partners come round for lunch. Sisters usually head to their partners' folks' place at about 4, dad ko's at 4.15, me and my mum put on a film.

Boxing Day we go out to see my dad's side of the family then go round to my mum's parents in the evening.

A day or two later I head back down to Cambridge.

The end, by Dowds.
 
Nothing to spectacular for my family, as there is only me, my brother and my parents.

- I usually go to the pub on Christmas Eve to see and catch up with my all old college mates who have come back local to be with their family at Christmas.

- As a little kid, my Mum would always put 1 present "from Santa" on the end of my bed during the night to keep me entertained until it was a decent time to get up in a morning. Obviously, this doesn't happen any more!

- We all have a couple of glasses of bucks fizz in the morning as soon as we get downstairs and some bacon or sausage barms.

- Growing up, we'd open Santa's presents in the morning (I had a "sack" filled with smaller presents), then after Christmas dinner, we'd open the bigger presents (from Mum and Dad) in the afternoon. I think this was done to keep me and my brother entertained and excited for the whole day, not just blasting through all the presents in the morning.

- We'll usually watch the James Bond film which is on in the evening most years.
 
Christmas Eve is a day that I'm normally working. To that end, I normally finish around 7 and then head to the pub with my friends for a few hours. I head home after that and my girlfriend normally wants to open her presents at midnight.

Christmas Day, I go round to my mums house to open my presents. I see my family and get drunk. We always watch The Grinch and Home Alone, along with Mrs Brown's Boys in recent years.

Boxing Day means it's off to the other side of the family to do more present opening and drink some more. No real plans but it's always a fun night.
 
Christmas Eve is a day that I'm normally working. To that end, I normally finish around 7 and then head to the pub with my friends for a few hours. I head home after that and my girlfriend normally wants to open her presents at midnight.

Christmas Day
, I go round to my mums house to open my presents. I see my family and get drunk. We always watch The Grinch and Home Alone, along with Mrs Brown's Boys in recent years.

Boxing Day means it's off to the other side of the family to do more present opening and drink some more. No real plans but it's always a fun night.

You're Scottish, we all know it's not just those two days :p
 
Christmas eve - Everyone opens 1 gift, the parents stay up to stuff the stockings and usually get done around 1. At that point I have a joint.

Christmas - Wake up and do stockings, go to my girlfriends parents house so the kids can get their presents from the grandparents, head back to our place and open our presents, do a quick cleanup, make some bacon wrapped oysters for appetizers then start cooking dinner. After dinner we do a quick kitchen cleanup and mostly just do something as a family, hopefully this year we will be playing Super Mario Maker (*fingers crossed*). After everyone crashes I go and hang with one of my best friends for a while, usually ending with a joint.

Boxing Day - NOTHING and it's awesome, well nothing and a joint at the end of the night.
 
Christmas eve - Everyone opens 1 gift, the parents stay up to stuff the stockings and usually get done around 1. At that point I have a joint.

Christmas - Wake up and do stockings, go to my girlfriends parents house so the kids can get their presents from the grandparents, head back to our place and open our presents, do a quick cleanup, make some bacon wrapped oysters for appetizers then start cooking dinner. After dinner we do a quick kitchen cleanup and mostly just do something as a family, hopefully this year we will be playing Super Mario Maker (*fingers crossed*). After everyone crashes I go and hang with one of my best friends for a while, usually ending with a joint.

Boxing Day - NOTHING and it's awesome, well nothing and a joint at the end of the night.

Another tradition I can get behind and admire
 
The two Jews in my house order enough Chinese food to last Christmas Eve & day.

See? We're willing to go Christian on their most holy day. :)
 
I am sure everyone has their family Christmas traditions some different than others hell even some similar but what matters what truly matters is all of us having the Christmas spirit and spreading that Yuletide cheer
 
We don't really have traditions here anymore.

One of my brother's and his family, my sister and her son, my mom and I all get together. If it's on Chirstmas Eve we get some Papa Murphy's pizza and have that and then open gifts and usually spend most the of the rest of the night playing board games.

One of my nephew's has been wanting Zelda Monopoly so I decided to get that for him and I'm sure he'll want to play that.

Usually we do a Wii bowling tournament as well. Pretty much the only time the Wii gets used. My mom and my oldest niece tend to be the tops at that.
 

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