Christmas Traditions

[Tazzo]

What kind of Christmas traditions do you have? With whom do you spend it?

What is a must-have (or must to do) for Christmas?

Do you do something, some tradition, etc, you don't want to do for a reason or another?

Do you have some special foods/dishes just for Christmas?

Do you go to the Christmas morning church service?

If you decorate, when do you start?
Do you celebrate Advent as a pathway to Christmas? How?

Is Christmas just one day, or is it longer for you?



When it is time to shove the Christmas tree out of the door, kick the jingle bells to the attic, hide garlands and lights to the darkest corner of the basement?
How long does it take you to demolish all the chocolates from Christmas?

When does Christmas end for you, or does it?

Do you have a spruce shedding party as the end of the Christmas season?

 

[Lynx]

I'm not doing decorations this year, because I always did it grudgingly for Grandma and now she is gone. Bah humbug. Etc. They look nice on other people's houses, but not nice enough for me to bother with it myself.

On Christmas Eve the family all gets together for finger foods and gift exchange. On Christmas morning the family all gets together for Christmas breakfast and dirty Santa.

 

[seoulsearch]

What kind of Christmas traditions do you have? With whom do you spend it?

What is a must-have (or must to do) for Christmas?

Do you do something, some tradition, etc, you don't want to do for a reason or another?

Do you have some special foods/dishes just for Christmas?

Do you go to the Christmas morning church service?

If you decorate, when do you start?
Do you celebrate Advent as a pathway to Christmas? How?

Is Christmas just one day, or is it longer for you?



When it is time to shove the Christmas tree out of the door, kick the jingle bells to the attic, hide garlands and lights to the darkest corner of the basement?
How long does it take you to demolish all the chocolates from Christmas?

When does Christmas end for you, or does it?

Do you have a spruce shedding party as the end of the Christmas season?

Hi Tazzo! Thanks for starting these threads!

My family doesn't do much for Christmas besides spend time together, but one thing I do love is picking a night to drive around looking at other people's Christmas decorations.

This is probably my favorite part of the season -- looking at decorations in stores and then seeing other people's creativity come to life in the way that they use them!

I have always loved Christmas lights and used to have a string of like 300 blinking lights wrapped around a pair of stools. One year my parents bought an artificial palm tree (we lived in a warm climate at the time,) snuck in while I was at work, and painstakingly wrapped every single one of those lights around that tree.

I came home to a blinking, sparkling "Christmas Palm Tree" and absolutely loved it!

I have since dubbed it "The Party Tree" (I don't party -- but that tree sure looks like it does!) and now it's filled with little trinkets friends have sent me through the years.

I plug it in year-round whenever it's dark, and looking at those colorful, flashing lights always makes me just a little bit happier.

 

[Lynx]

Hi Tazzo! Thanks for starting these threads!

My family doesn't do much for Christmas besides spend time together, but one thing I do love is picking a night to drive around looking at other people's Christmas decorations.

This is probably my favorite part of the season -- looking at decorations in stores and then seeing other people's creativity come to life in the way that they use them!

I have always loved Christmas lights and used to have a string of like 300 blinking lights wrapped around a pair of stools. One year my parents bought an artificial palm tree (we lived in a warm climate at the time,) snuck in while I was at work, and painstakingly wrapped every single one of those lights around that tree.

I came home to a blinking, sparkling "Christmas Palm Tree" and absolutely loved it!

I have since dubbed it "The Party Tree" (I don't party -- but that tree sure looks like it does!) and now it's filled with little trinkets friends have sent me through the years.

I plug it in year-round whenever it's dark, and looking at those colorful, flashing lights always makes me just a little bit happier.

You unplug it sometimes? I thought you left it plugged in 24/7.

 

[seoulsearch]

You unplug it sometimes? I thought you left it plugged in 24/7.

Nope!

Electric 💡 is expensive and I'm too cheap! 😬🎄🌟

 

[Magenta]

I grew up with all the fixings and trimmings and rites of Christmas: Santa, stockings, gift exchange, lights, decorated tree, visiting relatives (they came to our house, we being a family of thirteen, and it was not unusual to have between 40-50 people for our sit-down dinner), carolling, Christmas morning mass, visiting the big city to see the window displays of the big department stores (gosh, do they even exist any more?), driving through neighbourhoods to see the lights, etc, etc. For quite a few years as a living-away-from-home adult I always had a tree decked out, oh, it was so lovely in the dark with all the lights on... then with the passage of time and pressures of space constraints I downgraded to year round lights and angels hanging here and there... but now? Nada LOL. I spend much of the day and have dinner with my daughter and her aunt, and am then grateful it is over for another year. Auntie does the house up very nicely with all manner of decorations she has bought throughout the years and my daughter has a playlist she has put together of lovely carols and secular Christmas music. Speaking of which @Lynx I wanted to let you know of some music they played this morning on Haven Today which may interest you...

 

[Lynx]

I grew up with all the fixings and trimmings and rites of Christmas: Santa, stockings, gift exchange, lights, decorated tree, visiting relatives (they came to our house, we being a family of thirteen, and it was not unusual to have between 40-50 people for our sit-down dinner), carolling, Christmas morning mass, visiting the big city to see the window displays of the big department stores (gosh, do they even exist any more?), driving through neighbourhoods to see the lights, etc, etc. For quite a few years as a living-away-from-home adult I always had a tree decked out, oh, it was so lovely in the dark with all the lights on... then with the passage of time and pressures of space constraints I downgraded to year round lights and angels hanging here and there... but now? Nada LOL. I spend much of the day and have dinner with my daughter and her aunt, and am then grateful it is over for another year. Auntie does the house up very nicely with all manner of decorations she has bought throughout the years and my daughter has a playlist she has put together of lovely carols and secular Christmas music. Speaking of which @Lynx I wanted to let you know of some music they played this morning on Haven Today which may interest you...

Where they really come from:








A tradition is anything a boomer has done twice.

 

[Magenta]

Where they really come from:
View attachment 270801
A tradition is anything a boomer has done twice.

Did you listen to the songs on Haven Today or had you heard them before and they are all old news to you?

 

[Lynx]

Did you listen to the songs on Haven Today or had you heard them before and they are all old news to you?

I'm on lunch break, with people around. I will listen to them when I get home tonight.

 

[melita916]

My family gets together on Christmas Eve to have dinner and watch movies. We used to wait til after midnight to open presents, but most of us can’t stay awake long enough to wait lol! So we’ll do presents in the evening.

Christmas Day is a lazy day, and we would eat left overs. But things have changed with schedules, and hubby and I will have Chinese food lol.

 

[Karlon]

What kind of Christmas traditions do you have? With whom do you spend it?

What is a must-have (or must to do) for Christmas?

Do you do something, some tradition, etc, you don't want to do for a reason or another?

Do you have some special foods/dishes just for Christmas?

Do you go to the Christmas morning church service?

If you decorate, when do you start?
Do you celebrate Advent as a pathway to Christmas? How?

Is Christmas just one day, or is it longer for you?



When it is time to shove the Christmas tree out of the door, kick the jingle bells to the attic, hide garlands and lights to the darkest corner of the basement?
How long does it take you to demolish all the chocolates from Christmas?

When does Christmas end for you, or does it?

Do you have a spruce shedding party as the end of the Christmas season?

while growing up, mom & dad had us decorating for all holidays, especially Christmas. i have never decorated for any holiday in my entire adult life. my wife & i start Christmas celebrations on Dec. 10th. lasts until Dec. 31st. i always read the book of Matthew for Christmas. we dine a bunch of gourmet dinners for the holidays. in fact, Saturday, it's 15 Church restaurant in Saratoga for dinner. we buy gourmet snacks at Healthy Living grocery store in Saratoga for Christmas. no "must have's". i do enjoy listening to The Jacob Brothers Christmas music.

 

[Tall_Timbers]

I would normally decorate the house with Christmas lights, but am physically unable to this year. I like to go to church on Christmas morning but my current church doesn't have a Christmas morning service. We used to cut down a small spruce tree and decorate it but we live in Wyoming now where there aren't a whole lot of trees so I print out a picture of a tree and tape it next to the fireplace. Our kids are grown up now so we no longer do stockings and gift giving is very minimal. I've never prepared a special meal for Christmas since I consider that a day off... maybe I'll try to this year.

 

[JohnDB]

Christmas tree
Gingerbread house subdivision
Cookies by the hundreds (usually a thousand)
Chocolate truffles by the hundreds too (1k as well)
All baked goods given out as gifts.

Of course lots of parties with dirty Santa played.

Christmas Eve is Charcuterie and cookie supper with cookies, cocoa, and popcorn.
(Stemming from destroying a Pepperidge Farm gift pack)

Christmas Day usually involves a lot of rest and recovery. Maybe a meal. Of course opening presents....
Maybe watching a game.

 

[Tazzo]

Hi Tazzo! Thanks for starting these threads!


My family doesn't do much for Christmas besides spend time together, but one thing I do love is picking a night to drive around looking at other people's Christmas decorations.


This is probably my favorite part of the season -- looking at decorations in stores and then seeing other people's creativity come to life in the way that they use them!


I have always loved Christmas lights and used to have a string of like 300 blinking lights wrapped around a pair of stools. One year my parents bought an artificial palm tree (we lived in a warm climate at the time,) snuck in while I was at work, and painstakingly wrapped every single one of those lights around that tree.


I came home to a blinking, sparkling "Christmas Palm Tree" and absolutely loved it!


I have since dubbed it "The Party Tree" (I don't party -- but that tree sure looks like it does!) and now it's filled with little trinkets friends have sent me through the years.


I plug it in year-round whenever it's dark, and looking at those colorful, flashing lights always makes me just a little bit happier.

Oooh, that drive sounds awesome, I should go for a one too.. Except, we do not have the amount of christmas decorations around as you have in the States.. People really don't use that much of decorations, only few ligtstrings maybe.

Your Party Tree sure has a party with all those trinkets and lights, and it is more suitable to all year around as it is a palm tree. I could not imagine having a spruce hanging around all year long. And I am just a boring person with a plain warm white lightstrings. Might not be as uplifting feeling if your lights would be as plain as mine

I don't have any light strings up yet, as my friend borrowed them for this weekend to a Christmas party she was holding to her kids and some kids from our church. We call pre-Christmas party pikkujoulut, small christmas (it should be plurar actually).
Companies usually throw those parties, but it most likely nowadays is just a execuse to drink, so I do not go to our company's one, if there even is one..

 

[Tazzo]

I grew up with all the fixings and trimmings and rites of Christmas: Santa, stockings, gift exchange, lights, decorated tree, visiting relatives (they came to our house, we being a family of thirteen, and it was not unusual to have between 40-50 people for our sit-down dinner), carolling, Christmas morning mass, visiting the big city to see the window displays of the big department stores (gosh, do they even exist any more?), driving through neighbourhoods to see the lights, etc, etc. For quite a few years as a living-away-from-home adult I always had a tree decked out, oh, it was so lovely in the dark with all the lights on... then with the passage of time and pressures of space constraints I downgraded to year round lights and angels hanging here and there... but now? Nada LOL. I spend much of the day and have dinner with my daughter and her aunt, and am then grateful it is over for another year. Auntie does the house up very nicely with all manner of decorations she has bought throughout the years and my daughter has a playlist she has put together of lovely carols and secular Christmas music. Speaking of which @Lynx I wanted to let you know of some music they played this morning on Haven Today which may interest you...

Oh, wow, that must have been a huuge amount of work to have a party for so many people. Even for 4 to 5 people it feels a lot of work to prepare a dinner plus everything else.. Christmas just sometimes seems a huge workload to stress about. So I get the idea of doing pretty much nothing

Is carolling where you go singing around the neighbourhood? I have only seen that in movies, we do not do that in here. Could be fun, only if I would sing with a voice on


We never had santa come, there was a Christmas Angel that left all the presents to our balcony when we were kids. Later I (still as a kid, not as an adult) was dressed as an angel to hand out the presents..

 

[Tazzo]

My family gets together on Christmas Eve to have dinner and watch movies. We used to wait til after midnight to open presents, but most of us can’t stay awake long enough to wait lol! So we’ll do presents in the evening.


Christmas Day is a lazy day, and we would eat left overs. But things have changed with schedules, and hubby and I will have Chinese food lol.

I would propably fell asleep also if having to wait till midnight
We open (if we have gifts) ours on the Christmas Eve around 3 to 4 pm, because my brother and his girlfriend leave to spent rest of the day with her family. It used to be in the evening.

And of course leftovers on the next day in our family too!
Chinese food sounds delicious too! Now I would really like to have some, it has been waay too long since I last time ate it, maybe next week I can..

 

[Tazzo]

while growing up, mom & dad had us decorating for all holidays, especially Christmas. i have never decorated for any holiday in my entire adult life. my wife & i start Christmas celebrations on Dec. 10th. lasts until Dec. 31st. i always read the book of Matthew for Christmas. we dine a bunch of gourmet dinners for the holidays. in fact, Saturday, it's 15 Church restaurant in Saratoga for dinner. we buy gourmet snacks at Healthy Living grocery store in Saratoga for Christmas. no "must have's". i do enjoy listening to The Jacob Brothers Christmas music.

It seems to be the theme, people do not fuss about Christmas with decorations so much anymore, me included.

On the Christmas Eve we read the Christmas Gospel from the book of Luke in the afternoon after coffee and before presents, if there are any anyway

 

[Magenta]

Oh, wow, that must have been a huuge amount of work to have a party for so many people. Even for 4 to 5 people it feels a lot of work to prepare a dinner plus everything else.. Christmas just sometimes seems a huge workload to stress about. So I get the idea of doing pretty much nothing

Is carolling where you go singing around the neighbourhood? I have only seen that in movies, we do not do that in here. Could be fun, only if I would sing with a voice on

We never had santa come, there was a Christmas Angel that left all the presents to our balcony when we were kids. Later I (still as a kid, not as an adult) was dressed as an angel to hand out the presents..

It was a lot of work, and a wonderful thing that happened after dinner was all the women folk gathering in the kitchen to help clean up, and of course all the talk that took place while that was being carried out. I do recall -at least in later years while I was still a teen- that some people would bring some dish or another, for instance, a brother in law always brought his bean salad. I don't think that is something we had ever had until he started that tradition. I'm not sure if it was always that way, though, and now it is common practice when such a large gathering is planned that certain dishes are delegated to the participants so that many cooks can lighten the load of the host and hostess. As children we all looked forward to the time when we graduated from the children's table in the kitchen to the adult tables' setup that stretched the length of the dining room, with card tables set up at the end of the dining room table to allow for all to sit. My mother was a wonderful baker also and we had lots of Christmas goodies, including home-made fruit cakes. One of my brothers was following my mother's hand written recipe from the forties just last week... he said they had soaked the candied fruits for a month. A month!!! That would have been in rum and/or brandy. Store bought offerings just do not compare.

By carolling I meant the time that was set aside as a family to sit together and
sing Christmas carols... we did not go traipsing about the neighbourhood, no!

 

[Tazzo]

I would normally decorate the house with Christmas lights, but am physically unable to this year. I like to go to church on Christmas morning but my current church doesn't have a Christmas morning service. We used to cut down a small spruce tree and decorate it but we live in Wyoming now where there aren't a whole lot of trees so I print out a picture of a tree and tape it next to the fireplace. Our kids are grown up now so we no longer do stockings and gift giving is very minimal. I've never prepared a special meal for Christmas since I consider that a day off... maybe I'll try to this year.

Don't take this the wrong way of me asking this, I am just curious, but do you guys stick to one church and never go to another?
It is just weird to me as I am used to (yes, I belong to one church) go to different churches sometimes, mostly to my own, of course. But now as speaking of Christmas mine doesn't have Christmas morning mass or anything on the Christmas day.
Nowadays many churches even do work together and hold some events too. But one just has to watch who is preaching.. Lutheran (main church of Finland) is going off the path nowadays.. there are good ones in there too, but unfortunately the worst ones are winning. Bread-priests, they only work because they get their income from there and guide people to wrong paths. But no wonder, as you cannot even ask when hiring a priest, does he believe in Jesus or the word of the Bible... that would be discrimination. Oh, wow, that became a rant... back to the main theme:

Picture of a tree is much more easy to maintain, the idea of vacuuming spruce needles and still finding them half a year later pricking your feet.. From last year I am just used to look the trees outside, although the smell is what I miss the most of a real spruce, but those have not smelled in years in here, mine at least. One even stinked! As it was cut from a wet area..

Considering a day off is a smart move, as Christmas can be tiring with all the food preps and stuff. Having more relaxed time with no hassle. Sometimes I wish I could do the same..

 

[Tall_Timbers]

Don't take this the wrong way of me asking this, I am just curious, but do you guys stick to one church and never go to another?
It is just weird to me as I am used to (yes, I belong to one church) go to different churches sometimes, mostly to my own, of course. But now as speaking of Christmas mine doesn't have Christmas morning mass or anything on the Christmas day.

I've always liked visiting other churches. Last winter I couldn't find one that had Christmas morning service. I'll look again this year. There are several denominations, some of which do have Christmas morning service, that I rule out...