Favorite Holiday Traditions

For our family it begins with delivering Thanksgiving meals to the elderly. We also make gift boxes for needy children around the world. This is a Franklin Graham project www.samaritanspurse.org We also love caroling, Christmas plays and the large extended family meals together. Happy Holidays everyone!

This message was edited Nov 21, 2004 5:16 AM

Ringing the bells at the Red Kettle.
My very favorite, will most likely not be available this year :(. A local bookstore, would have silent readers sit in the window (kind of manneqin like) and just read for 2 hours. I would be wrapped in the afghan, from my late Gram;s; reading a favorite book and drinking a hot drink and having a cookie from their little coffee bar. Readers would get a $10 gift certificate and I bet most (like mine) would go to one of 2 charities. When else could you read in a cozy atmosphere, feed your body and soul and help others. The lady sold her store to another bookstore (she wanted more time with her family) and I have not contacted the new owners yet-would be wonderful if they would continue- XXX keeping fingers crossed.
Watching favorite "Christmas Carol" and just being at peace.

On Thanksgiving, we go to a S-I-Ls house and pig out and visit, nothing exciting but always special.
During Christmas, our town is having 3 Saturdays of special events in December.
On Dec. 4, the kick-off will be the Christmas parade. As I have done for the past 2 years, I will join our historic group downtown in the historic district. This year we have a CD we have prepared (took all year) which will run continuously with 125 pictures from Transylvania County's past. We also have a newly mounted Indian Artifact Collection that we will put on display. Hot spiced cider, decorations, schmoozing; can't wait.
Otherwise, We will go to a family celebration at my other S-I-Ls house. There are often about 40 of us there in this small house. You have to step over children in the floor to get to the kitchen or bathroom. Presents, food, visiting, food, carols, food and food to take home, lol.

My favorite Holiday Tradition is having our best friends over for dinner. They are becoming a big family now so things have changed a little but it's still so much fun. We have a big turkey dinner and then go look at Christmas lights. Then we go to there house and watch our favorite Christmas movies. We usally spend the night together and go shopping the next day.

First I must say that you first two make my family seem really lame! lol I really wish we were more like that. This year I have started to participate in Meals On Wheels tho. Oops, got off track....We have 2 traditions. The first is actually something my grandmother would do. She'd call early in the morning on Christmas Eve and say "Christmas Eve gift!" It drove us kids NUTS plus we just thought it was stupid. lol Now that she's gone and I'm older, I love to beat my dad to the call and hear him laugh. :) The other is the Christmas gag gift. For years it was a horrible gorilla statue. I have many childhood memories of the adults laughing hysterically when one would get the gorilla. After a year they'd forgotten about it, so it was funny again. A cousin lost it, so a few years ago my parents found this UGLY porcelain pink poodle/Chinese dog thing at a $1 store. I better remind them to wrap it since I saw it in their garage recently!

Thanks for the replies. I enjoy reading them all. The Holidays are such a special time. Friends and family just being together is a blessing. It is harder to get everyone together in this mobile society and with swing shifts, but well worth the effort!

Years ago in my family I started the tradition that you could eat of the pie before the meal, no having to wait for the "correct time".
We don't always eat turkey - prime rib in rock salt or standing rib roast, hotdogs!
In the evening we always listen to "Knight & Hale" the laughable tape about hunting and the CD that we created with all hunting stories and music and jokes.
We also celebrate our Christmas holiday on Thanksgiving day at least the exchange of gifts as Steve and I always travel out of the country for the Christmas holiday.
Well, is that all weird enough.

That sounds wonderful Haighr. The libray here has a book on tape I think it's called hunting the wild turkey. I'm going to have to go get that out it's so funny.

Our family traditions always included ONE gift to open Christmas Eve, usually after a candlelight service. Plus NONE of the kiddlings were allowed to open a single present until all the adults were up and around the tree on Christmas morning. Aftet the gifts were opened, and all the packaging packed in plastic bags, the adults always had a mimosa. (Probably needed one after all that chaos, LOL.)

Darius, we have one small gift to open on Christmas Eve too. A couple of years we have had scavenger hunts. They found a new TV in the closet.

We always listen to Alice's Restaurant on the way to Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's.

Edited to remove my uncomfortable post. I re-read it this morning and noticed it stopped the thread dead in its tracks - sorry!!

I'll keep watching this thread and maybe I'll be able to find our own way from hearing yours.
Don't let me scare you all away.

This message was edited Nov 25, 2004 12:08 AM

This message was edited Nov 25, 2004 10:43 AM

Janie I'm sorry you are feeling so blue right now. I really like this passage below from A Christmas Carol. First we both know Christmas is not about all our traditions that we have or don't have. It’s about Jesus. That should be enough to make us celebrate at this time or anytime of year but as said below it also has some other good effects on the people around us. So try not to be so blue and just enjoy the holiday for true reason of the season and the benefits it brings. I truley hope you can put the joy back in your name this holiday season. I hope you get to feeling better.

’There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,’ returned the nephew. ’Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round - apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that - as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!’

Thanks, Howie.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your sweetie. I'm so glad to have DG, it is one thing I am thankful for - I spend a LOT Of time by myself and it helps immensely to have people I can talk to any time of the day - and those people who believe as I do about God, mostly.

It's a very good thing, as Martha would say.

Your welcome Janie, Happy Thanksgiving to you also.

Hi, Janie
I am enjoying these days while they last. My holidays may also change. My parents are both elderly. My oldest will be leaving in June after her wedding. She will be on a Air Force Base somewhere. I hope you will not be so blue. Everyone celebrates differently. My faith in God is what really makes me joyful. Happy Holidays
Teresa

OMG pins, i thought i was the only one left in the world that listened to arlo guthrie, lol.

Nope, we listened to him yesterday. Can't beat the classics. lol

When my family was young, we started a tradition that I still like. With a houseful of small children, Christmas morning can be chaos, or at least it was for us. Everyone tearing paper at once, not always getting to see someone open a gift you hunted and hunted for. Small pieces to new toys getting mislaid, assembly instructions getting tossed out with the wrapping paper.

But once the kids got to grade school age, we started Christmas morning opening only one present at a time. No mad rush of everyone opening all at once. Everyone watched as each person opened each thing. Christmas mornings lasted til midafternoon, but we loved it. It taught my kids to appreciate each present and it eliminated the "who gave me this" question. And I think it contributed a lot towards my girls spirit of giving. It quickly became more important to them to watch someone open a present they had given, than to open what they themselves had gotten.

As they oooed and ahhhed over each thing, the giver got a hug. And as they grew older, that helped them show appreciation for the thought behind the gift, even when their grandmother gave gaudy rhinestone jewelry to hip teenagers. The girls came to appreciate the concept enough that they initiated one of their own. They have large stockings, and they decided that they would open one stocking item each hour on the hour. Frequently, they are still opening stocking items well into the evening.

How wonderful, Terre!

I come from a big Italian family and when I was growing up, it was tradition in my family to have a big Christmas Eve meal - mostly seafood - shrimp, fish, etc. We sat around a real long ornate table and as you can imagine with any large family, it was always chaotic! After the food, we'd then have our "demitasse" with Anise, pasties, fruit and nuts. After that, we headed to the family room where my Grandpa played "Santa" in his big chair and my Grandma swung her broom in the hopes of catching any wrapping paper. Grandpa would read off who the present was for and then open it for us. As a child, I wasn't too thrilled with my presents being opened for me, but he always kept us in suspence. As I got older, I had no problem with it because the "adults" could relax while the kids played elves.

We would then head over to my other Grandparent's house and spend the night (my parents would go home and come back in the AM). My sister and I always heard hooves on the roof and bells ringing outside. In the morning, we'd have to wait at the top of the stairs while my "Poppy" went down to inspect everything - just to make sure it was safe. Once the OK was given, we fly down the steps and into a load of toys.

Of course, both sets of Grandparents are now gone and my parents are the new "Nana & Poppy". They live about an hour from us and we will be heading down there Christmas Eve for our Italian "event". My sister and her family come over. We don't open presents Christmas Eve night anymore which is fine with me. My husband, two kids and I spend the night and open presents in the morning. I wish I had had my kids go to Nana & Poppy's each Xmas Eve from the time they were babies. They now mostly want to sleep in their own beds and wake up in the morning here.

We always took turns opening gifts when my grandparents were alive, and that's held on. We do open at the same time as the other people, but it's always one gift at a time, if that makes sense.

We were always allowed to choose one gift to open on Christmas Eve ... but the giver, not the receiver, got to choose the special gift.

We woke up to presents all over the livingroom, not just under the tree, and then someone had to put on the Christmas hat (Santa style) and play Santa, making a pile of presents by each person's feet. We would drink cocoa or coffee and eat something good like Entenmen's coffee cake or cinnamon rolls, then we would take turns opening so everyone could see each gift.

We gave each other many gifts, ranging from an extra pair of black sox to a huge apple and orange in our stockings. Until I was "too old" - I think I was in 7th grade - I got a doll every year. My sister liked more tomboy toys - trains, etc. and even got an army outfit one year with a helmet and fatigues and a real canteen and mess kit she ate her Christmas dinner out of at the big family gathering at Grandma's house.
We have it on old home movies at my uncle's house.

We kids used to have a parade singing Silent Night all around my aunt's house or Grandma's and wearing our favorite Christmassy clothes. There was always a ham and potatoes and red eye gravy and lots of yummy cookies and home canned corn and elderberry pie. A feast!!

Uncle Jim, the original curmudgeon, put $20 on the tree for each and every cousin - all 9 of us. THat was a big deal in the 70's and considered a whole lot of money for us to spend all on ourselves.

Grandma gave funny gifts - a size 44 nightie to my size 3 mom... silly stuff. Now my MIIL is continuing that kind of tradition - that is, until I told her that we ought not to exchange but to pool our money to make someone less fortunate a nice Christmas.

One year we were very poor and Mom got a carbeurator for her car under the tree. Another year Dad had a hip replacement and was in the hospital, and we went to get our own tree, just me, Mom and my sister, and it ended up with such a big hole in the branches we put a board in there and set up the manger scene in the branches. That was the best tree ever!

Now you've got my memories flooding back - yayy!

I don't own a copy of Alice's Resturant but still love to hear it. LOL

.you can get anything you want, at alices restaurant, ....

plant, we special ordered ours from a record shop. We have the orginal LP, but wanted it on CD.

It was, (and still is) the Christmas tradition to go to church on Christmas Eve. After arriving home, we as children, would put milk and cookies out for Santa, and carrots for the Reindeer. Christmas morning, we had to wait until our parents were up with us before diving into the gifts. I kept up that tradition when I had children of my own. Great memories!

This message was edited Nov 27, 2004 4:16 PM

Growing up we were pretty poor...looking back i'd say we were probably at poverty level. Dad was military with 5 kids, the brady bunch effect.
Presents were pretty scare so we didnt open one on Christmas Eve. Back then i used to get so mad beacause "all my friends got to open one".. I realize now that if we would've been able to open one then, that would have been one less on Christmas Day.
Christmas Eve mom always makes reuben sandwiches, although i dont know where that tradition comes from.
Christmas morning came with the alarm set at 6 a.m.....with 5 kids running through the house trying to make all the noise we could to get mom and dad up. Of course, that was the one morning they chose not to hear us, so we occupied ourselves with our stockings that were full of nuts, the biggest, reddest apple you could find, pens pencils and other odds and ends. . Dad always played Santa, handing out gifts one by one, and each of us had to appreciate what the other had gotten. Christmas stockings were full of nuts, the biggest, reddest apple you could find, pens pencils and other odds and ends.
For breakfast we had sausage bisquits and orange juice. Then we all loaded up to go to the base for Christmas Dinner. My dad was military so we never had christmas with extended family. It was always "just us".
The traditions that i've started, lol...on Christmas Eve morning i put on a crock pot full of Gluewein. its a hot spiced wine....(ya gotta try it) we sit around listening to aaron nevilles christmas cd, drinking the wine and finish the wrapping. I carried on the not letting them open one.
Christmas morning i'm usually the first one up....tapping my foot waiting for the KIDS to get up, lol. Dinner is usually at my house, 18-20 people, including the child across the street that is probably in the same position i was in when i was his age.
I love this time of year, just missing the white stuff ; )
Thanks for letting me share,
Jen

Years ago, we had a neighbor couple who had no children. She told me that for years they had cared for his parents, but by the time I knew them the parents were gone. Every year, they arranged through senior centers or nursing homes to find out who would be alone at Christmas, and what was the most needed present. Then Christmas morning, the bus delivered 12 to15 seniors to their home, for Christmas and Christmas dinner.

She told me once that it really wasn't expensive. Most of the gifts were simple things, a robe, slippers, a tray for their walker, a card shuffler, that type of thing. But she said the people they invited were either on fixed incomes, or perhaps medicaid, which only allows them a tiny amount of spending money.

And after dinner, they sat around and exchanged stories of families, Christmas's past, and just memories. Eva (my neighbor) said it made their guests happiest just to have someone take the time to listen to them and their stories. It kept Christmas special for her and her DH after his parents were gone.

My grandmother died when I was 6 but I still have a vivid picture planted in my brain of the dinner table for Christmas. Every plate had a ribbon with a name tag, so you knew where to sit.

The ribbons led to a large punchbowl sized bowl in the middle of the table. Everyone got some token gift at dinner. This was during WWII so gifts were few and small. except I got a scooter when I was about 3-4. I chopped my lovely handmade wooden wagon to bits because "I didn't need it anymore".

(If I'd bee an adult, I'd have killed that kid, LOL.)

This message was edited Nov 27, 2004 4:14 PM

Terre,
All i can say is wow!!!

When we were stationed in Germany we always had a few of the single soldiers over for special dinners. Those times are some of my best memories.

You can listen to the Alice's Restaurant concert (radio show) at http://www.arlo.net/massacree/ The second set of links, the 56K RealPlayer streaming audio links, work.

This message was edited Nov 27, 2004 5:25 PM

Howie, don't have my email working yet, but you will love the CD for hunting. It is a "one of a kind" as we made it from Napster a few years ago!
Keep trying to get me till I get this system set up.

The audio book he's thinking of is "The Flaming Turkey", by Robert Hitt Neill. It's excellent...I need to find his other books at the library. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0961759100/qid=1101860592/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/103-4484936-4783036?v=glance&s=books

Ok Thanks

I'm feeling a little rebellious right now. Hmmmmmm.......... some traditions can be broken, right?

It's not so much breaking one, Karrie, as establishing a new one.

At my Father's house we still exchange gifts with extended family. Nothing pricey just for fun. Before the grandkids and great grandkids open presents we always let 1 child read the Christmas Story from the Bible. This has became a warm tradition in my family. With aging parents, I hope to someday include this at my home when I have a grandchild.

On Christmas Eve or the the 23rd we still make the cutout Sugar cookies and bake them for Santa. My oldest is 20, but still loves helping out. They are hardly edible after much rolling, cutting and flour, but make great memories.

It's the memories that last bluegrass long after the "bitter" taste of the cooking is gone! LOL

Christmas Eve was always a slow road trip around town to see everybody elses lights. One gift picked by the giver. One rum and egg-nog. First up next morning has to make coffee and wait for everybody (anybody) else. More nog. Turkey dinner. Afternoon walk or nap depending on weather. TV for those insomniacs. Then goodbyes to some and crank up the rock-n-roll for those who stay. (This would be a perfect year, had some, some not.) Frank