Its the Holiday Season

[Vallikat]

So Tristalyn brought this up on Monday night and I thought it would make a nice thread. What are your holiday traditions?

Except you Veldron - we've already gotten WAY too much information about your holiday tradition

...kidding! ...you might want to post that story here for those people that missed Tristalyn's show.

Ok, so I'll start...

When we were very small kids (there are 5 of us), my mom, who is a nurse, had to work long hours, often 11:00 pm on Christmas eve until 7:00 am Christmas morning. So as a result, a tradition was born. We weren't allowed to run down the steps at the butt crack of dawn and tear open our gifts like our friends did. We had to wait at the top of the stairs so my mom could get a quick power nap in before the day of chaos began. Meanwhile, my dad and my aunt did any last minute assembly and finished decorating the tree (because we believed that Santa trimmed the tree).

When we got a bit older my mom got better hours but the tradition remained. We had to wait. We waited form my grandmother to get there so she could see us come down. We waited for the coffee to be made. We waited for my dad to get his eyes (contact lenses) in. We waited until they felt they had tortured us enough and let us come down.

We waited.

And it was great.

The anticipation only made it better. Also while all our friends were done ripping through all their gifts, we still had ours to open.

I say again, it was great.

So great that I have continued the tradition with my own kid. He waits. He waits for me to make the coffee. He waits until I get my eyes in. He waits for his grandparents to get there. He waits for me to get the camera pointed at just the right angle. He waits. Its wonderful. Though he is one child, each time he comes down those steps I flash on pictures of 5 children with excited faces who got to anticipate Santa just a little bit longer.

Okie...that's my story... Who's next?

[Jugsmalone]

well as a small child i never looked forward much to Christmas it almost frightened me as i was from a disfunctional family and the day would normally end or begin with screaming and fighting....

When i married tho it changed every christmas eve went to midnight mass..with my husband followed by opening of one gift and than into bed to make each other feel that special feeling.....

When the kids were born we still attened midnight mass and they got one gift when we returned (useually a new pair of PJs) they always slept till at least 9 am sisnce they didnt get to bed till after midnight but they too were made to wait at the top of the landing till all was ready than we sat around the tree and had a quick chrstmas breakfast before they could open thier gifts they would sit and look at the presents wondering wht box to open first.......the presents would be opened and they would play and show thier freinds wht they got for christmas than at noon it was on to grandma #1 for early christmas dinner and more presents and a few hours latter to grandma #2 for supper and more gifts....this was followed with two kids sound asleep on the ride home and smileing happily in thier dreams

[Coltess]

In Denmark we get our presents on Christmas eve, not the following morning.

For the last 18 years or so my familly has shared Christmas with my dad's sister's family by alternating houses. Traditionally a Danish Christmas goes something like this. People arrive around 6 PM (try going an entire day looking at the tree in all its glory with the presents beneath and not have anything to do!) and dinner is at seven or maybe a little later. Dinner usually lasts a couple of hours (with the kids fidgeting and not eating much of anything), and then on to the main event; Christmas carols and dancing around the tree, and then presents for everyone.

In our family we had the power go out one year just as the guests arrived. No power obviously meant no dinner, and no lights! So now what? Since the lights on the tree were real candles, not electrical ones, we decided to have the caroling, dancing around the tree, and presents by flickering candle light. Thankfully the power came back before dinner was ruined and everybody had a great time. Since the children preferred this way of doing things, it became a tradition that has only been broken in the last few years after everybody has grown up.
Merry Christmas

[Boinky]

Well my family was never religious so Christmas was just the cultural/marketing holiday it pretty much is. I didn't start finding out much of others X-Mas traditions till later and found it all quite odd. We always did our presents Christmas Eve. Then Christmas Day you woke up and had a stocking filled with candy & usually a few small presents 'from Santa'. The notion that you didn't do presents till Christmas Day was what perplexed me. And even till this day a tad, I mean both days have the Christmas tag. Sure one you likely have to work or possibly even go to school back in the day (can't quite remember if we did or not).

And regarding opening presents, we may not have always did this as I forget, but after awhile it became a somewhat ordered structure. 1 present is opened at a time (this includes the whole group) usually started with the youngest on up in age. Of course in the higher rounds of present opening the younger ones are usually the only ones left with anything to open(go figure, kids get all the phat lewt )

[Ultronn]

my families traditions were the same as everyone else's as a child i'm sure. the whole family put and decorated the tree, parents got the top half and kids got the bottom half. meals at both parents relatives, followed by a quiet day at home christmas eve and christmas day. now that all the kids are older it's changed slightly . now for christmas eve we all goto the bar and get tanked. it's actually quite fun to go out drinking with your parents. christmas morning's a little different now too, no ones out of bed before 10(due to hangovers mostly) it'll be interesting to see what happens when grandkids enter the mix.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays !!