Crazy or not so crazy holiday traditions...

Ok, so learning about other cultural/religious traditions and rituals just fascinates me so I got to thinking, since there are folks from all walks of life here, what traditions do you do for the holidays or any other day for that matter?

I'll start.

My step mom is an awful cook so before going to my dad's on xmas eve, my hubby and I would go to the Chinese buffet. We did it for several years until we saw my dad coming out of the McDonald's across the street on the way to get my Granny that we all got together and decided no more home cooked meals on xmas eve! We ALL were eating out anyway so now we all go 18 of us, to get Chinese and then go to my dad's to exchange gifts.

The other tradition is from my mom's side. Every year when we decorated the tree, we would put a few dozen ornaments in a box on the table next to it. When someone would come to visit, they were asked to hang an ornament on the tree. Most if the ornaments were hand made so it usually led to a story too.

What about you guys? It's safe here, no one will judge you

we host a gingerbread house making event wit my bandmates and their kids (same age as my kid). We also go out on most every sunday evening in December to drive around looking for fantastic light displays. We pick a different direction to travel each time, wear our xmas pajamas, play our fav xmas songs and drink hot cocoa (with peppermint schnapps if you're passengering).

Last year and this year we get together with some friends on Christmas and do a "Loser Christmas" where we go to a Chinese Restaurant in lieu of the traditional Christmas meal . . . I enjoy hanging out with my friends so much more than my own family.

<-- is also a believer in earth magic/multiple diety/lots of stuff beyond comprehension....and pyramid power...and stove gnomes/gremlins...maybe not pyramid power, but certainly stove gnomes/gremlins.

I feel so at home here! You guys are great! No Facebook or Twitter for me, all I need is RIGHT here

my mom's B-Day is the Eve of Xmas, so I must endure the family gathering ritual in all its, uh, splendor. Like Jake, I prefer friends to family(and so would you if you knew my family, y'all think I'm strange heh). I'm the happy-go-lucky one, and the rest are negative nancies (no offense to anyone named Nancy). I will have to hear the same old stories of woe and poverty, frustration and anxiety. I always try to make early escape by explaining that we must get home to put out our luminaries so that Santa can find us. We're old school with the luminaries...paper bags with cat litter and votive candle (its cool, some burn down in the middle of the night, leaving a wee bit of candle and lump of litter). I'm so excited for Santa this year. I'm sure this is finally the year he's bringing me that competition quality throwing tomahawk I've asked for for the last 10 years. My wife says silly things like "Uh, no, that sounds dangerous in your hands"....like she knows. Santa knows I've been good-ish. He always knows. We also leave the movie A Christmas Story on all night long (wife's fav film, all time) so that when we come down stairs we have Xmas overload of movie and gifts. Our cats are very excite to play in the wrapping paper as well. Good times.

Procreate...sounds so sciency Jags...I can neither confirm nor deny this theory until I see a chart or diagram or something.

Try the Peking duck..... Fa Ra Ra Ra Ra, Ra Ra Ra Ra!

. . . or an old Sears and Roebuck catalog . . . if you can find one.

If it's the year we go to my parent's house we sit in the dark because my father won't let us have any lights on and he yells at my wife for having the refrigerator door open too long. My poor mom will cook a nice dinner and when we get done eating she remembers that she left the rolls in the oven. Their dog runs around the house like an idiot and barks, it's a great time.

If we go to my inlaws I really can't say what goes on, I need a designated driver to get home.

I'm just trying to get past him wearing his Christmas jammies driving around. Explain that to the police officer.

Blue vomit - that is my ring tone! I have an unhealthy obsession of all things xmas story

you would get along superb with my wife, also has unhealthy obsession with xmas story....she'll be happy to know she's not alone.

I like the traditional yankee swap. What we do is for each family member to grab a item from the house and put it in a paper bag. (No purchases can be made, as its gotta be something you have lying around the house) every year we did it was a lot of fun as most times its just someone trying to get rid of some junk form their house, and the winner is really the person who doesn't get stuck with the real crappy item. I remember one year my dad (age 75 at the time) was arguing with my 5 year old as my son took his flashlight gift away and stuck my dad with a needlepoint pillow and some candles.....good time

Not so crazy......biscuits and gravy on Christmas morning. Boring, but ohhh so good. Gonna' do a new biscuit recipe I found that's really good instead of the pop open "grands" we've been using.
We started doing a Cupcake Wars thing last year too. That was fun.......because I was one of the judges. Not sure that's going to happen this year, so that tradition hasn't rooted yet.

We're doing something similar to this at our We Survived the End of the World Party this Friday . . . Yankee swap with the requirement being it's something you have lying around the house . . . figure it could be a lot of fun.

Yep, similar to Yankee swap for years and years in grandmas basement at Thanksgiving and Christmas, the men would play pool for dimes and everybody else would play dirty bingo, when you had a bingo you could select a wrapped gift or steal one that someone had already selected and opened. It used to get pretty heated.

Christmas Pizza.

First year after the Dixettes father left, was an adjustment on many levels. My philosophy is once you get past the "firsts", things get wayyyyy easier.

Didnt feel like doing the whole dinner thing, needed something we could do together, and bond a bit, and talk, so we decided on home made pizza from scratch. She even got me a new stone, wheel, and paddle that year (still have them).

Every year, be it Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, or some where reasonably close, it's home made pizza.

The ties that bind.

My dads side of the family got to be too big for everybody to buy presents for everybody else. No we all each bring one gift and play the game where everyone picks a package from the pile and either chooses to open it or steal one that somebody else already opened. It is all small stuff, so nobody gets bent out of shape.

My son is only 15 months old, so I hope we start some new traditions as he grows up.

-SF

Ahhhh.