Discourse showed a few topics similar to this one… none since 2015, so I figure I’m safe creating another one.
A long, long time ago…
My FIL worked at a local Ace Hardware. It’s Christmas Eve. Our tree had been up for weeks. He calls and says “You want a Christmas Tree? We’re giving away anything we have left.” Thought about it for a bit, and said “save me one 5’ or 6’.” That night, Santa brought a tree and set it up in my kids room with lights and an angel on top and everything. Every year after that, Santa would bring a tree and put it up in the youngest kids’ room. Had to be 15 years of doing that, and NEVER had a kid wake up on me setting up the tree.
So, what other unique traditions do you have? Stories, please!
I don’t know if anyone else’s family does this, but on the day before Christmas, we try to be first to say to each other, “Merry Christmas Eve!” Supposedly, if you say it to someone before they say it to you, they have to buy you an extra gift. We don’t follow up with that part, but we take the “getting” each other part very seriously.
I think it’s a great holiday tradition, in that it keeps the relatives from pestering me unnecessarily on what is usually a very busy day.
We(me) always plants a secret gift under the tree. It’s usually of the ‘gag’ gift type.
One year I bought a box of Tampax and wrapped it up. Kids were preteen and teen. 2 girls, one boy.
When the gag gift was located everyone dove for it. Son-of-a-wrek got it.
He was dancing around and so happy the gift was his. Until he opened it up.
He never dives for the gift anymore. But me and the girls tease him every year about his Tampax.
Newish tradition, me and the grandwrex always have the nativity scene to set up. They are seriously religious about it. Everyone whispers and places things carefully. No matter Buzz Lightyear is in Joseph’s place this year. And it’s set up on a fake snow mat.
But every year, part of the Thanksgiving spread was always a plate with pickles and black olives and sometimes artichoke hearts. And every year, we would get called to the table well before things were actually ready and have quite a while just sitting looking at the stuff that was already there (pickles and olives) while we waited. Dad especially was always furious by this point and slamming things around in the kitchen, so we dared not misbehave or offer to help or go anywhere near him.
So every year since we were little, staring at that olive plate and trying to stay still and quiet, we all made a pact that we could each take one and none of us would tell on the others. If we just stuck to one each, it wouldn’t be noticed. And if nobody told, nobody would be in trouble.
Olives were, back then, a rare treat that we all loved. None of us are all that into black olives these days (other kinds of olives are better) and we’re more involved in the food prep and just generally have more autonomy and control over what we eat and when, but we still always sneak an olive each before Thanksgiving dinner and promise each other not to tell.
A minor thing, but I’ve never heard of another family doing this-- kids often get their stockings filled with little ‘stocking stuffer’ items, but our parents would go a step further by putting the stockings full of little items at the foot of our beds while we were sleeping, to discover first thing when we woke up. It was a little extra “Santa special delivery” magic for us kids, and it bought my parents maybe an extra 1/2 hour of sleep before we woke them up so they could watch us open the big stuff under the tree. It’s a little tradition I and my sisters carried on with our kids.
Never caught my parents planting the stocking as a kid. Even when I was 19, home from college sleeping overnight in my old bed, I wake up Christmas morning, move my feet and laughed when I heard the old familiar crinkling of the colored tissue paper my mom used to wrap the stocking stuffers in. As a college student who stayed up until 2 or 3 am most nights, I was impressed that my mom (or dad) was still able to sneak in and plant the stocking undetected.
Ever since my kids were old enough to cook, the wife and I refuse to get out of bed to open presents until we’ve eaten breakfast. Yeah, it’s usually something like tube-cinnamon rolls; recently, we’ve been pre-making an egg casserole that they throw into the oven, but we still have fun with “I need a refill on coffee. Can’t get up until breakfast is done!”
A former coworker told me once they had a family tradition where every year, his kids would get a present from “Wilson the Elf”. The way it started was that one year, one of the kids got a football for Christmas, saw the name “Wilson” on it, and decided that Wilson was the name of the elf that made it.
Any year Easter falls on a Sunday, I call my little brother way too early (the dogs wake me at 6 if I’m not already awake). I block caller ID by default. When my brother wakes up and answers, I say, “He is risen” and hang up. Although he is divorced now, for years this pissed his wife off (I always said he could have done better).
Santa always left us a letter next to the plate his cookies were on. He’d have a little paragraph dedicated to each one of us, telling us how proud he was of a certain thing we had done that year. I continued that with my kids and my daughter now does the same thing. The Easter Bunny also left a letter.
The kids think it’s great, but for a busy mom on Christmas Eve night to suddenly remember, “oh no, I haven’t done the letter yet” it’s awful.
We have a few family Christmas traditions, as well. (Originally posted in Beckdawrek’s thread)
All presents are wrapped, even the stocking stuffers - this started as a way of slowing down our daughter’s Christmas morning present pillaging when she was young. We also insisted on breakfast between the stocking and the rest of the gifts. And everybody gets a stocking!
Books are very popular gifts - my wife, daughter, and I all are all hard-core readers.
There’s always one “misdelivered” present, with a tag such as “To Rudy and Annalore, from Ompa and Omma” (nobody of those names in the house, nor are we German). This will occasion comments like “Too bad for them, it’s ours now!” before the real recipient is invited to open it and see if we want to keep it.
Everybody has a special Christmas card tucked into the tree.
Our cats not only get Christmas gifts, but always kindly reciprocate, with at least one thoughtful gift for The Staff under the tree. (Last year, for example, it was Seasons 9-12 of the Murdoch Mysteries, which they enjoy watching with us. They are very resourceful at ordering stuff online while we sleep!) They give us Christmas cards, too.
Our Christmas lights go on December 1 (or a few days earlier these last two COVID years), and stay on at night until Twelfth Night, and overnight Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. They’ve gotten a bit more elaborate over the years, with a switch to all-LED last year (also the year I decided that at almost 70, I wasn’t going to be climbing ladders to put lights under the eaves any longer).
We also have traditional foods - tortiere on Christmas Eve, and warm croissants with butter and jam Christmas morning.
We have a very eclectic collection of tree ornaments, including some original generic ones from my carefree bachelor days, old ones inherited through several family generations, unique hand-crafted items from friends and craft fairs, themed ones such as a dozen Breaking Cat News comic strip ornaments, and miscellaneous odd ones picked up here and there. We finally gave away a bunch of the ordinary ones, because we had far too many to actually fit on the tree (and we fit on every one we can!) Everyone has at least a couple of “special” ornaments that only they can put on the tree.
Probably not really unique, just different from others I know:
My daughter’s birthday is on December 5th. I’ve instituted a rule of no Xmas decorations until minimum the 8th, to keep her birthday a separate celebration. Funnily enough, her place is done up already, to be taken down the 23rd (when they’re coming up).
Stockings are put in our “spots” by Santa, not left where they originally hung. Also, Santa only brings fun stuff. No clothes, nothing household, nothing super practical. I despised Santa always bringing socks or mittens, refuse to do it for my daughter and her fiancé.
Xmas Eve dinner is always Chinese or something SE Asian. This began after my dad died in 2007 and our family started falling apart. Mom, my daughter and I started going to a wonderful Chinese restaurant on Xmas Eve. Last year, my future son-in-law made egg rolls and yao hon; this year I’m making samosas and curry.
Not quite unique.
Mrs Cad wraps stocking stuffers for the same reason
Growing up, us kids could only attack our stockings when we woke up. No present opening until we had our sit-down breakfast.
My wife’s family had this tradition (a fantastic place near her great-grandmother’s house), which we’ve kept going. Sucks when Christmas Eve is on a Monday, when a lot of Chinese places close. Hey, a family owned - operated business has to close some time.
Christmas eve dinner includes oyster stew with oyster crackers.
First course of Christmas breakfast is a half of a grapefruit, sprinkled with sugar to taste.
The toe of the Christmas stocking is filled with a Japanese mandarin.
As a child, I always had to search for the fat lady ornament. There would be a small gift inside. I have the ornament, but we stopped doing Christmas trees a long time ago.
When anyone in my gf’s family (which is huge) has a birthday, everyone calls them and they do not answer. Each caller sings Happy Birthday, leaving it on voicemail. It seemed weird at first, but I really get a kick out of it now.
Breakfast XMas morning is always a spicy egg casserole and chocolate bread pudding.
Also do the stockings at foot of the bed to keep kids occupied while I bake the casseroles.
Kids get gifts not only from the cats but also from our plane, historical figures, famous scientists, and others from fields relating to the gift itself. E.g. a dinosaur themed gift might be sent by Jack Horner.
One thing we do which hasn’t been mentioned. After dinner on Christmas eve, instead of a bible reading we gather by the tree for a dramatic reading of David Sedaris’ Christmas Story “6 to 8 Black Men”
Christmas Eve dinner was held at my dad’s mother’s home. Her husband would make an enormous batch of German potato salad, which was delicious. If her brother, known as Father Matt, was in town, we would go to church with them to watch him celebrate. Otherwise, it was morning mass at our parish (after gift opening), then over to my Mom’s sister’s house where she did an open house all day.
Our parents made us line up on the stairs by age, and we couldn’t go down to check out the stockings until they said so. Stocking always, always held socks amongst the Matchbox cars and Kiddle dolls. This was both Mom’s idea of a joke and a very practical way to make sure we received something affordable and necessary. With 4 kids and only one income, they knew how to stretch a dollar.