I’m allowed by the kids to start the Christmas after dinner on Thanksgiving (I usually sneak in some a little earlier) and that’s mostly all that’s on the stereo until after Christmas. They put up with it.
And at various time this month we or I or odd combinations of family members will make a valiant attempt to watch every one of the 12 versions of A Christmas Carol that we have in movie form. Some of them twice, like the Muppets. We’ve already done Mr. Magoo, and I have to watch Albert Finney by myself, since nobody else can stand it.
Let’s see, we have:
Alistair Sim
Reginald Owen
Muppets (somehow we have two copies on DVD and then still the VHS tape)
Patrick Stewart
George C. Scott
Mickey’s Christmas Carol (recorded on VHS)
The Stingiest Man in Town (animated with Walter Mathau and Tom Bosley)
Scrooge (Albert Finney)
Mr. Magoo
A short animated version, voiced by Alistair Sim, that scares my kids to death.
(And I fudged a little on the count with this one, but the audio version read by Jim Dale.)
And I guess I miscounted, because my daughter and I just ransacked the DVD and tape storage and couldn’t find a twelfth one to save us. It’ll probably hit me sometime tomorrow.
I can’t believe I left Magoo off my list, since it’s my personal favorite. On the other hand, I think we tossed Disney a long time ago, and it was by far the weakest. So we still just have 4.
Every year for the past 12 years my friends and I get together to make “gingerbread” houses out of graham crackers. Here’s this year’s models in my “Houses and Pumpkins” album on Facebook. (we carve pumpkins every October, too)
Personally, I always make sure to watch my favorite Christmas movie ever - Christmas Eve on Sesame Street. I reckon I’ve seen it about 29 times now
I’ve really enjoyed reading this thread. Even though I have no idea what you all look like (or even what your gender is, in some cases), I still picture you making your eggnog, or sitting around all day in your new Christmas jammies, or caroling in the neighborhood, or serving up dinner at the local shelter . . .
Neither of us are believers; my husband is culturally Jewish while I was brought up Protestant, and we both abandoned religious faith long ago. But we put up a Christmas tree right next to our menorah and enjoy the holiday season for its spirit of giving and peace and hope and love. And especially for its tradition.
Here is my list of long-time traditions:
Buying little kid gifts for as many tags as I can grab off the giving tree at work
Making Needhams and cookies with my daughter, packing them up in pretty containers and giving them to friends
Chinese food takeout Christmas Eve with my husband, daughter, and her new husband (but he’s been in the family unofficially for 8 years)
Must see movies are A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, and Holiday Inn.
An early walk by myself in the cold before anyone else is up Christmas morning
Champagne with breakfast, Nutcracker CD playing
Stockings and gifts opened at a most leisurely pace, phone calls to and from my mom, brother and in-laws, bit of a fuzzy head from the champagne
Special Christmas dinner with just us and the kids. Usually turkey (cooked the day before) but occasionally switched up for rib roast or even an Italian feast
Going to the movies Christmas afternoon. We rarely go out to the movies, and it’s always a negotiation to decide on what to see; we’ve seen some good ones (Castaway) and some clunkers (National Treasure 2–last year), but we always get a big bucket of popcorn to throw down our gullets, as if we need it after that Christmas dinner. Oh yeah, extra butter, please.
