2006-08-11 15:15:37 · 41 answers · asked by He is in control 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Holidays ➔ Christmas
Sadly, our family traditions have stopped with the death of my mother. She was the one who "did" the holidays, and LOVED it. One of my favorite traditions, which when I can I will continue, was that we would have anyone who didn't have a place to go otherwise, to the dinner table. Presents have always been for the kids more than for the adults, and guests never left empty handed. Even if it was dessert for a midnight snack, no one left without some gift. This tradition started when I was a kid. I was always bringing home stray kids, who didn't have good home lives. As an adult I became a social worker. Go figure....We always talk to our guests, and make them feel at home. The gift is selected by what the person is interested in, their hobbies, or obvious need. I love this tradition, and miss my momma. Thank you for a lovely remembery :)
2006-08-11 17:23:10 · answer #1 · answered by nanawnuts 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Well, first of all, we always go to a tree farm and cut down our tree (and boy, I've got some stories about THAT lol). No WalMart parking lot tree for us!
Also, we take the first Three Kings card we receive and put it over the front door, where it stays all year (unless it falls down!).
Every year we buy an ornament for each of our kids. We write the year and the child's name on the ornament. The nice thing about this is that when they move out on their own, they'll at least have some Christmas ornaments to start out.
We have a wooden Advent calendar that we use every year. We've had it since the kids were tiny.
We open gifts on Christmas morning, not Christmas eve.
We open gifts first, then stockings.
We hang a Moravian Star from our front porch roof.
We go to Mass all together, as a family.
We have a big, delicious dinner in the dining room (not the kitchen!) on Lenox HollyDay china.
Guess that's about it!
2006-08-12 16:58:38 · answer #2 · answered by B D 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm Polish so............
the major Christmas celebration in Poland takes place on "Wigilia," which is Christmas Eve. Traditionally, Wigilia is a time for forgiveness and a fresh start. A 12-dish, meatless dinner is served before other festivities begin.
Steps:
1. Clean the house and trim the Christmas tree during the daylight hours. In rural Poland, these are traditional Christmas Eve activities, and Poles fast until dinnertime.
2. Decorate according to Polish folklore: Hang mistletoe over the front door to ward off evil; place wheat in the dining room corners and under the tablecloth to chase away misery.
3. Set the table with a white tablecloth. Set one extra place setting to remember absent family members or accommodate an unexpected guest. According to custom, the dinner begins with a prayer and sharing of blessed Oplatek bread to represent Communion.
4. Light the tree and serve dinner (see "How to Prepare a Traditional Polish Christmas Eve Dinner") after the first star appears in the sky. The first star commemorates the birth of Christ and represents the star of Bethlehem.
5. Exchange gifts after dinner is finished.
6. Give the family pet a special treat after dinner, as in Poland the head of the household would take a treat of dinner leftovers to the animals in the barn. Polish folklore explains that animals can speak in human voices on Christmas Eve.
7. Sing Polish Christmas carols. Carolers in Poland visit neighborhood households from Christmas Eve through the end of the holiday season on January 6, the Feast of the Three Kings.
8. Enjoy a brisk sleigh ride with friends and family, and serve refreshments afterward. In Poland, this is known as a "kulig."
Go on a 'kulig' means
A 'kulig' is when you attach a sled or many sleds one after another to a horse carriage and make a run for a few kilometers throughout the forest.
Polish carols originated as folk songs in the 14th century and include both hymns and legends; many recordings are available through record stores and catalogs.
2006-08-11 15:25:10 · answer #3 · answered by I-C-U 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Christmas is the most important holiday insofar as my family is concerned. Days before Christmas, all family members stay together at the designated home of one of the members. This is sort of a family reunion, too. On Christmas day, we all attend church service. A lot of food is usually ready for everyone to partake. Gifts are placed under the christmas tree and they are opened after lunch.
2006-08-12 12:23:37 · answer #4 · answered by Belen 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
On Christmas eve morning - my children since they were little have a picnic under the Christmas tree with homemade cinamon buns and oranges. They bring their favourite stuffed toy to the picnic.
My kids are teens now - so they don't do picnics anymore, but we still have homemade cinamon buns and oranges and hot chocolate.
On Christmas day - ever since my children were babies, we wake up (I make coffee) we sit in the living room and wait patiently - then one of us (now my children take turns) reads the same pop up book of the Christmas storey. And then my husband says a prayer for Christmas and the coming year. We follow this with "Happy Birthday to Jesus". We have always done this, 18 years now. I have asked my children if they want to stop - but they all say no, that it's tradition and we will continue to do it.
and then we open presents
2006-08-11 15:24:49 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Stress over and spend too much money on gifts no one really wants, needs or likes. Spend two days cooking a meal that is devoured in 15 minutes without a thank you. Then spend the rest of the evening washing dishes, cleaning up $50 worth of fancy paper and soothing children over toys that broke in the first 15 minutes. Sorry, I just don't see Jesus in there anywhere. This year (like I say every year) will be different.
2006-08-11 19:38:59 · answer #6 · answered by R. F 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Our tradition starts several days before Christmas.
My birthday is December 6 -- so setting up the Christmas tree and decorating it has become sort of the thing that happens on my birthday. That is real cool with all my family over at our home.
Aside from the typical gift shopping and decorating the house -- we go to downtown Chicago (we live in the western burbs). My wife takes pictures with her digital camera of all the storefront decorations (like at Marshall Field's). She then downloads these into unique pictures and frames then all through our home. Each year we have a whole new set of unique great Christmas art from these pictures. She has some software program that allows her to do this. It's really cool.
We go to a Christmas eve service to celebrate the season properly. Then a late night meal at a restaurant. All my sons and my wife and I -- although the sons are all grown now.
They stay at our home and then we open one gift on Christmas eve,
The next morning we wake up early and have Christmas music playing. We open all the gifts -- which takes about two hours.
My wife is the best, she then prepares a traditional Christmas dinner -- with turkey and dressing and mashed potatos and gravy and rolls. We eat on our best china. We pray for thanks and for the gift of the Lord Jesus that has been given to us.
We then end up being totally exhausted and sleeping most of the afternoon. That evening we eat and eat some more.
The night after Christmas we then have friends over to our house and have this blow-out rock and roll Christmas party bash. My sons play music and I create this soundtrack of cool songs. The boys set up and play live music in the basement and it sort of turns into an open mic night for anyone who wants to sing or play.
Upstairs in our home we have a room with karaoke and some people like that. On the back screened in porch there are kegs and in the dining room is all kinds of food.
The whole house -- which is large anyway -- is packed with people and it really seems like this is a great time to have a party with friends. They survived Christmas with their famileis and now they just want to let their hair down.
I have found that the night after Christmas you can get people to come to a party like this -- when before Christmas there are all these other kinds of demands on their time and commitments.
It is a blow-out party and lasts till the wee hours of the next morning. It is really cool.
THAT is our tradition.
Good question -- and thanks for letting me share mine.
2006-08-11 15:26:31 · answer #7 · answered by BShakey 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
we go to my sisters Christmas eve where my aunts and uncles and cousins join us. We have a huge buffet style dinner and exchange family gifts. We then drive around and look at Christmas lights, Then we go home I have the kids set santa out a plate of cookies that they made and a glass of milk. The children are sent to bed while I enjoy delicios cups of either Tom and Jerrys or Hot Buttered rum. In the morning the children are so suprised to see that santa has come. They play with their gifts we go to Church, and i usually cook up a Turkey dinner later that afternoon.
2006-08-13 07:17:44 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
On Christmas day morning when we get up ( once you hear a loud yell : Mom, Mom come out and see what happend in the living-room ...) we will open the presents ,while still in our PJ'S. We take it easy and enjoy the time we have together and after the presents are open we do have breakfast, usually brunch style.
After that it's playtime with the goodies Santa has brought.
2006-08-11 18:30:51 · answer #9 · answered by silverearth1 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hello. - Not any. Unless one considers stringing popcorn a Christmas Family Tradition..lol
Have a nice day. :)
2006-08-12 00:30:06 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋