2006-11-19 15:47:37 · 9 answers · asked by Zoey 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Holidays ➔ Christmas
I have two boys--they are still young but I love doing this with them. Since, I already know they are going to get plenty of gifts we start out early--the week after Thanksgiving. We sort through all of their toys and pick out their favorites (about 5-10). If the other toys are in a great condition we donate them to a local church or another organization that we may come across. This is a way to teach them the importance of giving to the less fortunate.
We decorate the Christmas tree the first Sunday of December. We are not November decorators. I really enjoy that. We all get together and make a really big deal about it. We put on Christmas music and go around the house adding our little decorations all over the place. They boys get an ornament every year.
We make it special to make Santa a belief but also focus on baby Jesus. I enjoy getting their gifts from Santa. We will be getting them only three gifts from ourselves this year to represent the three gifts baby Jesus got from the wise men.
We read stories (Twas' The Night Before Christmas, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, The Miracle of Christmas, A Christmas Carol, etc..) all the way up to Christmas.
We have a special advent calendar which we use for the kids to count the days down...it's a fun tradition to see my oldest get excited as the days count down.
We live away from family so we do our own thing for Christmas. On Christmas even we have a tradition English roast. We don’t really have a Christmas dinner but soup and sandwiches--it’s a little different but ehh--we like it. It lets us relax on Christmas day without the worry of cooking a big meal.
There are so many more things that we do but I doubt you really want to know more--I’ve written a lot already. I love Christmas. Tradition, giving, and Christ are very important to me--I make sure to include that with all the excitement of Santa, gifts, and “fun” things that Christmas involves.
2006-11-19 18:22:02 · answer #1 · answered by .vato. 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Every country seems to have a different way of celebrating Christmas. Each one has special traditional Christmas foods, special Christmas traditions and customs, different ways of giving gifts, and Father Christmas or Santa Claus has many different names.
We hang stockings on the fireplace.
Long ago it was said that Saint Nicholas (now called Santa Claus) threw 3 coins down a chimney of the home of 3 poor sisters. Each of the coins landed inside separate stockings left on the hearth (fireplace) to dry. It is now a modern tradition to hang stockings there in hopes that we might have the same good fortune.
TheChristmas tree comes from Germany. The very first trees were oak, the same tree used for the Yule Log. Trees have been a symbol of good luck since the Middle Ages. In Germany, whenever someone would build a house, a small evergreen tree would be nailed to the highest beam. Soon people began bringing the tree inside during Christmastime and decorating it. When German immigrants came to the United States, they brought this tradition with them.
2006-11-19 15:55:26 · answer #2 · answered by CK 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
My family and I first decorate the tree onThanksgiving. A few days after Thanksgiving either my mom or I start baking the Christmas cookies. A couple days before Christmas we have a Christmas Eve dinner, go and look at Christmas lights, then come home and open a present, usually from our grandparents.We also watch "A Christmas Story" and "National Lapoon's Christmas Vactation".We then do to church. The next morning we get up and choose the Santa, who passes out the gifts. During the day we get Christmas Dinner ready.
2006-11-21 04:43:01 · answer #3 · answered by Faded 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We have been celebrating Christmas with the same three families for many years. Basically the same 14 people with extra special persons included. Part of our tradition has been to play "rob your neighbor." We have given up gift giving for the most part. Except for this game after Christmas dinner. Each person brings one wrapped interesting gift in the $25 -- $30 range. We draw numbers and "one" chooses the first gift and opens it. It gets passed around and admired. "Two" goes next and can take the opened gift or a new gift. If "one's" gift is taken, "one" chooses a replacement. "Three" chooses next -- either a gift already opened or a new unwrapped one. After the game, people often trade so everybody ends up with something interesting.
This gift game takes a couple of hours and is always great fun. It has been wonderful to break the cycle of needless Christmas shopping and the impossible quest to find the perfect gift for every member of the family and friends on a list growing too long.
2006-11-19 16:19:38 · answer #4 · answered by murphy 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
about a week after Thanksgiving my grandma come over every year to help us decorate the tree and the rest of the house and then there is my 6 year old sister who since she has been old enough to do so, decorates the tree by putting all of the orniments in one spot of the tree, we let her have fun with that and when she turn her back after she is "finished" we kinda redecorate her portion of the tree but through out December i do different activities with my sister our favorite thing to do is go sight seeing, we ride around looking at all the different houses that has lots of lights and things we also do a lot of baking deserts im 24 with no kids but i have a 6 year old sister so around this time of the year im a child at heart and on Christmas Eve my grandma and aunt who is a single mother of 1 spend it with us every year, she bring all of their(her &her daughter) presents to our house that night then we sit around the fireplace and enjoy a lot of classic Christmas cartoons and movies and of course sip on hot chocolate, then the next day the rest of the family come, we all exchange gifts then we feast
2006-11-19 18:40:42 · answer #5 · answered by chevy*gurl 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Every Christmas morning we open up one gift, then we go to church and let off balloons while singing Happy Birthday. After all these years, I still get a kick out of it and many people stop their cars and join in with us. Afterwards we hit up all our families houses to eat.
2006-11-21 05:49:00 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
My family makes our decorations every year (I have 3 kids). we also have a tree trimming party and do some major baking that day too. We invite our friends and family to helpand then if it has snowed we go sledding. Lots of fun!!!!!!!!!!!!! These are traditions I started with my family, But lots of people I know do other things.
2006-11-19 16:02:15 · answer #7 · answered by victoria E. 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I like to always get my 5 yr. old daughter a Ormanent that pertains to what she liked or maybe seen or visited before for that particular year. For example my husband and I took her to S. Dakota to see Mount Rushmore and we also took her to Bear Country USA, she loved seeing the animals and was all jazzed up...so after driving and also walking thru the park we visited the gift shop and I bought her a bear ornament.
2006-11-19 17:02:11 · answer #8 · answered by slykitty 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages !!!
2006-11-19 15:55:56 · answer #9 · answered by protos2222222 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋