A little on Christmas Eve, and a lot on Christmas Day. If it’s cold enough to build a fire, the eve gets a roaring hearth and a gathering of three generations. Christmas day gets presents and Christmas dinner and hiking the woods and visiting…
Christmas Eve is for gathering with friends, family and/or sometimes going to church for my other half, drinking cocoa, watching Christmas movies and opening a gift.
Christmas Day is stockings and presents and brunchfast and lazing about.
I am so freaking excited for this year. I have my oldest sister & niece here, my @PuppyCat, & @Humper. It could be terrible and still be the best Christmas ever.
@Thumperchick That’s just how my family did it. Now that all my family is gone or far from here, Christmas is whenever my friends can get together. This year it’s Friday (my birthday coincidentally), so that’s going to be my main Christmas. Christmas day this year will just be me and Simba. I have one gift from my neice and one from a friend that will be out of town that I’m saving to open on Christmas, and Simba will receive a half dozen top of the line bags of treats and the new ID tag I cast for him in bronze. I’m going to flout family tradition this time and make my favorite meal, Thai Green Chicken Curry with Jasmine Rice.
Growing up with one American parent and one Norwegian one, it was a little different. Norwegians usually do everything on Christmas eve including decorating the tree. That turned into us having our main Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, opening one present each. Then Christmas morning would be a huge breakfast and opening the rest. Christmas day after that was no big deal.
When I was married, it turned into a nightmare for me. My ex’s parents were divorced, and both our mom’s would get upset at us for not spending enough time. We would usually do Christmas eve dinner at my parents, at least I would. Sometimes he would go to his dad’s. I would meet him later to open presents there. Then Christmas morning would be a lighter breakfast at my parents, presents, and then we would go to his mom’s side of the family for dinner and presents. It was too much for me. I was happy when I didn’t have to go between three families anymore, always disappointing them when we’d leave early.
Since my dad passed, Christmas eve became a lot less important. The last few years, my co-worker has invited me to his party on Christmas eve, and that really cheered up the mood. My nuclear family came with me last year and is going again this year. Then I’ll be cooking dinner Christmas day.
@RiotDemon My mom’s big (7 siblings) Old World (Friesan/Dutch) family traditionally have the giant combined get-together on Christmas Eve, sometimes late (even midnight) church. Christmas morning is immediate family for breakfast, then visiting parents/others afternoon & evening. It’s busy & hectic, but often the only time we get to see some folks (except for funerals )
This year it’s traveling for Christmas with my family on Friday since they live out of state, then with entire father-in-law’s side of the family on Christmas Eve, then just the wife’s family on Christmas, finally wrapping up with entire mother-in-law’s side of the family on Monday.
Christmas eve it’s extended family and fishes, Christmas day it’s just immediate family and double uncle/aunt (two brothers married two sisters) for pasta, braciole, meatballs, etc. with some Chanukah thrown in.
@parodymandotcom Yes us too, except growing up my parents insisted on us getting fully dressed before having breakfast and refused to allow breakfast before 7:30 or 8 in the morning… And we’d often open the stocking under the cover of darkness in our rooms (they were not left at the fireplace, rather placed at the foot of our beds) and then go back to sleep until morning when we could actually see what we couldn’t figure out in the dark. There’d always be a giant orange or small grapefruit using up a lot of space in the toe of the stocking… Clever as then the fruit would end up back in the fridge and it would take fewer presents to fill the stocking.
I would say “main” is Christmas day, but between spreading out between my wife’s family (Christmas eve), extended family, and divorced parents, it really does become a week long thing.
My family does our Christmas on Thanksgiving. We all gather at an Aunt’s house and spend about 3 or 4 days in total catching up on the previous year, on Thanksgiving day we open presents and such, then on the following Saturday we return home.
Then some time around mid to late January I throw my annual Christmas party with my friends. We do it so late because it gives everyone time to get home and situated after the crazy holidays and people are more likely to be available.
I actually don’t do Christmas. I celebrate Atheist Kids Get Presents Day, which by sheer coincidence falls on December 25th, and has a lot of the same traditions. Go figure.
@sanspoint Perhaps you should move AKGPD to today, 21 Dec. - Winter Solstice. The birth of Christ was, most probably, not in December anyway. The Christmas traditions are all steeped in pagan ritual to beckon the sun back. I would even go as far as to recommend that gifts be sent to me on this day. I, in turn, will put in an extra “good word” for you to hasten the return of the sun. Don’t mention it!
@accelerator Yeah, but everyone else in my family celebrates their thing on December 25th. Easier to just go with the flow. Besides, nobody in my immediate family’s done Christmas Mass (or even Christmas Eve mass) for at least a decade.
We do gifts from under the tree on Christmas morning and a big Christmas dinner in the early afternoon, Prime Rib with all the fixings. We gather on the eve and go Christmas light touring through the city and subs followed by Hot Chocolate and later adult beverages after the little ones are tucked in and waiting for Santa to come. The true seasonal celebration follows in January, however. This is the month of my birthday. It’s a celebration of gifts and lavish endowments all for me that is allowed, and expected, to last throughout the month. So far this celebration is only a concept but I’m working on making it a tradition and hoping it will catch on.
@compunaut Very good idea! Actually I am looking at moving my b-day to July to maximize the weather conditions. Also, as it turns out, many people get stuck with extraordinary large credit card bills in January which acts as a limiter on the quantity and quality of gifts expected to be purchased for me during the month long celebration.
Christmas eve (this yr anyway) is for our kids and grandkids coming to our house. Christmas is when the entire family gets together. One big day of total chaos mostly.
My household is a hybrid-I was raised with a secular version of Christmas, my boyfriend was raised with a mostly secular version of Hannukah, and we’re both pagan, so we do Solstice (tonight) too. Christmas eve we open PJs and I’ve scheduled a few new books to be sent to people’s kindles that night because I liked the Iceland idea. I always save one big present for Christmas too. This year we have a family party on 12/24 for the first night of Hanukkah with his family/their friends. So we also do a little thing each night of Hanukkah. Mostly it just gives me an excuse to give/get a bunch of presents.
Usually I spend Christmas Eve with my family. On the next day I celebrate it with my friends. This year I was on Christmas fancy dress party. I bought mermaid costume at I’m a spammy spammerton dot com and impressed my friends. It was great. Want to organize smth like that on Christmas next year too.
A little on Christmas Eve, and a lot on Christmas Day. If it’s cold enough to build a fire, the eve gets a roaring hearth and a gathering of three generations. Christmas day gets presents and Christmas dinner and hiking the woods and visiting…
Christmas Eve is for gathering with friends, family and/or sometimes going to church for my other half, drinking cocoa, watching Christmas movies and opening a gift.
Christmas Day is stockings and presents and brunchfast and lazing about.
I am so freaking excited for this year. I have my oldest sister & niece here, my @PuppyCat, & @Humper. It could be terrible and still be the best Christmas ever.
@Thumperchick
???
@PlacidPenguin It’s like breakfast, but after 11. Not lunch. Not brunch. Just breakfast at brunch time.
@Thumperchick That’s just how my family did it. Now that all my family is gone or far from here, Christmas is whenever my friends can get together. This year it’s Friday (my birthday coincidentally), so that’s going to be my main Christmas. Christmas day this year will just be me and Simba. I have one gift from my neice and one from a friend that will be out of town that I’m saving to open on Christmas, and Simba will receive a half dozen top of the line bags of treats and the new ID tag I cast for him in bronze. I’m going to flout family tradition this time and make my favorite meal, Thai Green Chicken Curry with Jasmine Rice.
@Thumperchick
Hobbit meals:
@PocketBrain
• Nightcap w a snack.
45 minutes to one hour after the Viagra.
@Pavlov They need to make the little pill red/white/green - you know, the traditional Christmas colors
Growing up with one American parent and one Norwegian one, it was a little different. Norwegians usually do everything on Christmas eve including decorating the tree. That turned into us having our main Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, opening one present each. Then Christmas morning would be a huge breakfast and opening the rest. Christmas day after that was no big deal.
When I was married, it turned into a nightmare for me. My ex’s parents were divorced, and both our mom’s would get upset at us for not spending enough time. We would usually do Christmas eve dinner at my parents, at least I would. Sometimes he would go to his dad’s. I would meet him later to open presents there. Then Christmas morning would be a lighter breakfast at my parents, presents, and then we would go to his mom’s side of the family for dinner and presents. It was too much for me. I was happy when I didn’t have to go between three families anymore, always disappointing them when we’d leave early.
Since my dad passed, Christmas eve became a lot less important. The last few years, my co-worker has invited me to his party on Christmas eve, and that really cheered up the mood. My nuclear family came with me last year and is going again this year. Then I’ll be cooking dinner Christmas day.
@RiotDemon My mom’s big (7 siblings) Old World (Friesan/Dutch) family traditionally have the giant combined get-together on Christmas Eve, sometimes late (even midnight) church. Christmas morning is immediate family for breakfast, then visiting parents/others afternoon & evening. It’s busy & hectic, but often the only time we get to see some folks (except for funerals
)
@compunaut
Funerals and weddings I hope.
@RiotDemon Lefse!!
This year it’s traveling for Christmas with my family on Friday since they live out of state, then with entire father-in-law’s side of the family on Christmas Eve, then just the wife’s family on Christmas, finally wrapping up with entire mother-in-law’s side of the family on Monday.
Christmas eve it’s extended family and fishes, Christmas day it’s just immediate family and double uncle/aunt (two brothers married two sisters) for pasta, braciole, meatballs, etc. with some Chanukah thrown in.
@Pantheist fishes?
@DrWorm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feast_of_the_Seven_Fishes
@Pantheist Ah, the phrase “family and fishes” made it sound like fishes were co-celebrants.
@DrWorm haha, well can’t have Christmas eve without either
Christmas day. Stockings before breakfast, presents under the tree after breakfast. Just like Santa intended.
@parodymandotcom Yes us too, except growing up my parents insisted on us getting fully dressed before having breakfast and refused to allow breakfast before 7:30 or 8 in the morning… And we’d often open the stocking under the cover of darkness in our rooms (they were not left at the fireplace, rather placed at the foot of our beds) and then go back to sleep until morning when we could actually see what we couldn’t figure out in the dark. There’d always be a giant orange or small grapefruit using up a lot of space in the toe of the stocking… Clever as then the fruit would end up back in the fridge and it would take fewer presents to fill the stocking.
I would say “main” is Christmas day, but between spreading out between my wife’s family (Christmas eve), extended family, and divorced parents, it really does become a week long thing.
My family does our Christmas on Thanksgiving. We all gather at an Aunt’s house and spend about 3 or 4 days in total catching up on the previous year, on Thanksgiving day we open presents and such, then on the following Saturday we return home.
Then some time around mid to late January I throw my annual Christmas party with my friends. We do it so late because it gives everyone time to get home and situated after the crazy holidays and people are more likely to be available.
I actually don’t do Christmas. I celebrate Atheist Kids Get Presents Day, which by sheer coincidence falls on December 25th, and has a lot of the same traditions. Go figure.
@sanspoint Perhaps you should move AKGPD to today, 21 Dec. - Winter Solstice. The birth of Christ was, most probably, not in December anyway. The Christmas traditions are all steeped in pagan ritual to beckon the sun back. I would even go as far as to recommend that gifts be sent to me on this day. I, in turn, will put in an extra “good word” for you to hasten the return of the sun. Don’t mention it!
@accelerator Yeah, but everyone else in my family celebrates their thing on December 25th. Easier to just go with the flow. Besides, nobody in my immediate family’s done Christmas Mass (or even Christmas Eve mass) for at least a decade.
We do gifts from under the tree on Christmas morning and a big Christmas dinner in the early afternoon, Prime Rib with all the fixings. We gather on the eve and go Christmas light touring through the city and subs followed by Hot Chocolate and later adult beverages after the little ones are tucked in and waiting for Santa to come. The true seasonal celebration follows in January, however. This is the month of my birthday. It’s a celebration of gifts and lavish endowments all for me that is allowed, and expected, to last throughout the month. So far this celebration is only a concept but I’m working on making it a tradition and hoping it will catch on.
@accelerator Maybe I’ll try Christmas in July to coincide with my birthday
@compunaut Very good idea! Actually I am looking at moving my b-day to July to maximize the weather conditions. Also, as it turns out, many people get stuck with extraordinary large credit card bills in January which acts as a limiter on the quantity and quality of gifts expected to be purchased for me during the month long celebration.
Christmas eve (this yr anyway) is for our kids and grandkids coming to our house. Christmas is when the entire family gets together. One big day of total chaos mostly.
My household is a hybrid-I was raised with a secular version of Christmas, my boyfriend was raised with a mostly secular version of Hannukah, and we’re both pagan, so we do Solstice (tonight) too. Christmas eve we open PJs and I’ve scheduled a few new books to be sent to people’s kindles that night because I liked the Iceland idea. I always save one big present for Christmas too. This year we have a family party on 12/24 for the first night of Hanukkah with his family/their friends. So we also do a little thing each night of Hanukkah. Mostly it just gives me an excuse to give/get a bunch of presents.
Usually I spend Christmas Eve with my family. On the next day I celebrate it with my friends. This year I was on Christmas fancy dress party. I bought mermaid costume at I’m a spammy spammerton dot com and impressed my friends. It was great. Want to organize smth like that on Christmas next year too.
@Thumperchick
Uh, looks like canned meat product.