So what does everyone do around the holidays?

I celebrate Christmas. On Christmas eve we go to my grandmothers to celebrate Christmas with her. She's German and typically Germans celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. This year we're having it at my house to make it easier for my grandmother. Then on Christmas morning I open gifts with my idmeidate family. Then around New Years I got celebrate Christmas with my dad.

Honestly, I can't say I have a tradition anymore. Forver (when my moms mom was still alive) we had dinner on Christmas Eve and opened gifts after everything was cleaned up- which was hard as a kid because you want to open the gifts, but when my grandma passed in 07, we started opening gifts on Christmas morning, but i wake up early with that anticipation I didnt get as a kid- and wait for my parents to wake up, and then we eat breakfast and finally like by noon maybe we open gifts- I have been wanting to watch Its A Wonderful Life the past few years, but no one wants to watch it with me, so I guess that will be a tradition I start with my future someone. Then the rest of the day is like any other, well we do have Christmas dinner though its no where near as a big deal as it used to be, my dad hates eating at the table so we sit w/ tv trays and watch the military channel.......


yea i want to start my own tradtions when I get married.


my mom asked me earlier what was my favorite Christmas and I couldn't think of any, because they have not been memorable the past few years sadly.

I (apparently like many others) had divorced parents, so I can think back to two holiday traditions, one with my mom (and step-dad and half sister) and the other with my dad's family.  Neither one was much out of the ordinary, though.

My mom had primary custody of me as a child, so I always did her traditions first.  On Christmas Eve, if it was my dad's turn to have me on Christmas Day, or on Christmas morning once all four of us were up, if it was my mom's turn, the four of us got together in the room with the Christmas tree and opened our presents.  We also had a tradition of listening to Christmas music while we opened our presents, until my (half) sister started rebelling in her teens.  One of the ways I remember she rebelled was in her tastes for music.  She got into a harder type of rock than the other three of us liked, and started disliking (traditional) holiday songs.  So that's when we stopped the tradition of listening to holiday music, at her request.  Then in the evening of Christmas Day, when it was my mom's turn to have me that day, the four of us gathered in the dining room for a traditional home-cooked holiday turkey dinner.

My (biological) dad always went to one of his nearby relative's house/home to join their holiday traditions.  Once it was his time to see me (late on Christmas Eve when it was his turn to have me on Christmas Day, and late on Christmas Day when it was my mom's turn), I would arrive at the home of the relative he had gone to and join their holiday traditions, which were to open presents once we were all up on Christmas morning, then to all gather around a larger table and enjoy a traditional home-cooked holiday dinner at the traditional lunch time on Christmas Day (in years when it was my mom's turn to have me for Christmas Day, I would miss those two traditions of my dad's family, but we would open all presents that were to or from me once I got there).

But all that ended once I graduated from college and moved into my own place.  Since we're all spread across the country now, I don't really have any holiday traditions any more.

Now give yourself a pat on the back if you read and understood all of that   .

we used to sing karaoke( until it got old-fashioned), then it was a lot of parties...but until six or seven years ago, we changed it to a barbeque.

we go to my aunts on christmas eve and have the potato soup she makes. when we get home, we each open one gift before we go to sleep.