Years ago Santa started putting up Christmas wrapping paper to block the doorway into where all the Christmas presents were waiting to be unwrapped on Christmas morning. This prevented the kids from sneaking a peek in the middle of Christmas Eve slumber to see what Santa had left. The boys charge through the wrapping paper "wall" once everyone is awake on Christmas morning. It is so much fun.

What traditions or fun things do you do with your family? I'm always curious and looking for new things to do with my family.

That sounds like a fun tradition!

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It's just me and the DH (relatives are in different states) but when we got married we started our own traditions. We open our gifts in bed and after dinner and talking to the relatives we go for drive and look at the decorated houses (depending on the weather).

We have a family friend who is a foster parent to teenaged girls (voted Foster Parent of the Year in 2007 in our state!) We play the Christmas elf at her house every year on Christmas eve. We load up a bag with a gift for her and each of the girls currently living with her, sneak up on her back porch, drop the package, ring the bell, and run like mad. The first year they had no idea who did it and had to figure it out. They all now know it's coming and try to catch us....it's still fun.

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

Not quite a Christmas tradition, but we observe the feast of St. Nicholas by putting a shoe on the porch on the Eve of the feast and St. Nick fills them with goodies. The feast of St. Nicholas is December 6 so the kids will put their shoes out Friday night and hopefully wake up to goodies on Saturday morning!

A Christmas tradition we have is to let the kids open one gift on Christmas Eve -- it's always the gift from their aunt and uncle whom we never see because they live so far away.

We used to give the kids a new pair of pjs every Christmas and "Santa" would leave them on the front porch so when we came home from the party we go to on Christmas Eve, the kids had a gift. I'm going to reinstate that tradition this year.

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Cecilia

"We must love them both--those whose opinions we share and those whose opinions we reject. For both have labored in the search for truth, and both have helped us in the finding of it."
Saint Thomas Aquinas

This is one of the few nice things I will say about my ex! The first year we were married we were totally broke and decided we weren't going to get each other anything for Christmas. I held true to that and didn't get him a gift but on Christmas morning he had put out several pairs of really nice socks for me. I cried because we said we weren't going to exchange gifts. Every year after that (20) even when we weren't so poor, he gave me socks and it just reminded me of that first Christmas together when we didn't have anything but each other.

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*******If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
But if life gives you limes....make margaritas!!!*******

kellyboysmom- I love this idea. I am going to have to remember this for when DD is a bit older.
Sandy917-that is a sweet memory
yngsto6-some neat ideas!
ladystrange-sounds like a cozy, close Christmas, nice!

Does anyone remember a few years ago someone posting a scenerio where a frozen cupcake was left on a window sill, I think from Mrs. Claus? Frozen because it had come from the North Pole. I wanted to do this but can't remember the story that went along with it.

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Raising my baby RIGHT!!!!!!

All the cool babies are wearing cloth!

Great ideas. I love this. Thank you.

For us every December 23 we as a family go last minute shopping , then we go out for a bite to eat. When we return home we each go to one room, with each our own stash of wrapping paper, tape, pen, labels and we wrap our gifts to each other. I always spend christmas eve night with my parents and brothers and we exhange gifts then. Christmas morning we sleep a little later, we get up have breakfest and then put on the Christmas Songs channel and we all sit in the den and after, we have separated our gifts into piles. We then take turns and open up our gifts. Christmas dad is spent with my dh family and his whole side his 3 brothers their wifes his one sister and her dh and all the grandchild and my father in law is all at my dh's older brother Bobby's house. We enjoy seeing each other and Bobby and Janets 3 children they all sing .So we truly enjoy after dinner and dessert the wonderful entertainment of their singing. Peace to all in this holiday season.. Catherine

We have Chinese take-out for dinner on Christmas Eve.

When our boys were little, they were allowed to empty their stockings and to open one gift on Christmas morning. They were not allowed to wake us until they could see the trees on the back property line. It was fun to hear them whisper and argue about whether or not they could see the trees. And, to listen to them discuss which gift they should open. And, to talk about what they found in the stocking.

One of my faves we started.... when we decorate the tree, we hang white candy canes on the tree. When Santa comes, he 'paints' red stripes on them. (Scott and I are always careful to remove all the white ones and replace them with the striped ones!)

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Forgiveness is love in its most noble form. -Anonymous

I LOVE the candy cane idea. I'm going to that this year with the grandkids, ages 2 and 4. We go over to their house Christmas morning, and watch the kids unwrap presents. We get there early enough to eat breakfast (which I bring) with my son and daughter-in-law and help them set things up. Last year we helped tie ribbons on Haley's pony that was waiting outside when she woke up! I'm picking up white canes today! Thanks!

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If you're not living on the edge, you're wasting space.

Every Christmas is different because sometimes we travel, sometimes we stay at home! But some traditions remain... Most are related to Christmas Eve as Christmas Day is a free-for-all!!!

*We have Mexican food on Christmas Eve.
*We open stocking gifts on Christmas Eve.
*We open one gift (on Christmas Eve) which I make a big deal about finding under the tree but it is always new pj's!! I've had to get creative on wrapping these but everyone plays along and everyone looks nice in the Christmas morning pictures!!!
*We drive around on Christmas Eve with our thermos of hot cocoa and look at all the Christmas lights.

If we aren't at home, our traditions go somewhat out the window but we do try to stay true to them as much as possible.

We eat Chinese on Christmas Eve, too! However, we eat in the restaurant.....either before or after going to Christmas Eve church service. We've been doing this for about 15 years now; it started one Christmas when DS1 was 3 or 4 and I was sick as a dog and could not cook a meal for the life of me.

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

Pleeeeeeese...frozen cupcake. Doesn't anyone remember? Help Help Help

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Raising my baby RIGHT!!!!!!

All the cool babies are wearing cloth!

Okay...now I need help! Checked Target and Walgreens...no white candy canes. None at World Market either. Where would you suggest finding them??? My daugher-in-law loved the idea!

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If you're not living on the edge, you're wasting space.

Walmart? Kmart? Grocery Stores?

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Raising my baby RIGHT!!!!!!

All the cool babies are wearing cloth!

We always open new pj's on Christmas eve. We watch at least one Christmas movie every weekend until the kids get out for break then we watch one daily

Waaahhhh....my boys haven't worn PJs since they were about 5 years old. I'm the only one in my house that wears pajamas!

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

We always invite family and friends to stop in anytime christmas eve or christmas eve day for cabbage rolls. Its not a HUGE meal. JUST cabbage rolls. Its a Family tradition on my husbands side. Also we open one gift Christmas eve. My mother was German and they always opened gift christmas eve so that is when my family did so DH & I open one each so we have some of my traditions.

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~*~Live life to the fullest*~*

My SIL and I do a Christmas Cookie Exchange every year. We started it 4 years ago. It's grown, so we had to rent a small hall this year to have it in. It's one week from today and I can't wait

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Michelle
*Mom to McKenna and Tanyn ~ Nov. 2000 Twins*

I usually get mine at Publix in Tampa. Well, my mom gets them and ships them to me. I sometimes see them at Target.

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Forgiveness is love in its most noble form. -Anonymous

We travel to Richmond, Va to see the Legendary Santa (I have been doing it since I was born and now take my kids every year). We also have a pickle shaped Christmas ornament that Santa hides on the tree when he gets here Christmas Eve and when the kids come down they hunt for that first (kid that finds it gets and extra little gift) instead of diving into the other gifts. They love it and remind us to leave the Pickle for Santa to hide.

We leave a trail of chocolate gold coins going from the bedrooms to the tree. (Even as teenagers, my boys still look forward to this tradition). Also, the kids are allowed to open their stockings but not the gifts until someone makes Mom & Dad coffee.

I always, always make homemade Cinnamon rolls for breakfast. (Got the recipe years ago). We used to dress in our robes/slippers and take our neighbors cinnamon rolls & hot coffee every year until they moved to Ohio. I miss them so much it hurts.

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Prayer is the burden of a sigh,
The falling of a tear,
The upward glancing of an eye
When none but God is near."

We also do the pickle, it's one of the things my kids would *never let me forget to do. The pickle we had for years was teeny tiny, worked great on any sized tree. It broke and I couldn't find a replacement that was that small, so now we have a much larger Target brand pickle that is very hard to hide on a smaller tree <pout, pout>

I make Swedish Tea Rings for Christmas morning. It's the one and only time of the year I bake them cuz I am not a fabulous bread baker but I try to be. And all that trying for the Swedish Tea Rings is enough to last me for the next 12 mos

Everyone gets new and disgustingly *matchy-matchy* pajama bottoms of flannel or fleece. They also all get a new tee-shirt with some personalized goofy saying on it. FIL began this tradition and I've always loved it. I still have my favorite Christmas tee shirt, the very first one that has emblazoned on the front, in bold red letters, *Crazy MZ*. My fil musta seen a kindred spirit in me? ;-) MIL died a few years ago, FIL is in an assisted living place halfway across the country, so the tee-shirts are my way of honoring the memories of many, many, many happy Christmases with them. My kids love seeing photos of us in our old tee-shirts from Christmases past. I think I'm going to put our pirate names on this year's tee shirts. DH is into playing pirate at scout camp, office parties, etc. His pirate personna came out when he pierced his ear sometime after his 50th b'day.He also thinks he's Inigo Montoya, but I already have that tee shirt stashed away.

We do stockings on Christmas Eve, generally have our feast then as well. Christmas is a day for volunteering. Lots of fun, good way to start a long dreary winter with a dose of humility to help survive the cold and dark months.This is the only month of winter I like anymore, I'm older and crankier, I'd take a condo in Boca (maybe) over a northern winter. When I am queen I will have a place I live in all year round and it will be in a warm clime. I will also have a dream come true cabin in some mts. to go to when I needed a winter fix. It won't be more than a 2 hour drive away. And I will be able to afford the gas for those drives.

We have a birthday cake for Jesus. This year we need to have 2 cakes because brand new dil has a Christmas birthday. We will start a new tradition this year of spending half our day celebrating *only* dil's b'day, other half of the day for Christmas jazz. No Christmas tree or anything till after dil's b'day has properly been observed by lavishly making her the star attraction. I love my new DIL, she's a lot of fun, can't wait to make her Queen for a Half Day.

Only stocking gifts are given here, big stuff is for b'days. All gifts given must have at least some part of the package *in* the stocking. There are all sorts of creative ways to get around those type of possible size limitations. One way is to tape a piece of yarn to a package too big to fit in a stocking, and tape the other end *inside* the stocking ;-) The yarn has become a part of the package and will indeed have a piece of it *in* the stocking. De-tangling the web of yarn to all the stockings is a riot. If you have cats or puppies or goofy dogs in your house hold off on trying this until they are old enough to be less of a destructive threat. Most pets, be they cats or dogs, are usually safe for this sort of thing when they are so arthritic you must carry them to relieve themselves. I speak from experience. Experiences, plural. I never seem to learn, psi.

I have done a cookie & ornament exchange for the past 8 years with, more or less, the same fabulous neighborhood women who first pulled me into their orbits when I was a brand new outsider here with a very extraordinary family. There's about 8 of us on any given year, it's not always the same 8 each year, but 5 of us are there each year, moi-self included. It's one of my favorite things about this time of year. We used to meet at McDs or Caribou on the first day of school when our kids were younger, it's that kind of group of fun women. We're the ones who used to jump at the chance to have a myriad of those silly home parties just as an excuse to visit with each other and drink wine. We all live within a 2 blk area and yet, especially in the past few years, it's been the one and only time we actually get to sit and *just* visit with each. The rest of the year we often keep each up dated with family news when we run into each other at the grocery store, or some kidcentric event. I now carry a camera in my purse to take pics of us together throughout the year at the grocery store, our lives have all gotten too busy to have photographic evidence of luxuriously lazy summer hours in a backyard with a bunch of us. None of us have wee tiny kinds any longer, we are busier than when we had a litter of them in diapers & secondhand Osh Kosh overalls. This cookie exchange is our way of making sure that our local hometown rumor vine has the straight from the horses mouths scoop on any gossip that may be circulating about any of us. And hoo-boy - do *I* ever have a lot of those to set right this year, so it will be even more fun than ever for me this year. We take turns hosting it our homes, my turn was last year. It was the last time my house was really clean. I need to invite them over more often in the winter so my house can remain in a state above minimum hygiene standards.

My kids and I bake a gazillion cookies and treats. I used to love it when I did it by myself. Then I hated it cuz i felt I *had* to include the kids so they'd have warm fuzzy Christmas memories of baking cookies with their mom, a Donna Reed wannabe. I now understand why my own mother refused to include us kids in her holiday baking. Mostly I believe the kids' memories of those times have to do with mom doing a lot of uptight grumbling under her breath and snarling a bit more than the occasion required. Now that they are all more competent in the kitchen, I love doing it again cuz they love doing it and giving them to folks, and they really are helpful at this point. Can't remember exactly how many years I ground my molars at cookie baking time, but I sure am glad that phase of my holiday life is over

I just love this time of year. No glass of wine, benzodiazapene, chocolate, coffee, or SSRI can so positively influence my outlook on everyday life the way all the silly things that are part of Christmas do. I'm a very modern woman who has a very un-modern love of all the Christmas insanity. Haven't always been able to do it all each year, have let go of more each year that passes if it wasn't something we could all enjoy. (like Christmas cards - maybe I can do them again some year when all the kids are grown and we may even have some interesting adventures to share via a Christmas newsletter). Our life here at this zoo is so mundane it takes more effort to dredge up remotely interesting things about all of us than I can bear to anticipate, so we just skip it. I still love receiving em, even the ones with the schlocky bragfest newsletters. I especially like getting photos in cards. My favorite photos, the ones I look forward to for 364 days a year are from a former BIL and his wife. They send photos of their two sizable lizards dressed up in Christmas outfits. They also send ones of my nieces, nephew, and all their kids. But the Lizard pics are always on the top. One of my kids wants to dress up the leopard geckos, but I am not going to let this one even go to a vote.

We have had to be very flexible about holiday traditions for some years now with our kids growing up, parents getting older, etc. I'm glad the ones everyone has chosen to carry on are ones that I love as well. Makes me feel all Donna Reed-y all over.



MZ... who wishes I knew how to put a Christmas-y icon or photo here. Just imagine I've done it and done it with remarkable elan. My intentions are often considerably better than my actions would have you believe.