I'm an emotional sucker for family traditions. Some of my fondest memories growing up are of little family traditions. On Christmas Eve, my sister and I would get one ornament. The idea was that we'd collect one ornament per year until we were off on our own and we'd have something to decorate our own Christmas tree. This year, I took my box of ornaments and put them on our tree. I started thinking about traditions that I might want to start with our new family.
What are you family/holiday traditions that were really special to you?
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Re: Family/Holiday Traditions
Our main custom/rule is that we will always spend Christmas Eve/Day at our place. I hate trying to drive everywhere and the inevitable score-keeping that takes place between my family and FI's for holidays. Plus, I want DS to wake up in his bed and see that Santa came
So, I make a really nice dinner Christmas Eve, then that night DS gets to open one present (which is always pajamas and a Christmas movie with hot cocoa that we watch before bedtime). After he goes to sleep we do all the Santa stuff
Christmas Day I make a big breakfast after we open gifts, then we spend all day together, playing with toys, watching movies, being lazy. We order Chinese food for dinner to keep the day easy.
We also started Elf on the Shelf this year and wow...DS LOVES it. It's been a huge hit!
That's adorable! I remember trying sooo hard to stay awake and feeling the same way the next morning haha..
As far as what we do: My mom's family always celebrates christmas on christmas eve. It used to be at my grandma's then moved to my mom's and now my SIL hosts it. We then go to my great aunt's house and santa comes and gives toys to everyone
Mine and FI's tradition is to get ornaments of places we have been together. Eventually when we are out of our apartment, we'll use our tiny tree to put the ornaments on and a bigger tree for everything else
We actually just had this discussion. We tried to do two holidays in one day once, and it was awful. Not for everyone we went to visit, but for us. There have been some hints lately that we should visit both families for every holiday, but that just isn't going to happen, and we've made that clear. It occurred to me that I don't want to set that precedent now, because when we have kids I don't want them to think of holidays as the day we spend in the car while mommy complains about how much she hates everyone. We've already decided that Christmas mornings will be spent at our house with just the two of us and our kids.
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I LOL'd at this.
After my niece was born I saw my older sister go nuts trying to please everyone and how stressed she got around the holidays and promptly decided "Yup, not doing that." FI was 100% onboard, so we have a quiet Christmas, and then take a few 3-day weekends after the holiday for trips to visit our families and exchange presents/spend time together. It's so much nicer than trying to cram everything in just a few days!
Sorry to be Buzz Killington but this year is a bit tough for Christmas as it is the second one without my grandfather. I just cannot get into the spirit this year. My Christmases basically revolved around him and my grandmother and it is just not the same without him.
On a happier note: I am really looking forward to Christmas next year once I am married as it will be the first one with my FI we will spend entirely together. Not sure how we will be splitting holidays up since my family doesn't live in my state but we will work it out. We are a good team.
My folks always had shrimp marinara for Christmas Eve dinner. Not liking/being mildly allergic to shellfish, I always got steak.
My mom made me a "How Many Days Till Christmas" Advent Calendar/wallhanging back in 1990. Each day, starting Dec. 1, I was to hang a miniature ornament on the tree, and could always count down to Christmas by the number of ornaments still on it. I've annually dated ornaments going back to pre-1990 (Mom did a great job looking for prior years so I could have one for each year of my life). We've given the wallhangings to my nieces, my FSMIL who loves all things Christmas and homemade, my brother to give to his niece, and we are giving one to my FBIL and FSIL. Need to get them all ornaments now, lol.
Thanksgiving tradition in my FI's family - go around the table, starting from the youngest & we say what we are thankful for.
Christmas - St. Nikolas visits you. In my FI's family, I can't recall the day it happens, but it has to do with St. Nick....and if you remember this certain day he will come and visit you. He'll leave a burlap sack at your door and he'll leave you something he thinks you'll need for the Christmas season. xD Sorry for the vague explanation.
I watch this with my nephews every year. I take them shopping to buy a gift for my sister and then we come home and bake cookies. Then we watch the movie and they camp out in the living room under our tree. Every year my FI and I watch A Christmas Story after we get home from my aunt's house on Christmas Eve and then we exchange our gifts because we have so many places to run to on Christmas Day.
H and I don't have kids yet but Elf on the Shelf is one tradition I can't wait to start. H had no idea it was a real thing and sent me one of the stock photos that exist with the caption "how cool would this be if it was real" poor boy. I spent some time educating him on how awesome it really is.
We had several traditions when I was growing up that I loved. My parents would put one or two small presents under the tree a week before Christmas then on Christmas Eve everyone got to open one present that was under the tree. That tradition came from my dad's side of the family.
The other tradition I loved was getting in our car on Christmas eve and driving around the city to look at all the lights. We'd listen to classic Christmas music and drive. It was so peaceful and we'd use the time to talk about the past year and what we were looking forward to in the new year.
I'm hoping to keep both of those traditions alive once I have kids, though the Christmas drive I think I'll start this year.
We didn't have any traditions for Thanksgiving or birthdays.