Crazy family Christmas / holiday traditions

holyguacamole79

I just saw a video on Buzzfeed about if your family traditions are weird. So what are your quirky / weird family traditions?

Growing up, we had one of THOSE aunts who almost always gave socks as gifts. And she never boxed them or used a gift bag. She'd always wrap it in paper so the gift would be soft. She'd sign the label "DDD", which were the first initials of her, her husband, and her daughter.

She'd mail them to my grandma's house (she lived out of town) for us to open on Christmas Eve. My rowdy uncles would get the present and announce "DDD" and toss the present around until the paper fell off.

30 years later, we always make sure there is at least one present wrapped like that. We still shout "DDD" and throw it around the room.

spockforprez

Ha!!! That's a great story! Speaking of socks, one year when I was maybe 7 or 8, my brothers gave me a sock, wrapped up in a box. I was so upset (they are older than me and could be very cruel at times) and ran away into my room. Turns out there was a necklace in the sock.  What can I say, I'm sensitive!

Hmm... I don't think we have any weird xmas traditions. We draw names for my mom's side of the family, so I usually only buy for whoever I draw and my mom and dad. So may not end up giving anything to my brothers, aunt or uncle, grandparents, etc. at all unless I draw them. I guess that's kinda weird?

lyndausvi

I had an aunt who would make me ski hats for Christmas.  (1) I didn't ski back then and (2) I lived in the Virgin Islands.  It rarely dropped below 68 let alone snow.


After there were no more kids who believed in Santa my parents wanted to make it still fun.  Between the time the tree went up and xmas gifts would show up.  No names.  Only numbers.  And not even all 1's for me, 2 of my sister, 3 and 4 for my brothers.    Nope it was just random numbers.  

Xmas eve we had dinner, then an open house for the neighbors.  Then at 11pm we would head to my grandmother's church (which was the same church my parents got married in).  We went to mid-night mass, then back to grandma's for breakfast and open a few presents.    

We would get home sometime around 3am.  Normal there were some "big" gifts waiting for us (neighbors acted as little Santas while we were gone).    Then it was time to open the gifts.  My mom whipped out a master sheet and start calling out numbers.   Randomly she would say "pull out 20 for Lynda, 11 for sister, etc".   We would open those up.  Then we would do another around.   I don't think we got to be until 5 am.

When we got older we added whiskey sours to the mix.


Xmas was basically waking up when you wanted, eating leftovers and visiting family .

ericasm0703

I don't know that my family does anything particularly quirky or weird for the holidays. On Christmas Eve, we go to my grandparents' house for dinner and presents. When my great aunt and uncle were alive, we would call them and sing their favorite Christmas songs. 

At the firehouse, we do a progressive dinner with 3 other stations from the 22nd-25th (each shift has the opportunity to do it). One station does appetizers, two stations cohost dinner, and then a fourth hosts desserts; we rotate responsibilities each of the 4 days. I thought it was weird when I first heard the idea, but when I was a volunteer I would go to the firehouse every day so that way I could eat all the food.

cgss11

It's not too weird, but we always opened gifts on Christmas Eve. Santa came while we were at church because he "just couldn't fit everyone in on Christmas Day. Realistically, we would go to my Grandma's Christmas Day.

It's nice though, church, home to open gifts and just eat snack foods. After my Grandma passed, Christmas Day became a lazy day, lounging around with the new gifts and watching movies.

DH's family was different. They would get drunk Christmas Eve and finally rip into the gifts around 3 am. Sleep late then do nothing Christmas Day. Needless to say, we're not adopting that tradition for us lol..

thefanciestbeckler

Oh boy. This is a great thread.

My grandma wraps presents in literally whatever she can find and does not put them in a box. I have received gifts wrapped in leftover wallpaper before. The tags are always still on, complete with the clearance price sticker (because she never pays full price for anything), and clothing is usually at least 2 sizes too large. She's been known to break up mug sets or dish sets and give one piece to each person (never in the same family). It kind of became a running joke in the family after a while.

Other than that, we always used to go to a Christmas Eve candlelight service at our church, then ride around looking at Christmas lights. When we got home, my brother and I would get to open one gift.

OliveOilsMom

I think the only real tradition that we still do is the Seven Fishes for Christmas Eve, except we aren't Italian.  My great great grandfather was a fisherman, so that is why we do the 7 fishes.  We don't even do it on Christmas Eve anymore, we either do the Saturday before or after Christmas.  We changed the date because my mom took a new job and she was not allowed to trade holidays when scheduled to work them.  There were 6 holidays yearly that you were assigned 3 one year and then other 3 the next.  Otherwise you couldn't switch, so the first year, we changed it, my parents invited a few extra cousins who would normally be with their own family on Christmas Eve.  My parents liked that so much, they wanted to keep it that way.  I tried to move it back to Christmas Eve last year (I host this at my house now), but my siblings all had different things scheduled for Christmas Eve now, so it was a no go.

Growing up we always did Christmas Eve with my dad's parents and then Christmas Day with my mom's parents.  My dad's mom always gave us kids stockings.  They were always filled with toothbrushes, toothpaste, socks, and underwear.  She would also give deodorant, well before you started needing it, so it was always embarrassing!  My mom has carried over that tradition a little bit.  But I will keep that going.  I have gifted H underwear over the years in his stocking.

CharmedPam

ha!

Christmas is never the same with us, unfortunately.  Family is scattered everywhere and this is the time of year where it really hits me.  We do, however make eggs benedict every Christmas morning if we can.  We've had that since we were little.

MissMidtown

Christmas morning after we opened presents we headed to the movie theater. Not this year, as we are breaking up my side/FI side.

madamerwin

Nothing crazy at our house, though in retrospect, I guess leaving out beer and carrots for the reindeer (in addition to milk and cookies for Santa) may be odd... It didn't occur to me until I was an adult that leaving beer for the reindeer was probably not promoting responsible sleigh driving.

sparklepants41

I love potatoes. Love love love them. Every year since I was in elementary school, in addition to my normal gifts, my dad would buy the largest potato he could find at the grocery store, and then my mom would either wrap it in a fancy box, or an oversized box, etc. - whatever it took to disguise the fact that it was a potato.

Every year right around this time I remember that there is going to be some sort of hilarious potato gift, and yet every year on Christmas Day I forget and am completely surprised.

banana468

Things have changed since I was younger but I used to go to my grandmother's house for Christmas Eve.   We did a Yankee Swap where everyone contributed a $10 gift.   My uncle the kidder that he is heard we were doing a Yankee swap about 8 years ago and yelled out, "OK I've got my gift!   When do we all get naked??!!" 

MrsMack10612

I don't know if it's weird or not but growing up we never put up our tree up until Christmas Eve.  I am the youngest and before I came a long, my parents would put up, decorate and put all the presents under the tree on Christmas Eve; the story being Santa brought it all.  When I came along and got old enough to "get" Christmas, my sibs were all too old for Santa so it became a Christmas Eve tradition that we would all put up the tree to together.  My mom would make a great buffet spread and we'd just decorate and nosh until bedtime.  I still don't put my tree up til then.

We also never went anywhere for Christmas (at least not that I remember).  We were far from extended family, so we always just stayed home, being lazy and playing with new presents.

thisismynickname2

This isn't a weird traditional of ours, but it's a cultural tradition that the vast majority of people we know don't follow, so it can be perceived as either weird or fun:
Christmas Crackers! (Wiki clicky)

When we gather for our Christmas meal, we break the crackers, don our paper hats and read the jokes. Then we wear the hats as long as we can stand it for the rest of the day. My husband only grudgingly wears the hat for a very short amount of time because he hates messing up his coif, haha. (My BIL, on the other hand, will sport that sucker over his shaved head all day.)

lembaslover

My brother and I used to set our alarms for midnight and then go wake our parents up. (Many times we'd be anxiously waiting the time in our rooms so the alarm wasn't necessary). They would let us open one present and then we had to go back to bed until 7am or so when we'd get up and do Christmas. Eventually this got old for our parents so they changed it to 5am for 1 present and 9am for the rest and then after a few years of that we slept in on accident and after that we just waited until everyone woke up to open them all at once. 

In our stockings my mom always put individually wrapped socks, candies, deodorant, makeup, toothbrush etc... so it was always fun to unwrap all of the little things and they took forever. This became one of my favorite parts mostly b/c as I got older I got a couple of big gifts rather then several small ones so while she only probably put $20 into the stocking it would still take me a while to open it. I plan on continuing this with my husband though he has asked me not to wrap everything so maybe it won't be as fun...

My husband's family makes fried dough for breakfast on Christmas morning. Since we got a deep-fryer at my bridal shower I am very much looking forward to continuing this tradition. 

lovesclimbing

This isn't a tradition, but my mom once wrapped a gift for one of my younger siblings in a KY Jelly box. It was a big gift, so she put directions to where the gift was on a note and stuck it in the box so they'd have something bulky to unwrap and wouldn't guess what the gift would be. The only box she had handy was from the lube. She scribbled out the markings with a sharpie, but all of us older ones (including my grandparents, her parents!!) could tell what it was from because it didn't completely conceal the markings.

arrippa

We were weird kids, My brother and I always slept in on Christmas morning. My mom always had to wake us up to open presents. When opening presents, we would take turns. One person would open a present and show it off. When they were done, the next person opened a present. It would take forever to go through the presents.

banana468

arrippa said:

We were weird kids, My brother and I always slept in on Christmas morning. My mom always had to wake us up to open presents. When opening presents, we would take turns. One person would open a present and show it off. When they were done, the next person opened a present. It would take forever to go through the presents.

My MIL is like this!   When we do presents on Christmas Eve we have to open. each. gift. individually. and. then. talk. about. them.

Do you know what that's like with a 5 yo??   I may ask for a fork so I can stick one in my eye. 

madamerwin

marriedhamstermom said:

In our stockings my mom always put individually wrapped socks, candies, deodorant, makeup, toothbrush etc... so it was always fun to unwrap all of the little things and they took forever. This became one of my favorite parts mostly b/c as I got older I got a couple of big gifts rather then several small ones so while she only probably put $20 into the stocking it would still take me a while to open it. I plan on continuing this with my husband though he has asked me not to wrap everything so maybe it won't be as fun...

My mom did this too! The contents of our stockings were pretty much always the same: a small bar of Dove soap, a small deoderant stick, toothpaste, tiny mouthwash, green Extra gum, a Hershey bar with almonds, an orange, a candy cane, a small toy or trinket of some sort, and a gift card for $20 to some sort of clothing store. I'm sure there were other things too, but those are the items I distinctly remember umping out of my stocking and unwrapping. 

RomanceManaged

I've got a couple traditions, maybe they're weird. IDK.

The Saturday before Christmas is my Grans party, and for like the last ten years me and my cousins (10 girls in all) would get a different part of a Christmas elf costume, the adults would get drunk and then we would all go caroling around her lake in our elf finery. Theres only like three houses there, but it always takes a good two hours. We all have to wear a matching red sweater with our elf costume. And bells. I'm very happy that I'm of legal drinking age now because buttershots and jager are going to be required to get me out there this year. (I haven't gone in the last 4 years.)

Nothing else too strange, other than we call stockings socks, and on my dads side they are filled to the brim with only candy.

This year I guess we are doing some different things, as we are all older, so everyone is only buying for the children, and then we are doing some weird gift passing game and then playing cards against humanity.

MyNameIsNot

lyndausvi said:

I had an aunt who would make me ski hats for Christmas.  (1) I didn't ski back then and (2) I lived in the Virgin Islands.  It rarely dropped below 68 let alone snow.


After there were no more kids who believed in Santa my parents wanted to make it still fun.  Between the time the tree went up and xmas gifts would show up.  No names.  Only numbers.  And not even all 1's for me, 2 of my sister, 3 and 4 for my brothers.    Nope it was just random numbers.  

Xmas eve we had dinner, then an open house for the neighbors.  Then at 11pm we would head to my grandmother's church (which was the same church my parents got married in).  We went to mid-night mass, then back to grandma's for breakfast and open a few presents.    

We would get home sometime around 3am.  Normal there were some "big" gifts waiting for us (neighbors acted as little Santas while we were gone).    Then it was time to open the gifts.  My mom whipped out a master sheet and start calling out numbers.   Randomly she would say "pull out 20 for Lynda, 11 for sister, etc".   We would open those up.  Then we would do another around.   I don't think we got to be until 5 am.

When we got older we added whiskey sours to the mix.


Xmas was basically waking up when you wanted, eating leftovers and visiting family .

We did this too! We always went to my grandparents' on Christmas eve and then to midnight mass. My dad would sneak off and put out all the gifts after dinner, so Santa would have come while we were at church. We'd stay up until 3 in the morning seeing what Santa brought. (Santa didn't wrap any of our gifts.)

Our weird one was St. Nicholas's day. Every year on St. Nick's, we would write a letter to Santa and leave it in our stocking. St. Nick would come in the middle of the night and take the note and leave candy. I was in high school before I figured out that this wasn't typical, because St. Nick always came to my Catholic elementary school and left candy on the 6th. 

Gustafson28

It's always one at a time in my family unless two+ people are getting the same gift.. Takes forever but I like it better than chaos of ripping stuff open and losing stuff. My siblings would have no self control if not for this rule ha ha. Christmas Eve we open our present that has pjs in it and usually a family game of some sort. Drink, hang out, play the game or the billion other games in the house. Christmas Day is the one at a time thing then we make toughntons (SP?). Its a newfie fried dough thing. So yummy and horrible for you. Loaded with maple syrup or molasses, bacon, cheese. yummmm.. Missing that this year because we are going on a cruise with the family. I guess all of this is extra weird because everyone but my (Step) Mom is Jewish . Have always celebrated Christmas though! 

spockforprez

Gustafson28 said:

It's always one at a time in my family unless two+ people are getting the same gift.. Takes forever but I like it better than chaos of ripping stuff open and losing stuff. My siblings would have no self control if not for this rule ha ha. Christmas Eve we open our present that has pjs in it and usually a family game of some sort. Drink, hang out, play the game or the billion other games in the house. Christmas Day is the one at a time thing then we make toughntons (SP?). Its a newfie fried dough thing. So yummy and horrible for you. Loaded with maple syrup or molasses, bacon, cheese. yummmm.. Missing that this year because we are going on a cruise with the family. I guess all of this is extra weird because everyone but my (Step) Mom is Jewish . Have always celebrated Christmas though! 

We do this too. I don't mind that it takes so long. I'm nosy and I want to know what everyone got! Plus then you can thank people in a less confusing way. At FH's house it's just everyone ripping paper and randomly shouting "THANK YOU SUZIE!" and the person who gave you the gift doesn't even know what you opened! lol.

My brother is a former Marine and we hosted one of his colleagues for Christmas one year. He said in their house the presents were all put under/at the foot of their bed and they just woke up on their own and opened them by themselves. Now that's bizarre!

teddygirl9

The only 'tradition' we had was opening one present on xmas eve. 
My mom (now) gives us 'stockings' full of socks. And chocolate. She thinks it's funny, but I always seem be running out of socks so I don't mind haha

MairePoppy

When we were kids, the Christmas season started officially Thanksgiving night. My grandmother would hand over the Sear's Christmas catalog and some pens to my cousins, brother and me. We'd circle, initial, cross out, re-select items and coordinate with each other in hopes of maximizing our loot. This was serious business.

My parents loved everything about Christmas - Santa, gifts, decorations, music, parties etc...Our Christmases were magical. My ILs were more frugal. Husband and his siblings received underwear every Christmas from their parents and 1 or 2 fun gifts from Santa. H and I had very different feelings about the holidays.

When my kids were small, I added the Christmas underwear tradition to my family's gift avalanche tradition. The kids would try to guess which package held the underwear. My husband would remind them that underwear was his 'big gift.' They'd feel sorry for him and try to cheer him up with cookies and home made presents. I know my husband is getting underwear from one of the kids, this year, as payback.

lyndausvi

MyNameIsNot said:

lyndausvi said:

I had an aunt who would make me ski hats for Christmas.  (1) I didn't ski back then and (2) I lived in the Virgin Islands.  It rarely dropped below 68 let alone snow.


After there were no more kids who believed in Santa my parents wanted to make it still fun.  Between the time the tree went up and xmas gifts would show up.  No names.  Only numbers.  And not even all 1's for me, 2 of my sister, 3 and 4 for my brothers.    Nope it was just random numbers.  

Xmas eve we had dinner, then an open house for the neighbors.  Then at 11pm we would head to my grandmother's church (which was the same church my parents got married in).  We went to mid-night mass, then back to grandma's for breakfast and open a few presents.    

We would get home sometime around 3am.  Normal there were some "big" gifts waiting for us (neighbors acted as little Santas while we were gone).    Then it was time to open the gifts.  My mom whipped out a master sheet and start calling out numbers.   Randomly she would say "pull out 20 for Lynda, 11 for sister, etc".   We would open those up.  Then we would do another around.   I don't think we got to be until 5 am.

When we got older we added whiskey sours to the mix.


Xmas was basically waking up when you wanted, eating leftovers and visiting family .

We did this too! We always went to my grandparents' on Christmas eve and then to midnight mass. My dad would sneak off and put out all the gifts after dinner, so Santa would have come while we were at church. We'd stay up until 3 in the morning seeing what Santa brought. (Santa didn't wrap any of our gifts.)

Our weird one was St. Nicholas's day. Every year on St. Nick's, we would write a letter to Santa and leave it in our stocking. St. Nick would come in the middle of the night and take the note and leave candy. I was in high school before I figured out that this wasn't typical, because St. Nick always came to my Catholic elementary school and left candy on the 6th. 

Santa never wrapped our gifts either.    He always had them assembled and/or battery-up'd too!   Santa was a smart man.  I mean, what 4/5 year old wants to wait for something to be put together and find the batteries for the whatever to work?

Gifts from family were always wrapped.

holyguacamole79

lyndausvi said:

MyNameIsNot said:

lyndausvi said:

I had an aunt who would make me ski hats for Christmas.  (1) I didn't ski back then and (2) I lived in the Virgin Islands.  It rarely dropped below 68 let alone snow.


After there were no more kids who believed in Santa my parents wanted to make it still fun.  Between the time the tree went up and xmas gifts would show up.  No names.  Only numbers.  And not even all 1's for me, 2 of my sister, 3 and 4 for my brothers.    Nope it was just random numbers.  

Xmas eve we had dinner, then an open house for the neighbors.  Then at 11pm we would head to my grandmother's church (which was the same church my parents got married in).  We went to mid-night mass, then back to grandma's for breakfast and open a few presents.    

We would get home sometime around 3am.  Normal there were some "big" gifts waiting for us (neighbors acted as little Santas while we were gone).    Then it was time to open the gifts.  My mom whipped out a master sheet and start calling out numbers.   Randomly she would say "pull out 20 for Lynda, 11 for sister, etc".   We would open those up.  Then we would do another around.   I don't think we got to be until 5 am.

When we got older we added whiskey sours to the mix.


Xmas was basically waking up when you wanted, eating leftovers and visiting family .

We did this too! We always went to my grandparents' on Christmas eve and then to midnight mass. My dad would sneak off and put out all the gifts after dinner, so Santa would have come while we were at church. We'd stay up until 3 in the morning seeing what Santa brought. (Santa didn't wrap any of our gifts.)

Our weird one was St. Nicholas's day. Every year on St. Nick's, we would write a letter to Santa and leave it in our stocking. St. Nick would come in the middle of the night and take the note and leave candy. I was in high school before I figured out that this wasn't typical, because St. Nick always came to my Catholic elementary school and left candy on the 6th. 

Santa never wrapped our gifts either.    He always had them assembled and/or battery-up'd too!   Santa was a smart man.  I mean, what 4/5 year old wants to wait for something to be put together and find the batteries for the whatever to work?

Gifts from family were always wrapped.

--------

Same with our family.

thefanciestbeckler

madamerwin said:

marriedhamstermom said:

In our stockings my mom always put individually wrapped socks, candies, deodorant, makeup, toothbrush etc... so it was always fun to unwrap all of the little things and they took forever. This became one of my favorite parts mostly b/c as I got older I got a couple of big gifts rather then several small ones so while she only probably put $20 into the stocking it would still take me a while to open it. I plan on continuing this with my husband though he has asked me not to wrap everything so maybe it won't be as fun...

My mom did this too! The contents of our stockings were pretty much always the same: a small bar of Dove soap, a small deoderant stick, toothpaste, tiny mouthwash, green Extra gum, a Hershey bar with almonds, an orange, a candy cane, a small toy or trinket of some sort, and a gift card for $20 to some sort of clothing store. I'm sure there were other things too, but those are the items I distinctly remember umping out of my stocking and unwrapping. 



***boxesboxesOHWHEREFOREARTthouboxes***


But tiny mouthwash always tastes better than full size.... in my humble opinion at least.

drunkenwitch

I've started developing traditions with my chosen family.

My friend K and I just co hosted our annual screening of Dolly Parton's Smoky Mountain Christmas. She is the only person I know who loves that movie as deeply I do. Seriously, we know all the songs and practically have the movie memorized. This year I made tater tot casserole (homemade cream of broccoli soup) to eat during the screening. It was a blast.

Christmas day, I'm really hoping to do what I did last year. I wanted three things for Christmas day 1) not put on a bra 2) eat fried chicken (I love fried chicken, love it. LOOOOOVE IT. But I rarely let myself eat it and the gluten things means I have to do it all from scratch. ) 3) I wanted to watch Die Hard and te Star Wars Christmas Special. I got all 3, plus some friends joined us for the festivities (both recently asked if we plan to do it again).

I really want that again this year. But I have to tread carefully because I need to keep my divorced parents happy. Having to Christmases might sound like fun until you have to do all the traveling and placate feelings.

ClaraGrace

St Nick visits on December 6th, and everything in our stocking was always wrapped.  

O Antiphons starts December 17th.

Christmas Eve is fasting for Vigil for Christmas, then driving around to look at lights before Midnight Mass.

On Christmas, we got three presents from Mom and Dad.  If three was plenty for our Lord Jesus, three was more than enough for us.   Then we have a birthday cake for Jesus.

Then Grandma and Grandpa would spoil us on Epiphany. We also did the Christmas Crackers then, after church, and wore our paper crowns as long as possible.  Plus we did the house blessing, and still do.

DF doesn't follow as much, but he's willing to go along.

holyguacamole79

@drunkenwitch , DH and I have a tradition of watching Die Hard as we put up our tree!