It's Basically Friday...

[Deleted User]

@labro - There is no getting around tamales at Christmas.  I just hope one of the tias makes pineapple tamales this year!  They are my favorite!!!  Now if I could just get out of the menudo...

labro

@CocoBellaF I have no idea what menudo is. Is it normally delicious if you're not pregnant?

Peaseblossom55

@minskat30 thanks for the recipe!

@cocobellaF Have fun at TSO tonight.

@speakeasy14 I love that idea the stocking with movies and snacks, how cute.

speakeasy14

The pickle is probably the only German tradition my family does; my Oma introduced it to us. If anyone is bored, here's the story about it: CLICKY

eta apparently most Germans don't do it either haha

minskat30

@cocobellaf - Weird, my sister's husband's family is Mexican and they all open presents Christmas Day...maybe it is because they are all too drunk to open them Christmas Eve at midnight (actually, I'm pretty certain that is it...lol).  I'll join you at the barf table with menudo going on Christmas Day.  Blech.  

@labro - I really don't like menudo pregnant or not.  It is a Mexican soup with tripe usually.

labro

speakeasy14 said:

The pickle is probably the only German tradition my family does; my Oma introduced it to us. If anyone is bored, here's the story about it: CLICKY

eta apparently most Germans don't do it either haha

Lol makes sense now why I have never heard of this tradition as being German. We do all the German things for Christmas and we used to celebrate St. Nicholas day when we lived in Germany, and my oma told us stories about Krampus (she gave him another name but that's who the stories were about) and how about Krampus would visit her village and beat all the bad children....German Christmas is a happy and wonderful time you guys!

500days

@CocoBellaF My mom's side (Colombian) open gifts Christmas eve. They live in Colombia so it's not like we went there every year, but we would open the gifts we got from them on Christmas eve and then make an international call to them. It was definitely a good warm up for the next morning!

labro

@minskat30 Ehhhh I don't mind tripe so much...at Korean bbq it's pretty delicious....but the thought of it in soup is making my stomach roil.

speakeasy14

@labro the Belsnickel? I got hit by one haha 

[Deleted User]

@minskat30 - I don't know if it's super widespread or not, or if it depends on the area they originally come from.  H's family is from Northern Mexico (Delicias).

@labro - Menudo is never a good option, IMO.  Google pictures of it, if you're feeling brave.

jenna8984

@labro definitely, H & I talk all the time about how we know exactly what traits of our parents that we hate and will not be like, so I think it'll work to our advantage to be really great parents haha. And did Cinders really eat all those critters...?! I'd say my Kitty is on the naughty list.

@jenjen047 ok your Christmas sounds like a blast. My family never drank and even as a kid I was like this is boring, I wanna go to Amanda's where her parents are wasted and let us run amuck! lol

labro

@speakeasy14 Omg I don't even remember anymore. It's obviously one of those convoluted German names you're never going to keep straight...especially after years and years. But he followed behind St. Nicholas and left your parents switches and chunks of coal if you'd been bad, but if you were really really bad, he dragged you out of the house and beat you himself. My oma said she got switches and coal most years lol. Just imagine an old German lady saying "I was very bad!" in a strong accent.

[Deleted User]

My great-uncle married a woman from Germany while he was stationed there.  She had the BEST cheesecake recipe for Christmas.  They are both gone now, and the recipe is lost.  

labro

@jenna8984 She didn't eat them. She just murdered the poor things in cold blood and then left them because they wouldn't "play" with her anymore. Except for that one bunny she attempted to swallow whole because H was trying to take it from her...

[Deleted User]

@labro - Cinders is the worst!!!!!
 

labro

CocoBellaF said:

@labro - Cinders is the worst!!!!!
 

Look at this sweet innocent face. You have no idea the murderous intent hiding behind her outward appearance.

wink0erin

Already at two pages! Yesterday was a good, productive day at work, and after work I met up with BF and went to his parents since one of his brothers is in town and brought his new girlfriend. It was "day 10 of Hanukkah" as his mom said, because they had latkes and lit menorahs again.

I work tomorrow morning, until noon, so I've had to turn down a ton of requests from friends to go out tonight. I just don't want to be hungover or exhausted tomorrow! At least I'll get to wear jeans and a sweatshirt. 


What are some of your family's Christmas traditions? Is there anything you think your family does that's unique compared to typical traditions? There aren't many traditions now that I don't live at home, but I try to help Dad decorate the tree every year. We used to do that on Thanksgiving once I moved out, but this year we didn't, so I made a trip home to help decorate the tree on another evening. 

Did you believe in Santa? When did you stop believing? Yes, and I stopped believing when I noticed price tags on gifts and wasn't fully convinced by my parents explanation that Santa had to stop at the store for some last minute items. I forget when that was though, probably 3rd or 4th grade. 

Tell us about something holiday-related your parents still do from childhood even though you're an adult now. Stockings. Mom still hangs them up on Christmas eve and fills them up. 

Is there a Santa Paws? I swear I heard the pitter patter of little feet last year....but that could have just been a squirrel. Santa Paws is real 

labro

@wink0erin Omg that poor cat!!!!! That's the best costume I've seen yet!

minskat30

@cocobellaf - Ha!  I hear you on menudo.  I can't stand it.  My BIL's family is from a small mountain town about an hour or two from Guadalajara so very different region.  I have a feeling their tradition of opening presents on Christmas Day is more about the fact that everyone is drinking and forgets to open presents Christmas Eve, however.     

@labro - Cinders?!  A murderer?!?  I'd defend her in a court of law with that face.  

@wink0erin - Mmmmm latkas.  Yummy. 

Peaseblossom55

Is it nap time yet?

speakeasy14

@labro hahahahaa yup! There are a lot of German traditions in PA because of the Pennsylvania Dutch, near my house there's a place that recreates what it was like when the Quakers were around.  At Christmas the Belsnickel comes out and hits all the naughty children with sticks. Every. Freaking. Year. I was hit and my Oma would laugh and say it was nothing like the Belsnickel in Germany. 

@jenjen047 omg look at her sweater and haircut! 

@CocoBellaF & @minskat30 I hope for your stomach & noses that you don't have to deal with the menudo.  Maybe load a scarf with essential oils to hide the fish smell.  My sister has already said she's doing that for my aunt's since there will be lots of fish. 

MissKittyDanger

@speakeasy14  that's an interesting way to keep you guys up! My parents just did things while I was asleep since I'm a sound sleeper. As I got older, they'd wrap while I was out or something. I know one year they put all the stuff at my mum's friend's place lol

@Peaseblossom55 yes. NEY nap time!!

@labro Innocent Cinders, she gets away with a lot with that face

jenna8984

Totally off topic but I always knew I should be on The Price is Right. Lady at work needed to go buy some stuff for the holiday party like cups, plates, silverware, dessert trays. I gave her $130 out of petty cash and her total came to $123.60. Do I win both showcases?!

wink0erin

@untouchablets That is such a sweet Christmas story! In a way, I guess "santa" was real in your community. 

@labro I pretended to believe way longer than I led on to. I knew it was important to my parents. They still leave "santa" gifts under the tree, which is basically anything that was too large or awkward to wrap. 

@minskat30Risalamande sounds DELICIOUS! I

speakeasy14

@MissKittyDanger oh no that was so we would let my parents sleep because we'd be up at 3am ready to open presents haha

labro

@wink0erin My parents wrapped Santa gifts too. Is this a thing, that Santa gifts aren't wrapped???

The Santa gifts DID come in different wrapping paper and with different tags than our other gifts.

MissKittyDanger

@speakeasy14  lol! Well I guess that works too :P 

MissKittyDanger

@labro @wink0erin  my parents wrapped Santa gifts in different paper also! Never heard of Santa not wrapping gifts ...

Peaseblossom55

Santa gave us gifts wrapped, and they were different from the wrapping paper used for the rest of the gifts and the gifts our parents gave us for Christmas.

cu97tiger

I'm posting and running because:

What are you doing to pass the time today?
My singular goal for today is to clean off my desk (both getting rid of old papers and also random crumbs and dust!) and clean out my email inbox.

What are some of your family's Christmas traditions? Is there anything you think your family does that's unique compared to typical traditions?
On Christmas Eve, my dad makes lobster. YUM! DH's family opens their gifts on Christmas Eve (unless I'm around... then we open one Christmas Eve and the rest on Christmas).

Did you believe in Santa? When did you stop believing?
I did until I was around 8 or 9. My logical brain started asking how one man could get to every single house in a 24 hour period. When faced with my persistent questioning, my dad caved and told me that he and my mom were Santa and that I was not allowed to tell my sister. I feel like it was the first 'grown-up' conversation my dad and I ever had.

Tell us about something holiday-related your parents still do from childhood even though you're an adult now.
My mother goes way overboard on stocking stuffers. Every year we tell her that she doesn't need to, and every year she gives us a stocking-full of random stuff. Sometimes it's good stuff (Ferrero Rocher) and sometimes it's a Sudoku book (which joined the one from last year in a drawer that won't be opened for another year).

Is there a Santa Paws? 
Nope, that's just crazy-talk.