Holiday Traditions

[cloakofstars45]

Hey Everyone,

I thought it would be fun to see what everyone does for the holidays. So share some traditions that you do every year for holidays.

One of my traditions is the Pickle on the christmas tree. We have a blown glass ornament that is hung on the tree on x-mas eve. The pickle is hidden within the branches and the first person to find it gets a extra special christmas prize.

[VampirexxxGirl_]

Oh my neighbors do that! I remember doing it with them one year and thought it was so fun! Except it was with a candy cane not a pickle.
We don't have many holiday traditions except for the christmas dinner (usually consisting of lobster or ham) and also we go out and with our dogs to petco and have them pick out there christmas presents (although since I currently have mano I won't be partaking in that tradition this year)

[devindemel]

That pickle thing sounds fun! Usually all of my close relatives come over to our house every Christmas and we either have a Turkey or Ham dinner and let the kids exchange presents. Everyone in the family who's 21 and over we do a gift game. You have to pick numbers and take turns picking a present out of the pile. You can get your present stolen by someone else and you have to pick another present or steal from someone else! It's always been extremely fun to do every year. And then we end the night with some kareoke! =)

[autumn_child]

We usually get together with my parents and sister on Christmas Eve, and we have a buffet with lots of different cheeses and barbeque chicken wings and dips and shrimp scampi and such. Then we have Christmas Day dinner with my husband's family.

[cloakofstars45]

Wow everyone does really fun things! We have a big christmas dinner too. Only we have it on christmas eve with everyone and I mean everyone! My great grandma had 6 kids and so its her and my grandparents and my parents and aunts and uncles and all the grand kids plus thier bf/gf of hubbies/wives. so its a big night.

[xsunshinelollipopsx]

I think it's a pretty common thing for everyone to have dinner! We usually have a roast and end up watching a movie together after we're stuffed! We have so much fun with the gift exchange of course and it's funny because between my brothers and I we usually already know what wer'e getting because it's hard to shop for someone you don't live with unless you specifically ask what they want! Like last year my brother bought me the simpsons movie for christmas and I knew he bought it because i was in the store with him and he kept trying to hide behind the rack so i didn't see it but i knew... and on christmas eve he was like "i can't wait to see it, do you want to watch the movie since you already know about it and then rewrap it?" .. of course i agreed, it was hilarious to open the movie i already opened! I love the pickle idea, my family has never done it but I hope to do it with my future family. It's our first year in over ten years to be in a house instead of an apartment where we actually have room for a christmas tree and decorations so we've got the tree and I'm sure hanging the ornaments will be a special thing for my stepmom and me, we had so much fun.
Also, my dad's decorated the outside of the house to a light / music show, the website is www.fredericksburglights.com if you guys want to check it out.

[cloakofstars45]

Wow thats really cool! Yea the pickle tradition is a lot of fun. When we were little it was my mom and dad that hid the pickle ornament while we were sleeping and now that we are older (and one of us ~me~ is moved out) we alternate who hides it by who found it the year before. If you find it you hide it the next year. It's kinda funny because my mom made that rule because i won 4 years in a row because Im the oldest and I could look farther up in the tree than my sisters.

[xsunshinelollipopsx]

HAha. yeah that's kind of unfair!

[BunnyRabt]

We have a few different ones that we've done for a long time. There is a special satin rose that my mom and I have passed back and forth for over 20 years. I think she has it this year, so it should turn up on one of my presents.

We usually have Christmas Eve dinner at Mom and Dad's, and the Sunday before that we have Christmas with my niece and her family. (also at Mom and Dad's) Christmas morning has always been here, and I fix a huge fancy breakfast and break out my Christmas china and good silverware and we eat in the dining room, and then exchange presents. This year we will be doing that, but just with Mom and Dad. Mitch, Kari and Graci will be coming here on the 26th instead. So we'll have another dinner that day and more presents. It will be different not being with Mitch on Christmas morning for the first time EVER, but Graci should be home for Santa Claus so that's ok.

We always pick one night to go riding around looking at Christmas decorations, and then drive to Indy and drive around the circle and ooh and ahh at the huge Christmas tree. (looks the same every year except one year it was red, white and blue because of the war) But we still go and look at it anyway.

I always make magic cookie bars for my ex-father-in-law. I've made them for him almost every year for probably thirty years now. He's not my father-in-law now, but he's in a nursing home and I think he needs all the treats he can get! Mitch really likes those cookies too, so I make them for him also.

We've already watched Jim Carey's Grinch movie, but we still have to watch Christmas Vacation and the Christmas Story. We do that every year too.

I have two best friends that I exchange gifts with. We always do a girls night out and then come back here and have wine and presents. We've done that for probably six years now. Plan to keep that up until we're all dead. lol

There's other stuff but I don't want to go on forever! Christmas is a big deal around here.