We need your Christmas customs and family traditions

Bloody hell, I'm in no fit state to dance anywhere after Xmas Dinner. I can barely get to the sofa.

Our main tradition is my mum scrutinising me as I open each present and saying over and over and over again, 'Do you like it', 'You don't like it', 'I've got the receipt'.

Then st various intervals throughout the next couple of days she attempts to give me said receipts and says things like, 'I don't mind if you don't like it, just take it back'.

I BLOODY LIKE IT! SOD OFF!!

V. stressful.

Last year I only started to relax and enjoy after indulging in combustible recreational aids.

Trees is put up and decorated by everyone 24th December, and the presents put underneath it.

The starter is ricepudding with one whole almond hidden in it. The one that finds the whole almond wins a marcipan pig (don't ask why, honestly don't know, that is just the way).

I make duck stuffed with apples and prunes (that I continously forget to soak beforehand).

After the meal with dance around the tree singing x-mas songs. Then we sit down, and whilst eating homemade sweeties and cookies, one child at a time goes to the tree gets a present (can't be for yourself) and we all watch the lucky winner open their present, and then it will be the next child's turn to collect a present and so forth.

They get to stay up as late as they like. Next day we go to dh's parents for x-mas lunch where everything is pretty much chaos from the minute you step fut inside. Everybody throwing presents at eachother, no hellos, no offerings of drinks, no small talk, no getting to take your coat off, just lots of presents that they expect you to open here and now.
Nana will be stressing in the kitchen, not wanting help, grandad will be drunk already, and the kids will be shouting look at this, look at this.
We eat (quickly), and then go sit in the livingroom where there is more drink and the children play with their presents.

My DH has taken to giving everyone a big sack (bin bag will do) and weighing everyone with the sack on Christmas morning. Write down all the weights.

Then after Christmas dinner you put all your presents in the sack and weigh yourself again.

Weight one minus weight two equals Christmas credit .... and whoever has the most wins.

I have to admit this is very tongue in cheek and to date we've only done it with all the adults because I think the kids would cry and miss the irony.

My tree and decs go up the first Sunday in Dec so will be the 6th this year. We go to Harrods to see Father Christmas and buy the Harrods Christmas bear (DS has had one every year since he was born) we then have a lovely dinner in town and take a double decker bus from knightsbridge to oxford street to see all the lights. On Christmas eve I pile all of DS's presents in the living room eat half the carrot and mince pie christmas day DS gets us up we all go down stairs and watch him open his presents then get dresses and watch christmas movies and eat chocolate until my mum and dad arrive then make the dinner whilest they watch tv and play games we have turkey ham and pork for dinner with all the trimmings (I buy crackers that I can put a special gift in for eveyone) we then all sit and veg play christmas music and play boardgames until I take my Mum and Dad to the airport where they fly out to see my sister and do it all again

that so many of you can wait til after breakfast/lunch/dinner/mass to open pressies!

We are up and downstairs to open pressies in santa's sack. I had started tradition to open presents under tree after lunch but it was too much for ds (3) last year and I didn't have the heart to stop him opening more!

Oh yes, forgot! The boys always give the dogs a present each to unwrap.

They also scrunch up and chuck all the wrapping paper over the dog gate (where our crazy collie x is waiting expectantly on her hind legs) into the kitchen so that said collie x can 'kill it'! I then spend ages trying to clear up tiny bits of soggy ripped up wrapping paper from every nook and cranny of the kitchen and out of the dogs fur.

lol @ flightattendent

I avoid acute depression by avoiding all members of mine and DP's family. Anything's bearable at Christmas, I find, as long as it doesn't involve extended family.

First year at home with just us this year and already getting the "not looking forward to Christmas, no point without the grandchildren" etc etc comments from both sides of the family. This despite the fact that both sides have 7 grandchildren and both sides have been invited to visit at any time throughout the day (barring actual lunch time) and only live 5 minutes from our house! We decided on this as poor kids never got to play with their presents as we used to have to do 'both' sets of parents (yes, even two Christmas dinners!) in order to keep them all happy. Glad we did now though as am expecting DD1 on January 3 and really couldn't face all the to-ing and fro-ing this year.

We always do the following though:

Every night from December 1 we read the Night Before Christmas as a bedtime story. (The boys love this and know the poem by heart.) We also have an advent book containing a mini book with either a song, story or poem for every day of advent which is read before going up to bed and the boys take in turns to put up along the top of the mirror in the living room so that by Christmas day there is a whole mini banner of Christmas pictures.

Get out all the Christmas and toy catalogues and help the boys write a Christmas list each. Then write a letter to Father Christmas which is decorated with as much glitter etc as they can possibly fit on.

Early in December we always sit down as a family and make some new decorations for the tree. (The Boys have a mini tree in their room and like to make some new decorations every year.)

Christmas Eve extended family 'Do' at PILs. We get boys into new fleecy PJs (the cute ones with feet) before leaving ready for the short drive home. Then bundle them into car seats with blankets and drive home.

Once home, we put out mince pie and milk for Father Christmas and carrot for Rudolph, do the advent book and the Night Before Christmas, then DH put's the boys to bed while I prance around outside in the garden like an idiot ringing little bells while he says "Listen sleigh bells, quick close your eyes and go to sleep, I think Father Chrismas is coming!".

We always make sure there are Father Christmas's footprints leading from the fireplace to the presents and each child has a little jingly bag hidden among the tree decorations with a mini surprise gift inside.

Christmas morning, DH and I wake up stupidly early and wait and wait and wait for the boys to wake up! Eventually we give up and start coughing loudly etc and as soon as we hear a noise we poke our heads around their door and watch them discover their stockings by the end of their beds. Then they bring their stockings into our bed and get settled while Daddy fetches, milk for them, coffee for us and warm croissants for us all to stuff while they open their stocking gifts. They always have a small packet of sweets in their stockings which they are allowed to eat.

The boys always go downstairs first and go to the fireplace to follow the footsteps to the presents. Then, while they are awed at their present piles the footsteps 'miraculously' disappear! Then they search for their 'jingly bag' presents and open them first.

We then all sit on the floor together and they open their presents, DS1 at super speed, DS2 stopping to play with every toy along the way.

That's as far as we get with traditions for this year, as from that point on we usually have to get dressed and go out. We will have to create some new ones for the rest of the day and will be reading this thread with interest to pick up a few tips.

Christmas used to always be at my mum and dad's and involved everyone dressing smartly, drinks as soon as we walked through the door , present opening, lunch, sleeping then tea and a tree-present followed by copious amounts of alcohol while we played cards til the early hours but sadly my mum is no longer here and my dad has other interests , so it now goes something along the lines of, somewhere around the 11th Dec, (mum's birthday) we go out and buy the tree, bring it home and I get ratty when dc's want to help me decorate it. There is usually a Christmas cd and a glass of wine around . Sometime between then and Christmas Day, my brothers and my dad maybe come round and we'll have a nice tea and present swapping. Same again but on a different day for DH's family then on Christmas Eve we leave the goodies out for Santa and the reindeers and leave a stocking and a pillow-case at the end of the beds. Dh generally is working so it's me who's rushing around doing all the last-minute panicking. Christmas morning I'm normally awake first and wait an age for all the others to wake up and then it's sqeals because Santa has been as we head downstairs to a roaring fire and presents next to the tree. Dc's are frantically ripping paper while I try my best to keep a note of who has bought which present! The rest of the day involves the dc's eating too much chocolate and me and dh drinking too much alcohol with a lovely lunch with turkey and the trimmings and then all sitting down playing with the toys/watching tv together before we have tea/tree pressie and bed! Dh then goes back to work on Boxing Day.

The tree goes up on Christmas eve, stockings out (for everyone) and coconut pyramids it has always been that way! left with a drink for FC.

DCs to bed and midnight mass for the grownups (my dad stays home).
In the morning, open the stockings before breakfast (FC only brings the stockings in our house).

Main presents after breakfast.

Morning service for whoever wants to go, then the rest of the family arrives.
One present each before lunch.
Big lunch, cooked by my lovely mum, veg prepared by my dad - always his job on Christmas morning!

Any remaining presents are spread out for as long as they last, one present each day.

ruby, sounds lovely. you'll hardly notice an extra 4 popping round then...

wrapping not warping..Warped stockings

oh and on xmas eve, dh and I like t drink port while warpping the stockings...

Oh and the Christmas tree goes up on the 1st

My dp will be 40 this year and he still insists on having a stocking!

I always wear satin pyjamas on Xmas eve.

At tea time on Xmas day my whole family goes to visit my Granda.
Also as a whole family (aunties, uncles, cousins etc) we go out for a Xmas meal sometime in December.

We usually spend xmas eve listening to xmas songs, watching xmas films on tv, re-doing the decorations, sorting the house out ready for the present aftermath. Then before bed we leave a Carrot out for Rudolph and a drink of dd's choice for FC with a biscuit

Xmas day usually starts very early, we all go downstairs into the front room to open presents, kids eat chocolate for breakfast and then the madness begins with all the presents.

I'm sure it will change as the kids are all very young atm. When the ds's are older I think things will be different.

tree goes up for Dh's birthday (10th)
cards go up xmas eve after ds1's birthday
Christmas eve is usually a quiet day after ds's birthday shenanigans...

This year we are at home and I am so happy! Get up with boys, open stockings on bed. DH crawls down to make bacon sarnies. Pressie opening at around 10, dinner at around 2/3pm, in between, lounging, reading, eating chocs, playing games, perhaps a movie.
This year my best friend and neighbour and her partner arecoming over in the faternoon as her kids are at their dads. So we will bribe the children with chocolate to play upstairs and we will collpase into champagny giggles and play music and silly games and sing and sit round the firepit and eat more stuff.

last couple of years I have tried so damn hard to have the perfect sodding Christmas. House immaculate, perfect pressies wrapped perfectly, idyllic stockings full of exciting mix of retro/kitsch/cute/cool gifts, incredible family lunch cooked to perfection, freshly laundered clothes all laid out, movies carefully selected, board games chosen, invitations and family visits co-ordinated and running like clockwork with prearranged drivers etc etc etc
2 years ago both kids and DH were ill and ate nothing at all. I spend the evening on my own downstairs while they all were asleep by 6pm. It was crap. They just opened gifts and then wanted to go back to bed. Last year they were up, all went fairly well but was so OTT control-freakish me that I was promptly really ill with a migraine from Boxing Day to New Year. A whole week of purging the stress I reckon!

So.. this year is gonna be different. Not sure how yet. Got to think about tactics to let go, be relaxed, not plan too much and just enjoy it all. I love Christmas, I love thinking about it and planning it so why oh why oh why do I put myself through the "perfect Christmas" hell?? Aaaaaagh

Tree goes up on 6th Dec (my birthday and a family tradition. I do it by myself, usually with lots of swearing as I try to unravel the lights I stuffed in a carrier bag last year when I took the damn thing down , DD hiding in her bedroom whilst I have a mini tantrum over lights.

Christmas Eve, we get dolled up and go out with my parents and the DC's.

Christmas Day, I get up first, and start bouncing on the bed in excitement . Run in and wake DD up, declaring loudly that FC has been and she should see the massive pile of stuff in the living room.

DD crawls out of bed bleary eyed and then starts screaming with excitement when she sees said pile of stuff. She then spends most of the morning rattling boxes and begging me to let her open it. I stand firm and insist not until DH gets up which could be another 2-3 hours . Send DD into him to jump up and down and get him out of bed.

DH gets up, we sit in a circle and open one thing at a time. When that is done, I'm left to clear up, DD trashes the place (it's the one day in the year I can handle it) and DH goes back to bed.

He gets up again, does dinner, DD and I go to the pub with my dad, come home and sit in front of the telly all day.

I lurve Christmas!

we don't have any, unless you count a general sense that starting on the booze as soon as you wake up is acceptable.

the best thing is having an amalgamation of my families traditions and DH's traditions.

having a job with stupid hours this does tebd to bugger up the traditions a bit but this is what should happen.

christmas eve.

last minute veg shopping
smoked salmon and bagles for lunch.
church for crib service.
all my family come round to us for champagne and nibbles
the DDs usually do some showing off wuith some music
get v drunk

christmas day

i wake the DDs up by crashing around deliberately at about 7. they've never done the waking up at an ungodly hour.
open stocking presents in our bed
have chocolate for breakfast
open presents from us and other ones under the tree.
discuss who is going to be driver
go to my mothers where my other sisters will be to open more presents.
have more chocolate and wine.
pick up MIL and bring home for lunch (that is we eat lunch not eat MIL)
have more wine
deliver MIL home and go to see In laws for more presents and more chocolate and more wine
come home and have more wine. and usually a nice walk

this is buggered up by either the cat being ill like last year and having to take her to the vets (v expensive and worrying)
or me working like this years (all the above has to be squeezed into evening)

our xmas traditions are set to change this year, as this will be the first year without great grandma, and so, as she used to stay with the PIL's everyyear (since they got married), and MIL is not looking forward to xmas at their house now without her mum being there, we will now take on them staying with us, and probably FIL and DH going to golf first thing......meaning presents will be opened later than we are currently used to.

It will be sad this year, but I am looking forward to the change in a strange way. It will be nice to adjust our traditions.....especially while the children ara all still young enough to really adapt and enjoy.

we will be keeping our xmas eve the same tho, so I will post about that.

Xmas Eve is always the day we take the children to visit Father Christmas. We have done that since DD1's first Xmas, and it is something that seems to have stuck. I book it for about lunchtime, and we then always let the children choose what they eat for their lunch that day.......normally McDonalds truth be told.

We then go to Mudeford........we eat there as McDonalds is close by, and then we also take lots of bread and feed the ducks/swans/geese. And then we go for a walk along the beach if the weather is ok for it.

After that we go out and (with that weeks childbenefit), we choose the 'family present'. Most years it is a big board game.....something we can all play over xmas. Last year was a 'Buzz' game for the PS2............and the children LOVED it!

We also by 'picky' bits for tea that night......we normally have a 'carpet picnic'.

We always buy the children new PJ's and bedsocks and wrpa them up, for them to open on xmas eve after tea and bath.......it gets them ready for bed in a fun easy way.

After that are all ready for bed, we then hand out a new DVD, they write their 'thankyou' letter to Father Xmas (they have already told them their wish at the visit that day, so they say thankyou for the vist and also in advance for whatever he gives them as they all know that they will love what he has chosen), and also leave wine/dairy-free choc (as who is to say that FC does not have allergies like thier mum), and carrots and water for EVERY SINGLE reindeer.

Off the trot to bed, while DH and I watch a dvd of our choice and then sort out their pressies and stockings (FC only ever brings stocking pressies in our house!).

Finally, DH and I fall into bed, and give each other our own pressies. Xmas day is about the children, so DH and I have our time early hours of the morning, before the place turns into a grotto