To ask what Christmas traditions you HAVEN’T carried on from childhood?

[LlamaParma]

I don’t cook from scratch. I buy everything M&S ready made in foil tins and whack it in the oven on the day.

Simply because I have HORRIBLE memories of Christmas as a child and my mum absolutely stressing to high heaven in the kitchen from about 7am until 3pm, banging pots and at some point having a tantrum because “NOBODY IS HELPING”. Me and my siblings and stepdad would be and when offered to help would get told “No it’s FINE I’m FINE”. All because we’d usually have guests and she was adamant everyone would have a lovely ‘everything homemade’ meal every year. And TBF it tasted amazing and whilst we take the piss out of her now about it (when we all buggered off to Uni she had a Christmas Day Amnesty and declared it’s pizza and chips if we spend it at hers - good for her!) at the time I always wish she’d have chilled out and spent time with us, watched films, help us set up toys etc. Nobody needed homemade horseradish sauce and chicken liver pâté. The atmosphere would be awful, it was a running joke that the kitchen was a no-go area on Christmas Day, but as a result I don’t stress at all about food with my own family. If it’s crap then tough luck, there’s always Pudding to fall back on

What Christmas traditions or things have you not passed on to your kids from your childhood?

Stockings. Can't be arsed filling it with loads of cheap tat so I've never bothered for DS.

We always used to have my maternal GPs, my great aunt on DM's DM's side and great aunt on DM's DF's side plus any other waifs and strays my DM felt sorry for. She used to spend ages cooking a massive meal with starter, then soup then turkey & trimmings then Christmas pudding. Someone had to drive them home then we would have to go to my DF's sister's house to see the other GPs/GAs later, normally dressed in our "best clothes". Boring!

When DD1 was a baby and after DM had died, DF and DSis cooked. The following year I bit the bullet and did my own lunch and have done for the last 21 years. The GPs and GAs have died. DF is now next door to me and is coming here for lunch. Instead of a mad dash to collect all the olds, DF toddles the 25 metres round here. DH and DD1 like to go for the Christmas Day swim at the beach 3 miles away. If I can be arsed, I go to watch and chuck something in the RNLI bucket. I will do a light starter but the roast dinner is the main event along with copious amounts of wine/gin/prosecco/whatever. It is much more chilled. I don't care what people wear. The DDs are now adults and relaxed about it all. They help with the cooking but to be honest, there's not much to do. I like getting up early on Christmas morning to prep the turkey and I baste it frequently. DH tends to the fire. We open presents gradually during the morning. It's all very laid-back, just like I wish it had been when I was a child.

@LlamaParma

My mum was exactly like this and it was full on martyrdom. She would work in the kitchen all day and get really stressed and inevitably would lose her shit with someone later on and it would trigger a three-day sulk.

I hated it but tbh I can't quite make my peace with buying everything in because I love Christmas food and I like making it. Not quite to the extent of making my own horseradish but I do like my own Christmas cooking.

The one tradition I have happily left behind was my dad's regimental approach to timings. We had to open presents in an exact order (youngest to oldest) and things had to be done at exactly the right time. It made everything ludicrously stressful.

Waiting until lunchtime to open my presents!

Mum was a church warden, and every Christmas morning I had to dress up and go to church. The vicar would ask random children what they had from Santa, and I always sat there grumbling "I don't know I haven't opened them yet!". Then there were coffee and mince pies after the service, adults chatting about random crap, and the clearing away and locking up afterwards!

No more of that rubbish for me!

Going to midnight mass on Xmas eve
Going to church on Xmas day
After being forced to go as a child I’m an atheist
DM used to cook Turkey on Xmas eve and use frozen veg to save time - I prefer to cook from scratch and we never have Turkey

I loved my childhood Christmasses so have tried to replicate them as much as possible - the only traditions I haven’t kept up are the ones my kids refuse to do, like hand delivering all the local Christmas cards as a family - it’s a nice walk and you get to check out all the lights, but they moaned so much I discontinued it. Same with making paper chains.

Everything else very similar - what and when we eat, what stockings look like, the tree, how Santa behaves, etc etc.

Writing thank you letters on Christmas afternoon. I was desperate to play with some of my new toys and wasn’t allowed until thank you letters had been written. Thankfully we had very few Christmasses at home just us and it was only then that it happened

As a child stocking were opened in the morning, one main present mid morning and nothing else until after lunch. I bloody hated it.

Dd gets her stocking in her room and then we come down for breakfast, normally scotch pancakes, crepes (prepare chuck in the microwave ones) and toast whilst dd opens her presents. She ultimately regulates herself. She will open a fee then play with them and then open a few more etc etc.

@CeliaCanth

Peeling all the veg the night before and leaving them to soak in bowls of cold water overnight. It doesn’t take us that long to prepare them on the day! Not having lunch at 12 sharp. (On reflection, maybe the veg habit developed to facilitate the ridiculously early timetable!)

I do this I agree it doesn’t take long on the day but for me there’s something very nice about not having to do it on the day.

I spent the first 34 years of my life going to my grandparents house late Christmas morning for lunch and not going home til til bedtime. I loved it at the time but now I have my own children we've started staying at home for Christmas. I don't know if I'll ever lose the guilt or stop missing my family on Christmas evening, but I want my kids to have Christmas Day at home instead of having to travel miles and leaving their toys behind and so on.

Eating capons.

Reading night before Xmas to kids in bed Xmas Eve.

Me and by brother didn't enjoy it at all.

Really my dad did it as he liked it and felt it was an improving sort of thing. Fit his idea of what children enjoy.

Still not keen on it.

We have Raymond Briggs. Maybe s little unusual but been since they were little and we all really enjoy it.

Forcing the children to eat at least one sprout during Christmas Dinner and finding it hilarious as they gagged and tried not to throw up.

I refuse to cook sprouts now which is bad as one of my DC really loves them but the smell of them is enough to make me heave from the memories.

*roopyClematis

Eating capons.*

I’ve actually swopped the turkey for a capon.

Also stopped the tradition of getting up at the crack of dawn and opening presents immediately. My dc are sleepers so we have leisurely breakfast and open presents later.

Mass in the morning.

We used to sit in a circle and take turns to pen one present at a time.
It was lovely and really made us appreciate and savour what we were given.
My kids don't have the patience for it.

To open

Forced visitation of relatives. Expectation to set aside problems with a parent "because it's Christmas" oh and awful prawn cocktail-style starters.

Oh I've carried on all the traditions
But my mum was awesome.....
get up after 5 🤔 opening stocking

And it's all
Presents
Presents
Presents
Telly
Helping mum with turkey lunch etc
Telly
Eating with people you actually like

More eating
😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀

I don't go to mass on Christmas eve or morning. Would never make my children go either.... what child really wants to go to church rather than be at home on Christmas day. I still feel the Catholic guilt about not going 30 years later but don't dwell on it and enjoy staying in my pjs.

Getting drunk and falling out so loudly that the neighbours would ring the police and someone would get arrested.

Locking down the entire house. I don't necessarily go out on Christmas day, but it's nice to know I'm not literally trapped until 27th, because boxing day was also a no going outside day. Everyone is free to stretch their legs/get some fresh air at mine on Christmas day.

@LaurieFairyCake

Beating the shit out of each other and someone being arrested

Mass drunkenness before the above ^^

I’m so sorry. No child should have to witness that 💐

We weren't allowed up until after 8 am Christmas morning and then had to open our presents in our rooms...odd when I now look back.

Thank you letters had to be a couple of pages long with 'news' in. If there was a mistake, the whole thing had to be re-written.

Turkey was cooked the day before then eaten cold with all the hot vegetables.

We used to have huge family parties, Christmas dinner and tea. The tea was my favourite, with salads and trifle. There's only me and DF this year.