Christmas traditions that you do and don't do

[Honkwiching]

Obviously I'm unreasonable for saying the C word so early, but idc - anyone who doesn't want to chat Christmas can leave a snarky comment below for Krampus to enjoy and then hide the thread.

For everyone else, what are Christmas traditions that you enjoy, and are there any popular ones you don't do?

For us, we have some things which are non-negotiable. On the second weekend in December we go and choose our tree, then we decorate it while listening to Christmas music before watching a festive film with sherry and mince pies.

We have a fancy-but-easy Christmas Eve meal (because it's usually the only time it's just our immediate family at home). I make it in advance, usually a pie or similar, so it just needs defrosted and chucked in the oven on the day. We use the posh crockery set I inherited from my great uncle, and the whole room is candlelit.

We give the children a Christmas decoration each on Christmas Eve, usually related to a particular interest for the year. This year my son is getting a ballet slipper and my daughter is getting a rabbit.

We also do a full Christmas meal foodbank shop a couple of weeks before Christmas. I let my kids choose what fun treats to include (along with the necessities / what the foodbank has requested, which I check in advance).

In terms of things we don't do, we're die-hard Elf on the Shelf avoiders. I have ADHD and a million pets so I don't have the time or inclination to create an amusing daily scene for that creepy guy.

We also don't do Christmas Eve boxes or expensive advent calendars. I think my kids enjoy the chocolate calendars as much as anything, and they get enough presents as it is without the Christmas Eve box.

(I've seen people get and give a lot of joy from these things so absolutely no shade, they just aren't things we prioritise).

I want to hear yours!

Watching The Snowman on Christmas Eve

I have a toddler so hoping to pick up some tips to create Christmas traditions for her childhood. But my own adult ones include:

• Going to pick a tree
• Drinks in cosy old pubs in the weeks beforehand
• Watching Home Alone, Home Alone 2 and A Muppets Christmas Carol
• A trip into town on Christmas Eve to soak up the atmosphere followed by a takeaway
• Christmas morning charity run or swim
• Hosting drop in drinks and nibbles for neighbours, family and friends
• Fire going all day
• Full meal with all the trimmings with immediate family
• Presents after dinner
• Long walk by the coast and turkey sandwiches on the 26th

Hahaha oh my goodness that just proves I don’t watch it 😂 Crazy how ingrained the Queen is/was. It’s like the national anthem, takes me by surprise every time I hear ‘King’, and every time I hear mention of the Queen these days I forget they mean Camilla…

I live on my own and spend Christmas alone. Big dinner on Christmas Eve, open my gifts then. Drink fizz, eat chocolate. New nightdress and slippers. Lie in bed on Christmas morning, make huge breakfast for about 11. Cook something straightforward for Christmas lunch, eg steak. Watch trash tv all day. Go for a walk if I feel like it. Peace and quiet all day.

A bit of departure for us this year, and a first. As we live in a semi-rural area we spoke with a neighbour who has a field and a horse. We are going to sit in the stable for Christmas Eve.

Rocket ((the horse) is going to stand-in for the donkey and we have a rubber dwarf for the Baby Jesus, borrowed from the local Am-Dram society who have said they are are no longer going to do the Snow White Panto after complaints last year when the Queen pricked her finger and the rather zealous special effects chappy (Simon) sprayed the first two rows of the audience with fake blood from a modified fire extinguisher.

Derek (the landlord of the Crooked Goose) has proffered three of their Pub Quiz Team as the Wise Men.
The shepherds are the Gubbins brothers and the sheep, our very own children on all fours with white towels duct-taped to them. There is no ox.

Mary and Joseph will be played by Mum and Dad (they are rather old but were insistent, and it could be their last chance...)
We have a couple of tins of Quality Street and a cassette of Bing Crosby's Xmas Songs.
It should be an entertaining evening and some of us are actually looking forward to it.

I am not a fan of Christmas at all. Our children are all adults now, however we did new Pjs on Christmas Eve along with freshly washed bedding, mince pies and a glass of milk for Santa (you cant drink and drive) and carrots for the reindeer. Stockings always left in the lounge. Always a photo of the children in front of the Christmas tree. Christmas dinner with a beautifully laid table and our best crockery and cutlery. Boxing Day we have always had a buffet now called the "famous buffet" and is a family tradition. Every single year I say I am not doing to do the whole Christmas thing and go away in the bell tent instead and every year I end up doing Christmas. Having grandchildren does help. I absolutely hate the Elf on the Shelf thing, parents have enough stress without worrying about a stupid stuffed elf.

All adults now.
Do's:
National Trust light show.
Long winter walk on Xmas eve.
Midnight Mass with mulled wine on Church lawn at 1am!!
Set up a winter drinks station (hot choc etc)
Different Xmas snacks each day
Baking Xmas cake and pudding
Smoked salmon and champagne breakfast.
Big Xmas lunch.
Kings speech.
Homemade crackers.
Christmas gifts on Christmas morning.
Big fish pie on Xmas Eve.

Dont's
Elf on shelf
Pantomime (shudder)
Christmas markets (double shudder)
Masses of consumerist crap.
Plastic tat.
Christmas cards (except for my elderly uncle).

My children will be 18 & 21 this Christmas, but I still try and follow some of the same traditions as when they were kids.
We always put the decorations up on the first weekend in December with Xmas music and a tub of chocolates. They each get to choose a new decoration for the tree from the same Garden Centre.
We go to our town's Christmas market and later in the month we'll have a wander around to see Christmas lights.
We've never done Elf on the Shelf but we have Advent Calendars sometimes chocolate but they've had scented candle ones the last couple of years.
On Christmas Eve we go to the garden centre or cafe for lunch, hot choc and cake. I cook the turkey and gammon ham in the afternoon and the kids have Xmas Eve boxes - they usually contain new pjs, a blanket, fluffy socks, a new mug and some sweets. Then we always watch Elf with a Chinese takeaway and after we open the Christmas chocolates and dig in.
We don't do stockings in the morning, we watch the kids open presents that we arrange on the living room sofas on Xmas Eve before we go to bed.
In the afternoon we have Christmas Day boxes - full of little bits and pieces. They are always reused cardboard boxes wrapped in old fashioned traditional type wrapping paper, I had the same as a kid so I like to keep it going. The cats get a little one to share too!

First foot on New Year's Eve.

Apart from us in the north east and Scots, I don’t know anyone else that does it.

In December, not all on Christmas Eve
Decorate tree together
lots of tacky decorations - kids choose
gingerbread house
christmas pjs
elf on the shelf
plate for santa
foodbank treats
cheese selection
advent calendars - one bought and a shared one with a chocolate or sweet each for the kids.
We also do a write a message to someone in family each day - a nice memory from the year/ something you appreciate them doing/ something you’d like to do with them/ something you admire (sounds so cringy and contrived written down, but started when I left kids a little note one day in their advent calendar with a chocolate and one left me one to find the following evening when I put the chocolate in the calendar
reindeer feeding
santa stocking
read night before Christmas at bedtime on Christmas Eve
Buying a tv guide and recording lots of stuff (that we don’t get round to watching!)
pancakes for breakfast
Christmas lights in london
Fancy hot chocolate

Don’t Do
integrated decor or theme - it’s all about the kids
Going to relatives with whatever shitty virus from school messes up Christmas holidays again. Would very much like to add not having another ill Christmas to this list, but I’d probably have to keep children off school for the last week of term to achieve that! Last year was especially nasty. I think our TA ruined the holidays and longer for multiple families by pushing through when really sick. Bah bloody humbug!
church or anything religious
stopped sending Christmas cards, but kids give to their friends in school and we’ll do a card with whoever we give a present to, but we don’t send loads out anymore
get all the Christmas presents wrapped well enough in advance and there’s always a last minute panic

Christmas in Australia with young adult kids:

DO:

• real tree but you can’t get it too early or it is brown by Christmas Day
• Watch carols by candlelight on tv on Christmas Eve
• Glaze and bake a ham on Christmas Eve to have on Christmas Day and on toast for breakfast every day thereafter til everyone is sick of it.
• Christmas breakfast with our neighbours sitting outside on their deck. Buck’s Fizz essential.
• roast for lunch (to keep 90yo DM happy) with the aircon on so we don’t melt. Accompanied by lots of salads.
• kids in the pool after lunch while adults digest.
• evening board games. Sometimes another swim.
• stand in long queue at bottle shop on Christmas Eve as all pubs closed on Christmas Day.

DON’T:

• Matching pyjamas or clothing of any type
• christmas jumpers (obviously)
• Christmas Eve box
• elf on shelf
• go to church
• pantomimes (not a thing here)
• mulled wine (we have that in July)
• seafood Christmas (very popular here but DM a traditionalist and I’m allergic)
• Kings Speech (DH is English but we always forget)
• beach Christmas (sounds good in theory but crowded with backpackers and sand in food not nice)
• Anything that could be described as ‘cosy’

Tree up mid-December, the day after DS’s birthday.
New tree decoration every year.
Homemade mince pies and gingerbread biscuits constantly available during December (but not any earlier).
Watch Muppets Christmas Carol on Christmas Eve.
Stocking for DS
I read Night before Christmas to DS and tuck him in the bed. Even though he is now mid-teens he still wants me to as we have always done it.

Christmas Eve box contains stocking, Night before Christmas book, small toy mouse (to match the book), and Muppets Christmas Carol DVD (all reused each year and stored in the box so don’t get lost). I add new non—Christmassy PJs. Used to also contain a sleepy bath bomb, as a cunning way to get DS to want to go to bed. He is too old now.

@TwoLeftSocksWithHoles that sounds absolutely hilarious. I wish I was near you to see it but from your details I’m sure I’m not.

I don’t think we have many traditions. Not religious and kids are adults now.

December is taken up with husband being Santa. I check over his costume do repairs and launder as needed. Help husband into his costume, don’t ask me why a grown arse man needs help for this . Think he gets a bit theatrical about his role. He goes out on the charity sleigh and is driven round the streets and does the Tesco collection. All for local charities. Spoiler there are several ‘Santa’s’ on the team. He is 60 now, still the youngest Santa , it’s a role he’s grown into 😂

Locally there is a fruit farm that has a Xmas theme trail and they put a nativity scene in one of the sheds. We go every year to look at some point not a set day.

Adult kids still like a stocking with gifts of new make up chocolate and sweets

cook the Turkey Christmas Eve. Have a turkey dinner 2 days running and then it’s all gone.

Carols from King’s on Christmas Eve is a must for me.

Always a real tree, but not before about mid December.
Homemade mince pies (nicer anyway!) but none before 1st December
Father Christmas visits everyone staying in our house on Christmas Eve, regardless of age.

A traditional 🎄dinner, but not before around 5 or 6 - less of a rush for the cook.

Dds grew up well before Chr. Eve boxes or Elf on the Shelf were a thing, thank goodness.

No Christmas pyjamas or adult 🎄bedding, but I will confess to having bought a 🎅🏻 duvet set for the double bed the Gdcs share.

We don't do elf on the shelf or Xmas eve boxes

We do Xmas eve pyjamas
Side of salmon as Xmas eve dinner.
Xmas decs and tree up first weekend of December.
Panto and Xmas light trial.
Also go up to London to look at shop windows and Xmas lights.
Reusuable advent calendars we've had since DC were very small also come out every year.

What we used to do when DC were younger.
Letters to father Christmas up the chimney
Mince pie and drink for Father Christmas and carrots for reindeer.

What I'd like to add is seeing the Xmas carol at the old vic,
saw it last year as a treat and it was magical.
But can't really afford to do it this year.

We make Christmas bark every year, each person decorates their tray in their own design and we have stacks of sweets, chocolates, sprinkles etc.
DS and DD are now 18 and 20 but we still do it!
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/reindeer-snowman-bark

DH and I have no kids so are quite shit with Christmas. We don't bother with a tree or decorations or anything. Some years we buy each other gifts, some not. If we have xmas day together without seeing family which happens some years we always have a steak sandwich. So I guess that's our tradition.

Going to at least one Christmas Tree festival at a church within ten miles away.

I’m not sure all parts of the UK do this. Churches allow individuals, families, community groups (Scouts, WI) and local businesses (pubs, solicitors) to decorate a tree. They don’t have to use a tree. One tree was cut from a pallet board. They decorate it with anything. Majority base on a theme such as snowmen, baking, tv shows. Churches around here have 40-65 trees, depending on the size of the church. Entrance is £3-£5. The church hall usually has tombola, raffle, a couple of craft stalls etc.

I take a photo of the kids in front of the tree, with last year’s photo in a frame somewhere in the photo behind them. This will be the 10th year and the previous years photos are in a dedicated physical photo album. Probably the only original idea I’ve ever had in my life (and it’s definitely been done before somewhere in the world, I just haven’t seen it and thought of it myself!)

Also last year we gave the kids £20 each and they had to buy their siblings Xmas presents each on the high street. There’s 3 of them, so £10 per child per sibling. They got some amazing things and the presents were pretty much favourites across the board, they loved buying for and receiving from their siblings. Found stuff in charity shops (mini pool table has been played with all year), smiths, the works, Waterstones etc. Novel to buy in person and just see what’s there nowadays. Nice to see what they knew their siblings would like. DH took a kid or 2 and I took the other 1 or 2 and then we swapped so no one saw what was bought for them. That’s definitely a new tradition!

We have my brothers over on the Saturday evening before Christmas for games, drinks and food! Then on Christmas Eve we always play boardgames and order a pizza for about 6pm!
Christmas Day we do the usual food, games, TV, family etc and then on Boxing Day I get up early (because I always do anyway) and have a cup of tea and two mince pies at about 7am! It just feels really naughty eating them that early in the morning! To be fair, I'm normally up at around 5am, so it is already 2 hours into my day!
I bloody love Christmas and annoy my family massively by starting to get it organised in September!

We have our Xmas dinner on Xmas eve with family over. Xmas day I plate up another Xmas dinner and chuck it in the micro!
No Xmas eve boxes
No elf on the shelf

The lead up to Xmas is spent having winter walks in the woods collecting holly
Xmas movies
Xmas kitchen discos
We try to bake something over Xmas. Whether it's Xmas cookies or a Yule log.

Can I ask where you’re seeing the nutcracker? Would love to take DD.

We do chocolate advent calendars, and also the elf (resisted, but DC begged, so I gave in). We don’t do Xmas PJs or Xmas Eve boxes.

Our local community has a Santa parade in early December, which we attend or sometimes even participate in. My DC also perform in our church’s nativity play.

On the day, we have a big Xmas lunch. There is always a Xmas ham, variety of salads, and a pavlova (we live in NZ). Kiwi tradition is to cook a huge ham and the eat it for every second meal for the next 3 weeks! 😄

We do chocolate advent calendars here, absolutely no problem elf on the shelf, tried it, the kids hated it.
we don’t do Christmas Eve boxes but we do give Christmas pyjamas on Christmas Eve. When the children were little we used to give them a new dvd or book on Christmas Eve, just to take the edge off.

Two of the boys are autistic so we keep Christmas just for the family now, very low key, tree doesn’t usually go up until school term finishes but I won’t let them take it down until 12th night 🤣

Absolutely not queen/kings speech.
Die Hard IS a Christmas movie

Its this 😊

https://lets-all-dance.co.uk/pf/the-nutcracker/