CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS - WHAT ARE YOURS?

[newmum953]

It is my daughter's first Christmas and our first Christmas as a family. I am looking forward to starting some new Christmas traditions for us as a family. I have started by buying some lovely Christmas decorations which hopefully I will use every year for our tree. So I wondered what are your favourite Christmas traditions?

We do the decoration for the tree, but they get to choose it themselves, so we go to garden centre with good display, they go for gaudy, dh tries to suggest something wooden, we end up in the middle somewhere, then they set all the music animal things off, while I hide and watch dh deal with irate shop workers. They will get to take the tat decorations with them for their first tree.

Have a magnetic nativity advent calendar which the elves fill with chocolate each night, one box at a time (after the chocolate masacre of 2008). We also get poundland choc advent calendars to save so many arguements about opening doors, they open their own each day and 1/3 days have a turn opening big one.

Also midnight mass, and Father Christmas brings stockings, big presents from us. Each year they choose 1 present either something of theirs or from shop to give to each other.Ds getting girls' old pirate ship this year which has been put away for few years, think he will love it.

Oh lots and lots here.

DC help me make the cakes and pudding in Nov.

Advent callender arrives from Grandma and they take it in turn to open a door each day.

Both DC perform at carol services as they are choristers. I take them out to dinner afterwards as a treat. Walking through the town with all the lights up in the dark is lovely.

The week before we buy two trees and then decorate them with all the baubles that we bring down from the attic. We wear a collection of Christmas hats while doing this and listen to Christmas CDs.
Then I take them shopping and they choose somehting for Daddy and Grandma.

On xmas eve Grandma arrives and brings new PJs. I cook a huge pork and we all eat sandwiches and watch a movie or three.

Now they're older I'm also including a day out in London with outdoor skating and lunch somewhere swanky. That will become our new radition.

We also have apattern, if not a tradition, for what we do between xmas and ny when all the guests have departed.

We get up and eat a cooked breakfast.
Go walking.
Come back for lunch and watch episodes of Miss Marple etc.
We can spend any numbe rof days in this blissful routine.

I really recommend setting up those traditions. They will remember them forever while they won't remember what present they got in 2011.
I did this and one of them was The Tree.
I have done this since the boys were tiny. We go out after dark to a garden centre and choose the tree. A large, real one. Then we cram it in the car and the boys have to travel home with branches in their ears. It always goes in the same corner.
This year we have a new kitten so I announced that I didn't think we could manage a tree.Or if we did it would have to go in the conservatory.
I might as well have said I was cancelling Christmas.
DS1 has declared that the usual tree in it's proper place is the only thing he wants for Christmas.
He is 16 in 3 weeks.

Oh bless him Secret :)

3duracell, I think I can guess, but what happened in the choc
Massacre 2008?