What traditions have you kept from your childhood and what have you changed?

Sn0tnose · 21/10/2021 10:30

Our tree is always a bit insane. Lots of coloured lights with the plastic flower bits around each bulb, tinsel, lametta, nothing matching or coordinated. My mum has given me a few bits from her tree that her mum gave her when we were children. Nothing beautiful like vintage glass, but some proper 70s style plastic baubles and a battered old robin that’s older than I am, but would be on my list of things to save in a fire. I’ve also got a silver coloured dish thing that nuts go in that came out every year when I was a child.

Presents stopped when I was about 13 or 14 but when I did get them I’d have them in a pillow case, and DH does mine for me like that now. It still fills me with that thrill you get as a child when you believe that Father Christmas has been.

We’re always up really early on Christmas Day, presents, aTerrys Chocolate orange for breakfast, then just a lovely relaxed, laidback day doing whatever we want to. It is utterly blissful.

Angel2702 · 21/10/2021 10:36

We have decorative only stockings that were made by a family friend with beautiful embroidery on for each child. They are hung on the fireplace as decorations. The stockings they hang Christmas Eve are hung at the end of their bed. This is the same as when I was young and all brought through to open on parents bed.

MollyVolley · 21/10/2021 11:08

We (myself and my brother) also were lucky to have stockings knitted for us by an auntie which look perfect to this day - we used to open our stockings just the two of us and wake our parents when we had done that. I still have the stockings & my kids have had them every year. Although we had them at the bottom of the bed which was in hindsight really stupid as we had to wait till they were asleep before filling them and I spent years getting about an hours sleep on Christmas Eve! They still open the stockings in our room in bed (12 & 14) and it is a lovely start to a very laid back day with just the 4 of us which we all really love

lazylinguist · 21/10/2021 11:17

Most things the same when we are with my side of the family. A bit different when we're with dh's. We never spend Christmas Day just us and the dc if we can help it, and we are often staying at our parents' or siblings' houses.

My side of the family puts stockings by the fireplace. Dc (now teens!) get them and come and open them in our room. Presents under the tree don't get opened until everyone is dressed for the day and has had breakfast. Presents opened in a leisurely fashion, one by one, taking turns, usually given out to each person by a child.

DownPuddleLane · 21/10/2021 13:37

My parents never saw our faces when we first spotted our stockings on Christmas morning as they would take 5-10mins to get up and sorted and me and my bro would just go through to the livingroom where the stockings were. We leave our DS stocking in the livingroom but I always go in the livingroom first to check Santa has been and then we watch him open his stocking. It's the main highlight of Christmas for us. He also gets a small stocking on his door with tiny things in it to open on our bed before we get up.

Obviously there was no Elf on the Shelf 😁 We do it for DS. We also do a Christmas Eve box which contains new pyjamas and goodies like a book and sweet set of some kind, last year was a Smores kit. We go on a Christmas eve walk around the houses to see the lights and leave out reindeer food on the doorstep. We didn't do any of that as kids. This year we are doing Christmas eve at our house so I think we'll get DS and his cousins outside in the evening to ring some bells for Santa.

We didn't have many traditions really as kids but always loved Christmas as it was.

Thecomfortador · 21/10/2021 14:12

We had stockings on our beds, so I have kept that, but I think ds1 is pretty attracted to the idea of stockings hanging by the fire. I like them coming in to our room, opening their stockings on our bed and then we all traipse downstairs.

My mum always had the family present opening around 10.30-11 am, very organised, I guess once she'd got the turkey in and whatnot and everyone had something sensible for breakfast. She would make a pan of mulled wine with fresh fruits, cinbamon and too much gin, none of this premixed bottle from Asda nonsense, and we sat in a circle while someone doled out the presents one by one and any one with a mulled wine would get slowly puddled. I quite like it that way but it's a losing battle with my kids, they're still young so it's a case of them ripping into everything when they come downstairs, then we're all done by about 8am . All encouraged by DP, so it's his tradition really.

Gingerkittykat · 21/10/2021 14:17

My grandma would make us sit down and watch the Queen's sppech, we don't do that anymore!

BeastOfBODMAS · 21/10/2021 14:22

When I was a child we left a mince pie and a barcardi and coke out for Santa

FC will require the more traditional glass of port in our house

HerRoyalWitchyness · 21/10/2021 14:28

We were allowed to open one present on Christmas eve, and it was always our PJs.
So I do the same for my kids. They get to unwrap brand new PJs every year.

We used to have stockings at the end of the bed too, but I don't do that with mine. Our stockings go on the fireplace.

HerRoyalWitchyness · 21/10/2021 14:29

When I was a child we left a mince pie and a barcardi and coke out for Santa

Santa gets left vodka and coke here with his mince pie

Marelle · 21/10/2021 14:43

My mum always did a stocking full of sweets. It was a ridiculous amount of sugar so I don’t do that for my own DC. I do stick to the tradition of new pyjamas for DC on Christmas Eve. We always used to have a pre-prepared buffet on Christmas Eve accompanied by cocktails, which I stick to because it means I’m not cooking and can enjoy the evening. We’ve ditched the tradition of watching the Queen’s Speech - just don’t give a shit what she has to say I’m afraid. Our new tradition is a bottle of chocolate red wine which I look forward to every year.

EmsArms · 21/10/2021 16:08

Reading everyone's comments on stockings is so interesting. As a child ours were always downstairs but we were never overly interested in them once we'd seen our presents. This year I'm going to do stockings upstairs and open them in our bed before going downstairs.

NaturalBlondeYeahRight · 21/10/2021 18:33

Funny reading these, my lovely parents just weren’t that in to Christmas. We got a stocking at end of bed I think (see I’m not even sure) and left a pie for FC but that’s about it. Since about 12 I’ve taken charge of any traditions as I’m the only one who is Christmas mad that they all have to follow now. I think my young adults will definitely take a lot of those with them given they like it all but my DNiece is just as bad as me and sends me all sorts of festive nonsense from the internet/TikTok that I totally encourage.

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UndertheCedartree · 21/10/2021 20:40

@DownPuddleLane - I totally agree I wouldn't miss the look on my DC's faces as they opened their stockings especially when younger and they believed Father Christmas had filled the stocking! I have a photo I love of my DD at 9 months on her first Christmas giving a sort of confused/curious look at her stocking with a little cuddly snowman peeking out the top!

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UndertheCedartree · 21/10/2021 20:51

@BeastOfBODMAS - I think we always left brandy out for FC. I don't have spirits in the house, though so he only gets a glass of milk from my DC!

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groundcontroltomajormum · 21/10/2021 23:12

I don't remember any traditions from when I was a child besides Christmas Eve mass. I don't do that with my dc now.
We do leave out treats for Father Christmas and the reindeer. Last year the dc left our carrots and some concoction full of glitter.

mam0918 · 22/10/2021 18:51

I have newly introduced Santa sacks (12 little £1 items from santa, usually classic toys like whistles, slinky, ball and cup etc...) and Befana stockings (stocking with toys in at the end of 12 days/on Epiphany eve).

I have kept the tradition of a room full of unwrapped presents, I loved it as a child and can't imagine Xmas without it but it seems to not be that common. I started telling DS1 that Santa brings the gifts we send him for this (as we had to sometimes buy things with him there) so the gifts are 'delivered by Santa' but paid for by 'mam and dad' (which helps explain why not all kids get the same too) lol.

Wrapped gifts go under the tree, I think we did have this as kids (gifts from family members) but the already open gifts were more of the BIG thing for us (that moment of walking into the room and seeing everything at once laid out ready to go) as kids. We wrap gifts from us and put them under the tree and all sit around to open them and I think for my kids opening gifts under the tree is the BIG 'Xmas day' thing.

Stockings weren't much of a thing as a kid, it was an orange, chocolate coins, nuts, and a selection box it was NOT from Santa and they hang downstairs on the livingroom doorhandle (would be fireplace but they never stay up)... we do stockings similar, mostly sweets with a few little novelties like keyrings, bubbles, stickers but its just tradition (tradition honoring St. Nick the real person) and nothing to do with Santa (the man that flys on magic reindeer).

Crackers are just crackers, we do them but I'm considering making my own from now on because they are getting crazy expensive, and it's ALWAYS the same stuff that no one ever uses.

Christmas eve boxes I got as a kid (well not in an actual box) it was PJs and an annual etc... I still do this with my kids and hate people declaring its 'new' its been around since just post WW2. My family that was born in the 50s and 60s all had Xmas eve 'boxes' and my mam handed down her childhood Xmas eve annuals to me as a kid.

I recently (like 2 years ago) started a 'beer' 12 days of xmas for my DH, every day is a different bottle of beer - it seems to be a hit.

I considered starting to do custom advent but honestly, I can't be arsed and think it will turn into a chore of buying tiny (has to fit in a little box) unnecessary things cheaply (with 24 they probably need to be like 50p or less or it will add up to loads) so the classic chocolate advent calenders you buy for £1 are staying as 'tradition' in this house lol.

Traditions I deliberately avoid... elf on the shelf, to be honest, I don't actually understand how it works but it sounds tiring so I don't want to start it and have to keep it up.

mam0918 · 22/10/2021 18:58

@UndertheCedartree

Inspired by the 'stockings for teens' thread where lots said they had kept the location of the stocking the same as when they were a child.

I used to have my stocking on my bed but I remember always seeing the image of stockings hung on the fireplace so that was what I wanted to do with my DC. My DB and I used to open our stockings in our rooms before going through to my parent's room. I take my DC downstairs when they wake to open their stockings. I have kept the tradition that the stockings are from Father Christmas and the presents under the tree are from friends and family.

When I was a child after opening our stockings we would go downstairs and open the presents under the tree. It was a bit of a frenzy of everyone opening their presents at once. I changed that with my DC as I like to see their faces when they open each of their presents. So after stockings we have breakfast and then we take it in turns to open a present from under the tree.

yeah that might be why wrapped presents are the big thing for my kids, its the first thing we do really and we all sit around and take it in turns each getting handed one gift to open then the next person. It still goes way too quickly but you get everyone's reaction and feels like a family activity.

When I was little it was sort of an afterthought after we played with the gifts already set up and we would just open them randomly by ourselves when we remembered with no one paying attention so it wasn't really 'special' feeling.

mam0918 · 22/10/2021 19:02

@DownPuddleLane

My parents never saw our faces when we first spotted our stockings on Christmas morning as they would take 5-10mins to get up and sorted and me and my bro would just go through to the livingroom where the stockings were. We leave our DS stocking in the livingroom but I always go in the livingroom first to check Santa has been and then we watch him open his stocking. It's the main highlight of Christmas for us. He also gets a small stocking on his door with tiny things in it to open on our bed before we get up.

Obviously there was no Elf on the Shelf 😁 We do it for DS. We also do a Christmas Eve box which contains new pyjamas and goodies like a book and sweet set of some kind, last year was a Smores kit. We go on a Christmas eve walk around the houses to see the lights and leave out reindeer food on the doorstep. We didn't do any of that as kids. This year we are doing Christmas eve at our house so I think we'll get DS and his cousins outside in the evening to ring some bells for Santa.

We didn't have many traditions really as kids but always loved Christmas as it was.

we have the rule that I have to go down first to see if santa has been... really its just to see their faces as the walk in the room, my mam did the same.

WowIlikereallyhateyou · 22/10/2021 19:07

I never had a stocking, but my mum made sure i was absolutely spoilt rotten though. I missed out on nothing,exept mr frosty,who was crap anyway when i finally got him!
I was thinking the other day,we never had crackers on the table,instead snowballs which had a gift etc inside them, they seemed quite posh. I have never seen them since the 80’s,anyone remember them?!

Cheeseycheeseycheesecheese · 22/10/2021 19:07

Ds is only 2 so was too young and then covid, but growing up dps and a couple aunts and uncles took me, db and our cousins to the panto on Christmas eve. Totally planning to do that next year (he wouldn't sit still long enough this year)

Puffinhead · 22/10/2021 22:08

We have stockings on bed too, same as I did. My mum says it was to keep us occupied (and her and my dad sleep) as my sister and I used to wake up ridiculously early.

When my DC were younger we’d hear them wake up and go through to their rooms and watch them but now they’re older they just get with themselves.

After years of nervous stocking filling and creeping about, I bought duplicate stockings and do a quick switch over which makes things a whole lot easier!

RAFHercules · 22/10/2021 23:06

My Dad liked to beat up my DMum on Christmas eve, so that's a tradition I was happy to lose.
Every year my heart goes out to the women and children trapped in abusive relationships.

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UndertheCedartree · 22/10/2021 23:54

@RAFHercules - oh, that's so sad, I'm sorry. It's true it's not a happy time for all - I've been through it myself.

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UndertheCedartree · 22/10/2021 23:56

@WowIlikereallyhateyou - we used to have the snowballs too!! I'd completely forgotten! Yes, I think they were quite posh!

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