What are your personal traditions?

[WigglePuppy]

What are the traditions that you solely do for yourself every Christmas?

For me, every November I watch as many Hallmark style Christmas films possible. I don't seem to watch them as much in December, it has become a November tradition in the run up to the main month 😂.

Also, at work I only allow myself Christmas songs on every Friday from the end of Nov onwards until at least two weeks before we go on annual leave. Then it is Christmas songs all day 🤣.

Now I sound weird lol!

Over to you guys 🎅🏻

I’m going to sound weirder. If I’m off at lunch time on Christmas Eve when DH is at work, I light candles, fill the bath with bubbles, make myself a bacon sandwich and eat it in the bath with a book. I rarely eat them the rest of the year, and definitely not in the bath, but they just seem to taste better this way.

And I have to have fresh bedding on Christmas Eve. There’s nothing nicer than being freshly showered (after the bacon sandwich, obviously), hair washed and blow dried, freshly washed pyjamas and clean bedding.

And I like limeade with Christmas dinner. Again, I never drink it any other time of year, but it feels wrong if I don’t have it.

And then there’s the copy of the Radio Times and TV times. I know they’re identical, but I have to have both (not wasted, one always goes to my mum after I’ve read it).

I do, obviously, have fresh bedding and showers the rest of the year too, it’s just that I have to make sure they’re clean on that day!

I have every version of A Christmas Carol saved on planner and I binge watch them from 1st December to Christmas Eve.

@peachescariad

I have every version of A Christmas Carol saved on planner and I binge watch them from 1st December to Christmas Eve.

Ooh, us too! Isn’t it lovely? We watched the 1938 version with Reginald Owen yesterday, it was so nice.

@Sn0tnose

I’m going to sound weirder. If I’m off at lunch time on Christmas Eve when DH is at work, I light candles, fill the bath with bubbles, make myself a bacon sandwich and eat it in the bath with a book. I rarely eat them the rest of the year, and definitely not in the bath, but they just seem to taste better this way.

And I have to have fresh bedding on Christmas Eve. There’s nothing nicer than being freshly showered (after the bacon sandwich, obviously), hair washed and blow dried, freshly washed pyjamas and clean bedding.

And I like limeade with Christmas dinner. Again, I never drink it any other time of year, but it feels wrong if I don’t have it.

And then there’s the copy of the Radio Times and TV times. I know they’re identical, but I have to have both (not wasted, one always goes to my mum after I’ve read it).

Oh I do the fresh bedding too! It just feels WRONG otherwise

@Sn0tnose I love yours!

I listen to Christmas music when I'm by myself from 1 November onwards.

We're not American but we like to mark Thanksgiving with a turkey dinner and I put all the decorations up that weekend.

Through December we start watching our top 4 Christmas films over the weekends. (We often have specific drinks/snacks which go with that particular film.)

I watch all the Christmas specials of my favourite TV programmes through December.

I finish all my Christmas shopping by early November so that in December the only thing I have left to buy is something nice for myself and I have the whole month to browse for it.

one of our traditions was created by accident really

When my 3 kids were babies/toddlers in order to not have to drag 3 small children to the hell that is supermarkets at Christmas i used to get up and go at 5:50am. When DD {middle child} was 4 she asked if she couuld come with me. I explained it would be really early and that i would wake her once {gently} but if she went back to sleep i would leave her be. to my surprise she jumped out of bed and came with me. She sat in the trolley and we got all the yummy xmas food then ogot macdonalds breakfast on the way back. We have done it most years since {she's 13 now}. on the odd year we have gone to stay with family for christmas she says how she misses our traditional supermarket trip!

DH and I have scallops and chips on Christmas Eve for dinner after DDs have gone to bed. Last year I got the frozen scallops in a champagne sauce from Aldi and they were lovely so I'll probably do that again. The meal must be washed down with champagne. It's a little moment of calm and a treat for DH and I before the chaos of Christmas Day.

www.amazon.co.uk/Bleak-Midwinter-Christmas-Christina-Rossetti/dp/1786221624/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=rachel+mann&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1636390287&sr=8-9

I have started using this lovely book during Advent as part of preparations for Christmas- there's a Christina Rossetti poem for each day which the writer then reflects on. Would really recommend it to any poetry-loving MNer looking for a spiritual resource for Advent- it's explicitly Christian but I don't think you'd have to be a Christian to get something out of it.

We always cook the ham on Christmas Eve. The smell of that with all the spices and the orange is the smell of Christmas to me and reminds me instantly of Mam.

I always have a candle lit on Christmas Eve (so Father Christmas knows we’re in ) and I try and make sure I’m home from at least lunch time on Christmas Eve. I’ve spent too many Christmas eve’s in someone else’s house and I really don’t like it.

Not really a tradition but I tend to wrap in little bursts throughout November/December just to give me a little Christmas boost. I’m usually 90% done by the time the decs are up.

I also start rewatching the vicar of dibley at some point near the start of November abs start working my way through til Christmas. Although it’s not Christmassy, it always makes me feel content and cosy and that’s good enough for me!

Totally agree with DoB!

We always watch Gavin and Stacey from start to finish and light Christmas Eve (Yankee) on Christmas Eve.

Have a friend I always meet up with in November. We often don’t actually manage to see each other one Nov to the next, making do with phone calls in between. But one midweek lunchtime in November we split the driving distance and meet up for a long pre-Christmas lunch and proper catch up. It always launches Advent for me.

I then schedule a day at some point, book after school care for the children, and take off for a long day. Aim to break the back of Christmas shopping, sometimes go somewhere with a Christmas market, have a lovely solo meal somewhere, and generally wander around enjoying twinkly Christmas lights and decorations. Some years I leave at the crack of dawn and make it a massive day. Other years I start it off with a lovely long bath barely have time for anything but lunch and some aimless wandering. But either way, it happens at some point.

Christmassy trashy reading and something more meaningful too.

And then finally there’s that one magic moment when all children are in bed and asleep, stockings are stuffed, presents are wrapped. Clothes are laid out for the morning, and it is late, so very late.

I know we will have an early start, and that I should be in bed. But instead I burn the remaining christingle candles down to their orange centres, filling the house with orange and clove and warmth and light. And I pour a large glass of Baileys, and just breathe in the silence and the anticipation, and take a moment to travel back in time.

Great thread! I’m getting ideas here 😁

DH and I are big sitcom fans and watch Christmas specials every day of Advent.

I get all my Christmas present shopping done before December so I can have the whole of Advent to enjoy the build-up and do fun things with my kids - just basically to enjoy the magic! I wrap in December because that feels like part of the build up. I also listen to carols a lot when I’m on my own from November onwards; I find them really peaceful and centring.

@SilenceOfThePrams

Have a friend I always meet up with in November. We often don’t actually manage to see each other one Nov to the next, making do with phone calls in between. But one midweek lunchtime in November we split the driving distance and meet up for a long pre-Christmas lunch and proper catch up. It always launches Advent for me.

I then schedule a day at some point, book after school care for the children, and take off for a long day. Aim to break the back of Christmas shopping, sometimes go somewhere with a Christmas market, have a lovely solo meal somewhere, and generally wander around enjoying twinkly Christmas lights and decorations. Some years I leave at the crack of dawn and make it a massive day. Other years I start it off with a lovely long bath barely have time for anything but lunch and some aimless wandering. But either way, it happens at some point.

Christmassy trashy reading and something more meaningful too.

And then finally there’s that one magic moment when all children are in bed and asleep, stockings are stuffed, presents are wrapped. Clothes are laid out for the morning, and it is late, so very late.

I know we will have an early start, and that I should be in bed. But instead I burn the remaining christingle candles down to their orange centres, filling the house with orange and clove and warmth and light. And I pour a large glass of Baileys, and just breathe in the silence and the anticipation, and take a moment to travel back in time.

I adore this. That moment of calm before the storm. It still feels so magical even as an adult.

Another thing I remember is if we venture outside on Christmas Eve/Day I always try to focus on his magical the air feels to me. One year I didn't feel it and it was very disappointing

It's lovely reading about other people's traditions.

The first time I start wrapping gifts or writing cards I have to do it on my own whilst watching Miracle on 34th Street, it then feels like Christmas has started. I have to do it on my own and have mince pies or chocolates to eat.

Homemade snowballs. Yum!

@JumperandJacket, I have just dug my copy of that book out from my Christmas box. It's part of my Advent, too.

I have a wrapping evening in December. All Christmas lights must be on, I drink rum, have cheese, crackers and chutney to snack on and watch Christmas films while wrapping all presents.
The first film must be Muppets Christmas Carol. Every year I worry I won't feel it, but when Kermit starts singing 'only one more sleep til Christmas' I go right back to being 8 and watching it with my sister.
Sometimes she watches it at the same time and we call each other / send each other pictures and stuff.

I read A Christmas Carol and The Xmas Factor every December.

Our local town usually has late night shopping on a Thursday for the 6 weeks before Christmas. I like to go once, sometimes with a friend / my sister / mum, sometimes on my own.
Its never to buy anything, it's to enjoy the lights being on when it's dark, the cold and a hot chocolate is a must.

One very specific thing I've done since I was a teen. When home alone, I put the tree lights on only and spend some time just thinking, about christmases over the years, people I miss, people I'm glad I still have etc. Can be 5 mins, can be an hour. Started when I lost a friend suddenly in September when I was 15, followed by losing my grandad a few weeks later.

@DaisyWaldron It's a great book, isn't it? It's lovely to think of other people across the country doing the same thing.

We cut our own tree. We started this tradition when my husband was alive but after he passed away we moved to a place that didn't do it but we're back in London now! I was trying to remember the name of the farm and just as well I googled it as due to demand you have to prebook your slot! I also make my own wreath at a local workshop - booked for December 1 this year.

Just reread you 'just for yourself bit'. Well I think all of Christmas brings me such joy that I include everything.

Normally I collect my DM and DBro and drop them home again on Christmas night as neither drive. My brother stays near the beach so I drop my mum home first then my brother and I have a drive along past the beach and sometimes a little walk on the sand. I love it, it's cold but refreshing after the chaos of the day. Nobody knows I do this and they are very grateful for their lift, DP has offered so I can have a drink with my meal but I refused, it's almost the best part of the day

I get up very very early on Christmas morning, light the fire and have a cup of tea, just me and the tree lights. Years and years ago my mum made me a velvet dressing gown and this is the only morning of the year I wear it.

On the 1st December my DC come down in the morning to some decorations and a 'Christmas Breakfast'. I decorate the table, prop their advent calendars at their places and give them things like star shaped toast or Christmas tree crumpets. This year I think I'll do Snowman pancakes. We also have mini mince pies and gingerbread men. I also get the basket down with all the Christmas books.

@CrazyBaubles - I love Muppet's Christmas Carol too - we watch it every Christmas Eve. When 'only one more sleep til Christmas' ends I usually have a little tear in my eye!