What are your favourite Christmas traditions?

[Underthehills]

DS is 5 this Christmas. We also have DD who will be one in January. For the first time this year we are free to create our own joyful and happy traditions, after Covid and several years of an incredibly difficult relative dominating proceedings. So - what makes you happy at Christmas? Where do you go? What do you do? What are your Christmas Eve traditions? Stay at home joys? Games? Big things and small things - just whatever makes your Christmas glow 🎅 🎄

What a lovely thread!
We go ice skating between Christmas and New Year.
Food plays a big part - what we eat on which days.
Watching the kids find their gift from Santa is just too magical for words.
We collect the kids from school on the nearest day we can to 1st December and collect the tree on the way home. DH carries it home on his back and we Decorate it that evening. DD always puts the star on top.

Love this!!
We book to visit Santa and one or two other local Christmas themed activities. We also go for a walk when dark to look at all the Christmas lights. Usually a Sunday spent baking and decorating goodies. Watching Christmas films in our pjs snuggled on the sofa.
Following this thread for more ideas

Angarrck Christmas lights are a must do tradition for us. And we always have to visit a National Trust or two, cotehele does Christmas well with the big garland. Most years we do either lunch or a coffee and cake at the headland hotel which just epitomises Christmas.

@sittingonacornflake OMG Cotehele at Christmas 😍🤩😍🤩😍🤩 Oh if only we were close enough!

We visit our City Centre about a week before Christmas to look at the Christmas lights at the night time. We then go to a lovely hotel for food and drinks and get pictures in front of the hotels beautiful Chriatmas tree.

Christmas Eve we stay at home and clean the house whilst listening to Christmas Carols. We order a takeaway, shower,new pj's and watch Santa Claus The Movie.

On the 27th we always go go a country hotel for two nights.

@Underthehills it is lovely! National trust places just do Christmas so well don't they. Must be all the sense of tradition.

Oh how lovely!

Our traditions are:

Watching Harry Potter films from November
We have a nice meal on winter solstice (21st) the pretty much have 'cheese week' until Christmas... basically cheese and crackers, chutneys and fruit for tea most days. Christmas eve we often see my family (take turns hosting) and have german food such as bratwurst etc and exchange gifts.

On Christmas day we stay at home. Try and have a salmon and cream cheese bagel and coffee somehow! Then slowly cook Christmas dinner, for the evening. I always watch The Snowman and Father Christmas, DH always has a nap!
Then on boxing day my stepdaughter will join us and have her stocking and presents, and the 3 girls will exchange their little gifts between themselves (which I actually buy so far is as they are small!)

We like to go for a walk around the local area at some point around Christmas, to see lights.

We have candles out a lot in winter.

I am feeling really sentimental now!

Didn't realise we had so many until my DS1 19 and I were chatting about it earlier this month.
He said how he has lovely memories of past Christmas's
Warmed my heart a bit as my boys are well past the "believing" stage.
Christmas bedding put on 1st December
Christmas tree always put up 1st Friday of December,always had the old magic type songs on like Cliff Richard,Shaking Stevens,Paul McCartney etc
Let the boys decorate it then when they were in bed took it all off and redid it,couldn't stand 2 baubles on one branch lol
They took a turn each year to put the star/fairy on top.
All presents from Father Christmas were wrapped in the same paper/different design for each child.
We have always gone a bit overboard with presents,even when we couldn't afford to buy for each other the kids got alot.
Always left a carrot and mince pie out.
Took them to see Santa,usually at the local farm with real reindeer or to the Snowdome for tobogganing and hot chocolate.
Christmas Eve was baking,putting together gingerbread house etc to work off the excitement.
Christmas day evening we always had a new board game to play with the family.
We have gone to the panto matinee every New year's eve then TGI Fridays for 14 years! My DS1 may go clubbing afterwards this year but still wants to go.
Feel blessed we have these memories,especially as we have lost some family members.

I love this thread. My DS is only 2 and we have one on the way but this is the first year I've been thinking about which traditions to introduce. DH is German and I'm British so we will be mixing things up a bit!

When mine were little we always went to Oxford Street and walked along to Regent Street to see the lights .
Then walked to Hamleys and had a Count The Hamleys Bags Competition.
Then a browse inside .

M&S or John Lewis for hot chocolate/coffee

On NYE we went 10 Pin Bowling then either McDonalds or Wetherspoons

There's the local lights switch on ( I don't know if they;ll do it this year )

Christmas Eve was a trip out after lunch to feed geese or reindeer , mainly to get them out for a walk wrapped up well .
Home to the Christmas Eve Hamper and a quiet evening
We left two lines of small glass jars with tealights (LED ones , safer and don't blow out) to form a guide for the sleigh to land

DD had a tiny teaset (Ikea ) so she left tea and toast -we told her it was a magical teapot that kept hot . After Eights for the Elves and pistachio nuts for the reindeer .

Christmas Bedding is lovely , you can use a fleece top blanket if you don't want the whole set .

My DC are adults now so our Traditions are very different , usually involving food and lie-ins

Carol singing round the village with the church, a week before Christmas. Attending the Nativity service, with the roles acted by the Sunday school kids. My DD played Herod one memorable year! We often had a real baby for Jesus, if any of the village mums had given birth at the right time.
The Watchnight service, singing Silent Night as midnight strikes, then wishing all the parishioners Happy Christmas before walking home on frosted streets to open a stocking present before bed.
My DDs are in their 30s now, but still come home for Christmas, along with their partners. And I still make my chocolate log, iced with Nutella and filled with chestnut purée.

Ahhh & I still do it with DS who is 25 - so Christmas tree mid December and we decorate it together with Christmas music. Every year one new decoration - just lovely to get one out of the basket and say "do you remember this one "

Christmas morning I still do the wellingtons and talcum powder thing as if Father Christmas "has been" & I always write a note from Father Christmas

Other than that Christmas Eve pyjamas were never "a thing" when DS was young nor Christmas Eve boxes. So that we have never done

It was stockings , special Christmas Day breakfast ( we did smoked salmon and scrambled eggs ) & then opening presents from under the tree.

Then Lunch & then a film

This is a lovely thread! My dd is 25 now and still talks about the traditions we had when she was young! Ours were:
Doing the Christmas decorations trail in our village
Decorating the tree on the 1st Monday in December after school (I used to try and put Christmas music on whilst doing this but she never liked it and insisted on having Britney Spears on instead!)
Watching Christmas films and programmes in bed together with hot chocolate
Making a huge chocolate cake together on Christmas Eve
Making Christmas decorations and cards together on a Sunday afternoon

Due to a family connection to train travel we always had a Christmas train trip. Literally get on a train, eat picnic, get return train. Doesn’t sound much but it was a family event involving several generations and was always enjoyable.

Family and fun. It’s what Christmas is about.

We read twas the night before Christmas every Christmas Eve after sprinkling reindeer dust. My Dcs are now 11 &16 and we take turns reading a page each.
When they were younger we did advent books, I wrapped up 24 Christmas/winter themed books and read one each night.

Thanks for all of these, keep them coming. I’m compiling a list of my favourites ❤️

We have a Christmas tree sleep over. We put the tree up on the first Saturday in December. Then that night we all sleep in the living room with the tree lights on. We usually have a film and popcorn too.

Secret santa

We have a refillable fabric advent calendar, on Christmas eve we go for a (short) walk after dinner to look at the neighbours lights, then home for hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows, and on Boxing day we reheat the leftovers on the Raclette grill for lunch. Hoping to add more as the kids get older but those ones have stuck for a few years now.

For the last 9 years since me and my boyfriend have been together we’ve always stayed in a hotel on Xmas eve.

mostly in London.

we take our presents down to the hotel to open in the evening. Have a lovely meal/show/drinks the night before.
or pop into winter wonderland and do some last minute shopping!

we love it and it’s always so special

xmas day we check out and head to whoever’s family is hosting that year.

Our traditions have evolved as my boys have got older-now we do a Christmas Lights trail somewhere- Kew Gardens, or Wisley, or wherever takes our fancy. That's early December.

We organise a day to go to the Christmas tree farm to pick out our trees- sometimes we have two inside- last year we bought three, as ds1 had his own place.

One of my brothers has a Christmas Day early, where the whole family goes (bar 2 brothers). It's noisy and crowded and there's a lot of food and drink and we all love it. Last year everyone came home with bits of 100s of party poppers hanging off hair/clothes etc.

Christmas Eve, if ds2 is with his dad, ds1 and I go to Midnight Mass. If ds2 is with us we watch The Polar Express. In between Christmas and New Year ds1 and I watch all the Die Hards. When they were younger, I used to read The Night Before Christmas before bed.

Both boys still have stockings- they're 26 and 15- and a Lynx gift set is compulsory 😂I tried to substitute it with something nicer one year and there was mutiny...

Putting Christmas tree up involves Christmas music channel, mince pies and sausage rolls and maybe a sherry.

Xmas pjs and bedding

Always dress up for the day following stocking presents and breakfast. DH in a shirt and trousers, me and the DDs in Xmas dresses/party outfits. Would feel wrong being in jeans or pjs.

@pressurelikeadrip sherry! Is it Christmas at all without sherry?

Love this thread. Love Christmas!

I watch Love Actually while decorating the tree early December, and open a tin/tub of Roses.

I always cook my ham on Christmas Eve in Guinness and brown sugar with cloves. The smell of it cooking is the smell of Christmas to me and my family. (It was grandad’s special Irish recipe that’s been passed down) and brine the turkey (thanks Nigella!)

We always have new pyjamas for everyone on Christmas Eve, I’ve now started the (controversial to some) tradition of Christmas Eve boxes for my two. Usually containing their new pyjamas, hot chocolate, reindeer food, sweets and another little bit of something.

A meal out, on Christmas Eve Pizza Express has become the favourite.

Eat way too many Betty’s mince pies and stollen bites. (We’re in York so a visit to Betty’s is a must and it’s always really festive).

Leave a brandy, a carrot and a Betty’s mince pie out for Santa and his favourite reindeer.

I tried to substitute it with something nicer one year and there was mutiny ...

It's a tub of Lush Kalamazoo (beard conditioner) here , DS is very foot-stampy if it doesn't appear in his Dec 1st Bag