Christmas traditions - what and when?

[Moomin]

This will be dd's 2nd Christms, but obviously the 1st she'll really appreciate. Dh and I were talking to some friends the other week and they asked us what we'll do as our family traditions now and I'm a bit confused about stockings and pressies so thought I'd ask you lot!
Do you have a stocking in the children's bedroom with bits and bobs in and then bigger presents later? Do you all open presents together? Do you pretend your pressies are from Santa? Where do you put the big pressies and when do you open them?
Sorry to sound a bit thick but we didn't really have a set routine in our house when I grew up and I'd like to set up some traditions for dd. At the mo, all we do now is dh and I have bucks fizz and smoked salmon bagels downstairs in the morning while we open pressies from one another; family pressies come later when we get together, late morning/early afternoon.

Sine DH and I started living together about 8 years ago we have always spent Christmas Day on our own, and do all the visiting on other days. Since DD arrived some of our routines have changed, like the oub on Christmas Eve. Like yourself this is DD's 2nd Christmas and the first she is aware of properly - DD will be 20 months old; what about your DD?

Our routine is a bit like this:

Christmas Eve - may go to a children's carol service with grandparents (not very religious but used to do Midnight Mass); DD to bed whilst we put out pressie in lounge with a drink or two

Christmas morning - DH(!) not allowed up until 7:30am; he then makes a drink (used to be champagne, hopefully still will be or maybe a cup of tea ) then it is pressie time. If last year is anything to go by DD will be swamped and present opening takes allmorning - spaced on with time to play in between, and breakfast in there too. We open our presents then too.

Lunch - just the 3 of us, nice big dinner and pud, champagne and wine

Afternoon/Evening - vegging out, playing with new pressies, watching TV, more wine DD to bed around normal time

Boxing Day - in early afternoon my parents, DH's parents and his grandad and wife will come round to see DD and us, and for big buffet type tea.

When younger most of our presents were downstairs and we all opened them together on Christmas morning,; so did Dh and his family. We did used to go and visit inthe afternoons though but I remember not wanting to leave my new things and my dad having to drive - part of the reason we decided to be at home together instead.

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

can't talk about Xmas yet!

Forgot to add - yes, in this house we do believe in Father Christmas. Even at 18 months, if DD hears his name she will clearly tell you he is bringing her a baby. She fell in love with Baby Annabel in ELC, so about a month or so ago I said that is she was a good girl Father Christmas might bring her one - I hope he remembers 'cos she has

Don't really know how I'm going to feel about Xmas this year, as it's my first without either of my parents since my father died in July. Still, I always love Christmas and want it to be special for ds and dd. This year we will be going to in-laws which is great fun but much more formal than I would do on my own. So probably for family Xmas at home we would do stockings hung by fire/mantlepiece/back of sofa, everyone up to open stockings at sparrow's fart, then breakfast something a bit posh and yummy, then everyone dressed and ready for big presents (some from Santa and some from us). Then fat late lunch followed by reading/playing/watching presents. I'm sure I will be able to fit more food in there somewhere. Thank god dh cooks.

I like Nigella Lawson's idea that she always cooks the same muffins for Xmas as a tradition, my Mum used to cook Xmas cookies with dates which I will do as well (mine never taste the same though , so I guess FOOD is really our tradition!

I love Midnight Mass too (or 11.45pm communion as it seems to be now) and hopefully will do that with kids as they get older.

There's another thread somewhere about making up shoeboxes of presents and I would like to do something like that - maybe have ds and dd help me choose something to take to local Crisis shelter.

this wil be my dd's third Christmas. I imagine we'll all get up around 7 and dd will open her mountain of pressies with the video discreetly set up to get those reactions. Dp and i will open our pressies and then chill and play. As we moved into a big house last year everyone came to us for Christmas dinner so i cook!!!!! (For 8 adults and 3 toddlers!) It was great though and i think it'll be the same this year, then on Boxing day we all go to nanasWilbur, sorry to hear about your dad!

On Xmas eve ds1 leaves out biscuits for father xmas and carrots for the reindeer - the look on his face the next morning when he finds the biscuit crumbs and the carrot gone is worth the early start ! And this year as ds2 will be over 2 he'll be able to join in.

We have stockings for them from father Xmas which they open before breakfast. Then after breakfast we open the big presents.

Getting excited just thinking about it - just wish there wasn't all that shopping in between now and then

ooh Kayleigh i might do that this year with dd (the biscuit thing) as she'd love that! Do you think if i left her dummies for him she'd accept that?

angeliz we visited santa in our shopping centre grotto and offered up our dummies in exchange for pressies-it worked with both ds's

Bah humbug to Christmas!

i take a pair of wellies and dust talc aorund them the prints go all the way from the chimney and to their bedroom doors.They love it it's his magic dust on his foot prints.I always use different wrapping paper on the things father christmas brings so the don't catch on it's from us.Thay have their stockings in their bedroom and are allowed to open them as soon as they get up it give's us some extra time in bed.i can't have a lay in though due to being an excited big kid.

Angeliz, you could try the dummy thing as I have known other peoples children give their dummies to santa in exchange for a sackload of pressies. It didn't work for us however. Ds1 was all for it in theory, but when it came to it he just wasn't ready. Gave it up by himself eventually.

You can also leave Santa a nice glass of Baileys or whatever else you think might take his (your!)fancy

My children have always had stockings in their bedrooms ( these are what Father Christmas brought them). Presents from us and relations are put under the christmas tree and are opened later in the morning. They also put their christmas presents to us and each other there, we have always encouraged them to buy presents.
My 3 are now 16, 13 and 11 and don't believe in Father Christmas anymore but they still want stockings and love coming into our bedroom to show us what they have got.

I love it!!!
The night before we leave out mince pie, whiskey and a carrot and thank you letters to Father Christmas. Bedtime story is alwys the story of Jesus, I get emotional reading it. They have stockigns in their romm which are from Father Christmas, usually wake around 5, and charge into our room with the stockings. We go downstairs to find a halk eaten mince pie (if he ate all of tehm in every house he would get too fat!) Open all the pressies downstairs, have breakfast and go to church at 10.30, where we sing Happy birthday very loudly and sometimes have birthday cake! The children all take something that they have got for Christmas to church and they all go out to the front and show everyone. After church their Dad collects them at 1 and has them till 4, while i catch up on my shut eye adn start getting the meal ready. We eat at about 5.30, and we always have a small present for about a fiver for everyone who comes to eat which we give out inbetween main course and pudding. this year I am hoping to have 12 people sitting down for tea.
After tea collapse in a fat heap!!

will have a chat to dd nearer to the date about dummies.....thanks for advice Kayleigh and Loobie! I love the magic dust thing with the talc

This year we're having secret santa. There are over 20 of us at my parents on Xmas day, and I got fed up with the idea that everyone had to exchange pressies with everyone - apart from anything else it took all day! So this year everyone will buy just one present for the day itself. That also leaves us spare cash to buy something really nice for my mum & dad cos they've been really supportive to us this year.

So this year Xmas will midnight mass at home, driving the 1.5 hours to parents (usually takes 2.5 hours - I love driving on Xmas day), then huge lunch for 20+ which lasts most of the afternoon, and pressies and games. Lots of fun. Wouldn't want it at our house - I'd have to do something instead of sitting around drinking G&Ts!

I love the idea of the story before they go to bed. Our friends always read The Night Before Christmas to their son - and he's now 13 but loves it! I'm wondering about the story of Jesus... Dh and I aren't religious - we didn't get married in church and had a non-religious naming ceremony for dd. BUT I do think it's a bit hypocritical of us to "ignore" JC altogether - after all, it IS his birthday and we will be celebrating it as such! Do you think it's on for us to tell her the nativity story without us being religious? I have to say I do believe in a largely Christian ethos to life ("do unto others and love thy neighbour, etc) but am not keen on the details, IYKWIM. I also have no objection to dd being exposed to all kinds of religions and learning about a range of them and will support any choices she makes when/if she finds a belief. Sorry, rambling... Do you see what I mean?

DD will be very nearly four (birthday in January).This will be the first year she really will understand the preparations, even though we have been doing them all since the first year, mainly for my sake. We do the carrot for Rudolph, and whisky and mince pie for Santa (well actually Nigellas Christmas cupcakes, cos our Santa hates mince pies!). But the main thing I have carried on from my childhood is new Christmas pyjamas on Christmas eve. I still have such a warm memory about having a bath, everwhere clean and tidy, christmas lights everywhere and mum presenting us with our new 'jamas' for Santa. The other thing I took form a thread here last year was the flour and boots trick, which was great and will do again. Oh and someone else suggested leaving a present in the garden for them to find saying it had fallen off Santa's sleigh, which I think we might do too.

And there will be Christmas stories, cribs, advent calendars with Mary Joseph and Jesus, if I can find one! and Church on Christmas morning. Can't wait, off to buy Barbie Swan Lake.

Moomin - if we're talking about making Christmas magical for them, the nativity story is very magical and special, so I don't see why you shouldn't read that to your kids. Later you can explain that you think its just a story but that some people believe its true.

After all, if they ever ask why we 'do' Christmas, the nativity story is much nicer than saying "Christmas is all about eating a lot and buying lots of stuff"!

ahh I love this thread and I'm normally a bit of a bah humbug when it comes to discussing christmas before dec.

love the new jamas idea and also the present falling off the sleigh - ds is 2 and I really want to create habits and excitment around christmas.

also want to read 'The night before christmas' every year until he's old enough to be too drunk to listen!

Zerub, I agree, the nativity story is a lovely story anyway. In fact dd often asks for the 'Mary and Jesus' book at bedtime, probably because it involves a baby and lots of animals.

I love this thread too, but my dd is a bit to young at 15 months to understand about Santa, the nativity etc Still I will store up some of these suggestions and use them next year!

Message withdrawn

Ooh, I love christmas. We always buy dd1 lots of weird and wonderful little pressies to go in her stocking from Harpers Bazaar which is a fab catalogue with unusual and old fashioned stuff. And we use different wrapping paper for all the "santa" presents under the tree, and no tags. And we always watch the Queen, have done since I was about 4.

Had a look at Usborne books' Christmas selection this morning; they do a "lift-the-flap" nativity book which is very nice - quite simple but lovely pictures and the essential flaps. I think it would be good for those who want the nativity story because its a nice story. It did the whole Mary, Joseph, Shepherds, Angels, 3 wise men, Jesus in the manger bit but didn't once mention God, or anything about why Jesus was born.

Me, I'm off to my Christian bookshop for a toddler's Nativity story book, that says baby Jesus is God, King of the Universe, and came to do miracles and get everyone to be friends with God again!

But I realise that that isn't everyone's cup of tea - I think the Usborne book was lovely if you're just looking for a story book.

(trying hard not to offend anyone here )

Whitewater,

I too have new pyjamas for my ds on Christmas Eve I haven't heard of anybody else doing this until now. I love ds having his bath and getting into his new pyjamas, it is lovely.

We too have stockings and then open all the presents from Santa. We then go my sisters for lunch and have a lovely time there.

Last Christmas my son received a lovely book from my sister in law. It is called 'The Jolly Christmas Postman' by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. Would definately recommend it, it is reallynice. I am looking foward to reading it already.

My ds is 4 now so Christmas this year will be even better. Can't wait.