What Christmas or Christmas Eve traditions do you have?


 
S

Seth Boardman

TVWBB Fan
So I was looking for some ideas for Christmas or Christmas Eve traditions. My side of the family has always done Christmas on Christmas Eve since I was born. Then Christmas morning we go to my wife's side and have cinnamon rolls before we open presents.
 
We always get together on Christmas Eve for dinner and gifts. Christmas morning is usually nice and quiet around here. Just wife and I. Wife always has a big cinnamon roll, and in a nod to the Jewish half in my family I have a bagel with lox and cream cheese.
 
for 5-6 years they would make me go eat Chinese on Christmas day, always hated that, like the home cooked meals better, the eve lots of snacks and maybe 1 present to open but with covic no big get togethers this year
 
Champagne and oyster stew after midnight Mass! My late brother and I would do that with our parents for years.
Since they are all “gone” now. My wife and I open our presents for each other (sometimes) and enjoy some late night snacks and champagne. I need to clean the fireplace this week in anticipation of an all day fire on Christmas.
 
Tony-Chicago said:
Make delicious food. Make food you are famous for. Make outrageous food. Make once a year food. Drop off at friends houses. Leave it as a surprise. Stay safe. Video chat later. Show the love.
Click to expand...
Breat idea! I like the idee of dropping of food at a friends house as a surprise. Some simple sMoked cheese or Chex mix on the smoker can certainly make someone day brighter.
Tim
 
Tony-Chicago said:
Make delicious food. Make food you are famous for. Make outrageous food. Make once a year food. Drop off at friends houses. Leave it as a surprise. Stay safe. Video chat later. Show the love.
Click to expand...
My Wife always makes her Lasagna and or lasagna roll ups. She usually does 10-15 trays for family and friends.
This year we will do the ding dong ditch routine.;)
 
Bacon Wrapped filets done on the Weber w/ a Pinot reduction. Twice Baked Potatoes from scratch. Green beans w/ garlic and tomatoes. Miller Lite for me, the rest of the Pinot for my wife and our 2 girls get sparkling grape juice. Homemade coconut macaroons for dessert.

And we deliver cookie trays around the neighborhood earlier in the day.
 
Christmas Eve has always been at my in-laws house. There's a big spread of food that includes six racks of spareribs that I have been smoking up for the occasion since my wife and I got married 23 years ago. We go caroling through the neighborhood as a group, then back to the house to eat and drink a bit more. Once the guests (non-family) have departed, the family opens presents.

Christmas morning has always been at our house, and my sister brings her ridiculously good coffee cake, which we serve alongside a mountain of scrambled eggs and some homemade bacon and sausage. Then we all open gifts to help ease the food coma. As soon as gifts are done, I start preparation of the standing rib roast (a tradition I took over from my dad about 11 years ago), and then we usually go for a family hike in the afternoon (weather permitting) before the whole family descends on our place for dinner (anywhere from 12-20 people.)

Obviously, this year will be quite different, but we look forward to restarting next year.

My parents tradition when I was a kid was their annual Xmas ornament exchange party. Everyone who came to the party brought a home-made ornament with them. Each ornament was given a tag with a number, and a similar tag when into "the hat". After lots of time to feast on the spread my mom put out, we would gather everyone in the living room to sing Christmas carols (mom played the piano.) After carols, we would draw numbers out of a hat, starting with the youngest person in the room all the way through to the oldest to see who got which ornaments. There were always a few coveted ornaments that someone made every year (wood soldiers, balsa wood angels, stained glass, etc) by some very talented friends. ....other ornaments were, um, less sophisticated! :) I've always wanted to start that tradition back up again, but just haven't gotten off my duff to do it. It's a fun one, though!

R
 
When our kids were younger we would drive around the neighborhood's on Christmas eve when it got dark and look at all the Christmas lights the kids would bundle up and ride in the back of my pickup. Then when we got home we would make homemade pizza bread each would make their own with the toppings that they liked.
Another tradition we had when I was young was to go to my aunt and uncles house. My uncle was from Norway and celebrated Christmas with a bottle of Akvavit. Akvavit is a distilled spirit that is principally produced in Scandinavia, where it has been produced since the 15th century. Akvavit is distilled from grain and potatoes, and is flavored with a variety of herbs. When I got old enough he let me try it tasted like kerosene with herbs.

But to this day we still do it in our family our three kids do it also and yes they are of age the youngest being 43. If like this year we won't be together but we all get on a conference call and toast each other. Barb loves the stuff I still say it's kerosene with herbs.
Barb and I and the kids with their family's still make pizza bread on Christmas eve also.
 
Last edited:
We used to do the “Oooh tour” with the grandchildren, now that they are teenagers they don’t seem to care as much, I think I will have my wife bundle up and take her on one this weekend!
 
We always have appetizers and hors d’oeuvres at 5:30, stop for Church at 7:00 and finish them off after. Always open one gift each before bed. I make what you might call a cake for Christmas breakfast. It is made from small balls of sweet roll dough layered in an angel food cake pan with cinnamon and cherries.

641D26EE-C5F1-4FC5-AE0B-DFEA7EEA68B4.jpeg

And my trusty reindeer helper!

15F4D1C6-4987-44C2-9399-A1AD28FB32E0.jpeg
 
Duck hunting on christmas eve.....fried oyster sandwiches for lunch......midnight mass when i grew up.

Son and I , and my brother still eat fried oyster sandwiches.

We have big christmas mornings....huge.

Theres been years where couldnt even get into living toom , floor totally covered with gifts when kids were smaller. (And their gifts cheaper too).

Kids could never really tell friends what they got, because got so much more than most of them. They learned to avoid answering the question.
 
Last edited:
Richard in NS said:
We always have appetizers and hors d’oeuvres at 5:30, stop for Church at 7:00 and finish them off after. Always open one gift each before bed. I make what you might call a cake for Christmas breakfast. It is made from small balls of sweet roll dough layered in an angel food cake pan with cinnamon and cherries.

View attachment 19608

And my trusty reindeer helper!

View attachment 19609
Click to expand...
This reminds me of monkey bread. Is it similar to that?
 
We try to adhere to the custom of feast of 7 fishes but this year there will only be 4 or 5. :( One of my kids has been so frightened by all this stuff (she truly thinks if she ventures beyond their house she will die) so I have not seen her since last New Year's Day, the other daughter she's shacked up and knocked up with the biggest AHole I have ever met, not sure if I will even get to see my little buddy (grandson), Anyway for reasons beyond the virus it's a pretty depressing time for yours truly.
 
Richard in NS said:
We always have appetizers and hors d’oeuvres at 5:30, stop for Church at 7:00 and finish them off after. Always open one gift each before bed. I make what you might call a cake for Christmas breakfast. It is made from small balls of sweet roll dough layered in an angel food cake pan with cinnamon and cherries.

View attachment 19608

And my trusty reindeer helper!

View attachment 19609
Click to expand...
pretty dang cute helper there!!
 
LMichaels said:
We try to adhere to the custom of feast of 7 fishes but this year there will only be 4 or 5. :( One of my kids has been so frightened by all this stuff (she truly thinks if she ventures beyond their house she will die) so I have not seen her since last New Year's Day, the other daughter she's shacked up and knocked up with the biggest AHole I have ever met, not sure if I will even get to see my little buddy (grandson), Anyway for reasons beyond the virus it's a pretty depressing time for yours truly.
Click to expand...
Hang in there buddy. I know you have heard it before, this can be a very stressful and depressing time of year even at the best of times. But throw in a pandemic and a very contentious election year and you got an emotional perfect storm. A person would have to be a robot not to feel it in some degree. Things WILL get better! Stay healthy my friend
 
Seth Boardman said:
This reminds me of monkey bread. Is it similar to that?
Click to expand...
Seth, it is not monkey bread as it is not that sweet a dough but sweeter than a dinner roll. It does have the cinnamon like it. The cloverleaf rolls in the second pic are made from the same dough. It does have eggs in it which keeps the crust on the outside soft and gives it a finer texture.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top