Well its that time of year again and I was wondering what kind of traditional things people do for Christmas. Im not talking religious im talking activities. What does everybody do at this time of year?

I'll start first.

When we first moved up to Yellowknife we used to invite all the people who worked with my dad who didn't have family in the north for Christmas dinner. My mom would even get each person a little gift to open after the meal. To my dad family is the most important thing in the world. He taught me that not all people were lucky enough to have family to spend christmas with so this was a way we could give someone a sort of family so they were not alone. At first I didn't like having strangers around and then I noticed how happy it made the guys to have a family dinner. It was a small gesture that made a big impact. Now every Christmas I invite anyone I know alone for the holidays for a dinner as a tradition sort of now, and it still makes a difference.

anyone else?

That is so nice, Stixx! I try to teach my daughter it is about helping others and not being selfish. We try to do as many good deeds as possible and help as many people who are struggling in the snow. I make sure that all her old winter things are donated to a charity that does not sell them. There are many people who don't have enough money to buy their children coats and boots, so there is a charity that is called 'Coats for Kids' and I try to make sure that they get any outgrown winter clothing.

We used to do that when my daughter was in college...For some reason, some of her friends couldn't make it home and so they joined us....I loved it....A tradition that I have carried over from when I was a child, (now to my kids and their kids), was that on Christmas eve, the kids were allowed to bring all the gifts down and put them under the tree....This was in between, "well you have five and I only have 2" lol....Then on Christmas Eve, we would have a house full of family and friends with a good old Italian fish dinner..You name it, we had it, and we still continue this. Christmas morning is now spent at my daughter and her husband's house..Half asleep, we are all there with coffee in our hands, listening to the ooh's and aah's of the little ones...Once all the gifts are opened, there is breakfast with all of us in the kitchen, making our specialties...It's just family for our dinner on Christmas Day, then it's time to come home, put on my fat clothes lol, and watch some tv....I forgot, during Christmas week, the two shows that we all watch over and over are "A Christmas Story", what a classic, whatever "Christmas Carol" is on, and "Polar Express"...That's in between our baking cookies...I'm tired already...

well I can't do anyhting about the influence my daughters friends have and thats not gonna change. What any parent can do is try and provide good examples. Shame works too.

I'm not much on traditions anymore.....now I just keep it simple.

I have 5 siblings and we all live in various cities but not REALLY far away from each other..we decided that one evening around the holidays we would gather at one of our homes for a cocktail party and exchange gifts..just us..no friends and no kids. Just us and our spouses. We've been doing it for 25 years and although we certainly see each other many times during the year, it's our special time.

The big family get-together Chrimble dinner

Turkey and Chestnut Stuffing and Piglets (chipolata sausages in wrapped in bacon) and roast spuddlinks and roast parsnips and carrots and brussel sprouts and gravy and .. ohh... more spudlinks ? just the two... better have some more gravy to couterbalance... and cranberry sauce and christmas crackers and silly paper hats and Christmas Pudding with White Brandy Sauce and flurging out on the sofa to watch the Great Escape followed by a Bond movie and mince pies and another mince pie and .. oh, no, I couldn't possibly, oh as you insist munchmunchmunch another mince pie and falling asleep and being taken home in a wheelbarrow.

Meow PURR

Christmas eve with any of the immediate family that can come (I have one sister with family who lives quite far away). We eat cookies I baked, listen to some Christmas music, and exchange gifts.

We do a pre-Christmas clean out of all good toys and clothing that does not fit them that gets taken to a local charity shop. We also do wish tree gifts for kids (poor kid writes what he wants on a tag on the tree and we take the tag and go buy it for them). I wish I could do the soup kitchen Christmas dinner thing with my eldest son, but there is no way I could bring my younger (autistic), and no one to watch him then.

We used to do the whole Aunts and Uncles - massive turkey w/ trimmings - thing on Long Island every year, but no more. Now, its just me and the kids watching Christmas movies and eating leftovers.

i don't think the size of the gesture is important just that the effort is made. If everyone made just a small effort the world would be better and so would people in general.

DRINK and lots of it LOL ..but mostly i like a quiet christmas...I hate all that jumping in and out of peoples homes...Garys family hold this tradition every year...they hold a family party and take in turns and its all of his aunts and annoying uncles LOL its too crowded and all I wanna do is go home, sit in front of a fire ..watch tv and a handy bottle of wine next to me...great ...it beats hanging out in one of his aunts house listening to his foul mouthed uncle Norman who just gets on everyones nerves...and the rest of them just sit there looking at each other...

I look forward to xmas day...to watch Becky open her presents and have more fun with the gift wrapping paper LOL

uhhhh I don't know how this happened but I totally know what you are talking about BM. My wife drags me to all her family gatherings, her family is huge and most of them live close enough to tell us how to live. When I go they make it clear that I am not in their family. Im from Quebec and her family is from NFLD which is like oil and water. They act as if Im mentally handicapped because I wasn't born on the rock.

A traditional Australian christmas. We have a Seafood buffet for breakfast at my uncles (who has a pool) Along with a couple of beers. Then off to my maternal grandparents for a hot christmas lunch, roast pork with everything. With more prawns and beer.
Then we rest for a couple of hours, then its off to do the in-laws in the evening. Thankfully most of mine live interstate
Thats what we would usually do. But this year my mum and I who ALWAYS organise the family are on strike. Maybe a cold buffet (with lots of prawns and beer) at home in the air-conditioning. I refuse to this year cause I will be 36 weeks pregnant. I wouldnt subject my mum to all that cooking ny herself

I know what you mean too. I am also originally from Quebec (I now live in Alberta) and whenever relatives come they act like we are inbreed yokels for moving "in the middle of nowhere".

I generally don't do much for holidays though. We kinda stopped having big Christmases were everyone comes down. Now its just simple.

Misseur do you by chance live if fort le Mcnewfie?

And you go along with your wife because you love her...understandable...but gee I have been doing it Garys way for years and this year I am putting my foot down..its going to go my way...peaceful...a few drinks lol but in our own time and pace..


Quabec?? you must have a sexy accent lol...but I see what you mean about opposites...gary and I are complete opposites...he is all into big family gatherings...im not....if i ask a favour..he will say YES no problem...but if a member of his family call and ask a fav...he will hop skip and JUMP to help them and to hell with what i asked....but if I did it to him...ohhh man would I ever hear about it!!! If his mom told him to jump, he yells - how high...if she told him to sh*t pink (pardon the french) he would and ask any other color suit??

I want to have christmas dinner in my house with just the 3 of us...is that too much to ask??? well LOL this year I will make sure of it..and im pulling the phone off the hook lol...cuz around christmas the phone never bloody stops ringing and 9/10 its his MA!! grrrrrrrrrrrrr

I can just hear her this year...aww why arent you guys coming round?? we want to see Becky!!!!anytime we bring becky round for his family to gawk at, all I have to listen to is....Aww she looks like her DADDY...yeeaa she is the picture of her dad....she gets on like her dad, she reminds me of Gary when he was just a lil boy awww bless... ( ( feel like calling gary a tart and would love to shout - YO thats not my kid..you tart I want a DNA test LOL) and then it's - How come you and geri don't take becky to church?? its christmas you must go to church.... and thats when Gary puts me on the spot in front of his clan knowing i dont like church and i don't believe in it...and at the same time he knows I am too afraid to tell them to BUTT OUT!!

GITS!!!!

I spend it alone. No decorations, no turkey, no family, no presents. Last year i sort of slept through most of it.

this sounds eriely reminiscent of what happens to me. My anita will do what I want, but if its not her slice she less than enthusiastic, but I can't flip the script on her or else its hell. If any of her family members call its like a rocket out the door don't let them down time. Its only annoying if you work a twelve hour shift in the same cubicle and her brother calls for a favor for her to run and get a movie so that I get the extra special treat of extending my twelve hour shift another 30 minutes, riiiiiight on. Meanwhile her brothers really need the exercise. And they all act as if the raising of our children is a product of Anita's efforts and im just along for the ride(the funny thing is Anita is a softy and Im the discipline(huge surprise I KNOW) so any good behavior is because I instill it and accept no substitute.) And I keep on hearing how its a 'sin' niether child is baptised for they are risking damnation(yes they really use those words). Meanwhile every socially bad habbit my children learn they learn from overproof annie my mother-in-law which is a real treat when I go to my moms and my youngest shows her how she learned about 'seee-food'. Meanwhile I get parenting advice from Anita's uncles who have produced children that have
1 had two abortions before 16
2commiteted a hit and run offence and is rewarded for his criminal record with a trip to the carribean (what the tickets were already purchased) if it was my dad he would have torn my ticket to sunny paradise up right in front of my face.
3a drug dealer
4 a momma's boy
5a semi illiterate who did five years of senior high school.

And these are the people who 'look down' on 'me', yikes

Very noble Sixxman.


Christmas is always a mellow time for me.
My usual tradition (not always) i eat/drink sleep wake up eat sleep a little more, catch up on work round the farm i neglected throughout the year.

Then when the time is right go on my annual Christmas/New Years Harley tour (2-3 days) then i take my sons fishing <-- (recreational fun only) camping <-- (if the weather permits) dirt bike & dune buggy bashing <-- ( anytime is good for that )

Then i come home continue the way i started...eat drink sleep & gearing up for the new year...

sounds fun, we also go out to the cabin and have as many family members(reads my wifes family members here) come out.

Its a funny sight really, the cabin is in the bush and you have to cross three lakes and two portages to get there. We all go in our trucks so its pretty funny for the local skidoo fanatics who rip by. There in the middle of the lake is what looks like a ford dealership. I've seen many of them just stop and look trying to make sense of it. We are the only ones who drive out that far most just go by skidoo, we cut a decent road into the portages so we could bring the trucks through.

Also Christmas day is a trainwreck, I have three christmas times with gifts at three different houses besides my own. My mom's house, my mother in-laws house and the great grand parents house. My kids are gonna be so messed up thinking everyone gets four Christmasses.

I hear you about the trainwreck stixxman...When my daughter his 3 yrs. old, we stopped traveling on Christmas Eve and Christmas day....The poor kid was so confused as to whether Santa knew where she was, that I said "that's it"....If anyone wanted to see us, my home was welcome to them...All my kids do the same thing...Fortunately two of my kids live within 4 blocks of me, but my oldest is in Atlanta...She too stopped coming up when her son was 3...Sure I miss them, but I travel down there the week of Christmas and we do our holiday then....Rebel has the right idea...no hustle and bustle...just chilling out with his kids and having a good time...

The only Christmas activity my family has ever really done is eat lunch together on Christmas day.

The annual christmas fight, cause it's that time of the year!

aaaaaawwww sad.

but actually it's pretty quiet here too. I'll make Gran some stuffed cabbage and perogies. a small ham . a couple of gifts for her and the pets and that's about it. nothing big. I didn't decorate last year either.

sounds like your extended 'family' and my uncles family belong on Jerry Springer.

the only boy , now in his 20's, has spent at least a quarter of his life behind bars. and when he isn't in jail , belongs there.

only one has finished highschool

one got pregnate at 13 !

and they all live in a tin can somewhere in SC living off the one who got pregnates welfare since none want to work !!!! ( this was a while ago , we haven't heard from them in some time, they only call with the audacity to ask for money - and hang up because the answer is no)

this is my Grandmothers son and his family - worthless.

I don't really buy into all that Xmas festive thing either, buy'n presents for everyone making sure you don't look like a cheap skate in case the other family members got ya all something worth a lot more mean while sending you & your credit/bank cards into a financial a tailspin etc etc....its all a scam imo.

We basically just have the usual family visitations plenty of food for all to eat hello hello, kiss kiss here kiss kiss to everyone there & all that blah, take care c ya all later, very simple....tis the best way. lol!

We never even bought gifts for each other growing up or were ever giv'n any. <- never got it...never worried bout it but we were happy.

It's all a money err BIG money spin'n gimmick.
It's more or less lost it's true/genuine sense of purpose imo.
Try ask'n the majority of younger generation of today? lol!






edit: add ons.

I love Christmas! well most of it anyway. Apologies to the original poster but its hard to leave Christ out of Christmas. Christnmas wouldn't be Christmas if the week before we didn't go to Bethlehem, Not Isreal but about 20 kms from here a church group puts on a massive event that attracts thousands. Its not just a nativity but a trip around the world celebrating Christmas in different countires. Heaps of activities for kids. My daughter wouldn't let me miss that.
I will do lots of baking, especially shortbread and a croatian biscuit that has become a favourite in our family called "bears claws" (translated into English). A gingerbread house complete with snowy icing will be constructed over a couple of nights. On Christmas eve my daughter will be in a nativity play at church and I will go back to church for midnight mass(or not depends on how tired I am that night) . There is a great choir with Carols sung in Italian, Croatian, Portuguese and English. These being the prodominant nationalities around where I live.

Christmas morning, we will have friends dropping in all morning and then My husbands family(mine live on the other side of the country)come for lunch. Everyone usually comes to our house and Christmas is almost always a very hot day. Some years I have done hot dinners and some cold. We always have a huge lunch of turkey, either ham or pork, salads, vegetables, seafood of all kinds and two or three different desserts all washed down with copious amounts of beer, champagne, wine and other drinks as per the persons choice.
After lunch we will all jump in the pool and muck around all afternoon. The next day we also usually have a BBQ with more swimming and lazying around. we always decorate to the hilt. I guess I am very traditional and focused on creating memories for my kids

My family has never celebrated Christmas... but, since everyone else does, my mother takes that day to throw a big casual party. She goes Martha Stewart on the house, but you won't find a lot of red, green, silver and gold... but probably a whole lot of purple pink and cream LOL.

She cooks, as well as encourages anyone who comes over to bring something with them if they like. My parents have been vegan for 40+ years, so the potluck style makes everyone happy. She invites everyone she knows to come over, stay 5 minutes or 8 hours, watch a movie, socialize, play a board game or cards, heck we have one friend that's been coming over for 20 years who we usually find upstairs napping!

It's really terrific fun. It was a small gathering when I was young, but it's a whopper of a party now. So big that mom's considering switching the venue to the "club house" at their condo complex. I kinda hope she does... then we could have music and a dance floor! That would be a hoot!

I just pretty much hang out with my cousins on Christmas Eve.

I see where you are coming from...Gary runs the sec he gets a call from his mom or his brother....

Hid brother would have called Gary up in the early hours of 2.30 - 3am DRUNK looking Gary to drive all the way out to Banbridge (15 miles from us) to pick him up all because he drank the cab fare and left himself stranded...he would never call his own dad...NO..but would rather waken his brother to go get him..and this used to happen every 2 - 3 weeks at a time..i used to get so PISSED at this..he was angry too ut feared if anything happened to his brother, he would feel guilty for not going out to get him

His bro joined the army last Feb and if he wants to come home for a flying visit...he would get Gary to go pick him from the airport ....and he drinks non stop when he is over and Garys mom and dad think he is just fantastic...

a year ago or so ...his brother went over to Spain for a holiday with the girlfriend (now his ex lol)...and I already knew what his brother was like, the drinking and fighting non stop trouble.....one evening gary got a phone call from his mom.....it was about his brother...INSTANTLY I thought of either JAIL or HOSPITAL...I wrote on a piece of paper - your brother alan is in jail right??...Gary got off the phone and his face when white...after a deep pause he said - "Geri how did you know my brother was in jail, for I just heard it myself just now"....I said well it has to be either jail or hospital...lets face it...your brother is never out of trouble when he has been drinking...so Jail popped into my head...................Gary said it was true he was in jail in a Spanish Prison and his dad had to set bale for him WTF??? Im surprised he didn't ask gary to bale him out...his ar*e was thrown in Jail because he was in a fight...but the story he told his mom was he was innocent LMAO..yea BITE ME!! lol

He gets dumped and finds it hard to get a job over here and so the only other option was to join the army...and he will be over this christmas and no doubt because he is there Gary will be expected to run after him and we do ALL to suit them

I get drunk before lunchtime and carry on for a few days.

it is the one time a year I actuallyu imbibe anything. Im thinking of instilling a new tradition every second year we skip family and keep it just to us.

We have a big, loud, violent, wine fueled traditional Italian style Christmas.

Xmas eve is always the feast of the seven fishies. Yay!

PANDY!! We must be related. The Italian (and Irish) fueled Christmas season around here is so similar. I have been wanting to do the following for 2 years now, but because of travel we couldn't do it... I'm just going to copy and paste what I wrote in a previous thread:



Anyway. That's it. No more craziness for me!!! xo, Jody