Christmas Traditions

[MissMOH]

Do you and your SO have any Christmas Traditions? This is mine and my DH first Christmas together...and neither one of our families have any. We both want to establish some for our future family but cant think of any we deem "good" enough.

[Serpentine]

I think the best ones just happen. My families was presents out after we were asleep (up until I was 17!!), fruit in the stocking, one gift on Christmas eve and chocolate chip cookies.

[submarinerslady]

this will also be mine and DB's first Christmas spent "together" without a deployment in the way. I know this year, I will be making him haul home a real tree. Maybe ya'll can pick out an ornament together every year and add it to the collection. That's what we will be doing. I think most traditions just come with time and you'll figure em out as you go. Also in our family, on Christmas eve, everyone opened one gift and saved the rest for Christmas morning. My grandmother also made a candy wreath and we broke the candy from it on New years eve. Making Christmas cookies on Christmas eve was a big one also. Just a few suggestions. Hope some of em helped you out.

[erickson007]

opening one gift on Christmas eve! oh and also my dad always read "the night before Christmas" on Christmas eve, I hope to continue that tradition when we have kids and of course watching Christmas movies!

[eelo]

Originally Posted by MissMOH Do you and your SO have any Christmas Traditions? This is mine and my DH first Christmas together...and neither one of our families have any. We both want to establish some for our future family but cant think of any we deem "good" enough.

In the early years of our marriage, we'd go out and get a special orament for the tree every year, and as kids came along we got ornaments for them. We also have done the Angel Tree at the mall every year. Husband and I look for the oldest child on the tree, and each of the children gets to pick one (before they were old enough to choose their own, we'd get one their age). We also make a point of always carrying change to put in the Salvation Army buckets, and we put something in the USMCR Toys for Tots programs.

On a more personal note, every year the kids get new pajamas (they know one box contains jammies), and we would always do one thing different for the holiday meal.

As a kid, we always went to the Midnight Service on Christmas Eve, and when we got home each ofus got to open one present.

[sapphiremommy]

we get a new ornament each year that has some sort of meaning to us. last year was a little house one cause we had bought our 1st house. this year not sure yet.

[Chelsea.]

We always sit in a circle on the floor, in front of the Christmas tree, on pillows, and open on present at a time and we go in a circle My parents are divorced now, so it's probably going to be changing this year..with my sister and bil getting into their new house finally, my mom will probably won't to go up there.

I don't even know what we will be doing this Christmas

[Rizzle Mizzle]

We (DH and I) open our gifts to each other on Christmas Eve, after the kids are all in bed. We like having our own little Christmas together without all the craziness of the kids ripping through things on Christmas morning. We also let the kids open one small gift on Christmas Eve before we bake cookies and watch movies. Just recently, we started getting a personalized family ornament every year (we only have 3 so far).

[4n6chick]

Jake and I haven't been together for a Christmas yet but my parents always give us an ornament which is something I have continued.

[katiedelta3]

We also open just one gift on Christmas Eve. Santa came at my house all the way through college and still does for my brother. (The big presents my parents didn't want to wrap were left by Santa ) We always had spaghetti for dinner and DH's family always ordered pizza for dinner on Christmas Eve. My family always opens stockings before breakfast then has a huge Christmas morning breakfast with all sorts of breakfast foods and always monkey bread then we open presents afterwards. And my cousins that live in town always came over Christmas evening and we had a ham and played board games. My big extended family Christmas is always the week before Christmas so everyone can be at their own home for actual Christmas. Dh's family does the same but the first weekend of December. We have a Chinese gift exchange with dh's family instead of getting everyone individual presents. We decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. We go to the midnight church service so when we come out it's Christmas. In all of my extended family and my immediate family, we always open one present at a time, in order from youngest to oldest. We always left cookies and eggnog instead of milk for Santa and some carrots for the reindeer. That's all I can think of right now.