[Ashbys]

Each year we celerbrate our hoildays in many different ways. Today I started wondering what a great place to find out about others and their traditions. This fourm has members from around the world, of all races, and of all backgrounds. I would love to know more about how you celerbrate the holidays.

But even as a Christian, there are many traditions that exist in a family that are not to be found elsewhere. I would enjoy the chance to learn of your family traditions , whatever your tradition is weither your Christian , Jewish , Muslium, Hindu, or other.

Garry

[Ashbys]

So in the spirit of having you spend Christmas with me and my family, I give you a typical Christmas Eve.

When I was young , we use to travel almost every Christmas , making a 600 mile trip to visit my grand parents , so the celebration of the family holiday moved to Christmas Eve. My father would always fix the evening meal. He stated that through the year the family always worked for him. On Christmas Eve his gift to the family was to honor them by preparing the meal. When the Lord took him , the job became mine.
So on Christmas eve , I start early in the day to prepare a special meal. The meal usally consist of roast beef , spiced ham , roast turkey , swedish meatballs, various cheeses, fresh made pastry, cakes , pies , cookies , scones, hot mulled cider, eggnog, coffee, tea, candies, fruits, and homemade fudge. The chriistmas tree and house is decorated in bright colors , there are stockings hanging for all the children, and pets.
On the center table in the living room is the Family Bible, stading on a wooden cross stand made by my father over 40 years ago. Two large candles on each side of the Bible.
As the family starts comming in they fill the stocking for the kids, and place gifts under the tree.
Once everyone is there, the children are allowed to open their socks, which are usally filled with candies and small toys. We then enter the living room and chose the reader. As the children have grown , at the age of 14 they are asked to read the story of Christmas and the birth of my savior. Each year we rotate the reader of the Bible. After the reading we gather inside the dining room where all join hands , and we give thanks for the blessings we have received before starting the meal.
After this we do a gift exchange in remember of the gifts given by the wise men.
Through-out the evening we have friends come by and join us in the merryment of the holiday. The evening usally ends about midnight, where we wish each other well, and bid goodnight to friends and family.

Just a few traditions of my home.
Garry

[Kenny_S]

A tradition in my family is on Thanksgiving day, the adults draw names for stockings. Yes the adults have a stocking also. The children gets a stocking but is filled or over filled by each adult member of the family and whoever draws an adult name fills a stocking for that person. Now in the past, Those stocking gifts had gotten pretty expensive and now we limit it to $10. Depending on work schedules as my son is a Paramedic and can be called out anytime and my son in law works for a health care business and can be on call to supply oxygen or medical supplies anytime also, so we have dinner first which isn't the traditional Turkey on Christmas day but decided on Thankgiving. Then the stockings are given out and each person opens their stockingas thew rest watch. Yep, sometimes it takes all morning or afternoon depending if we can keep Papa(me) out of the stockings. Actually I enjoy watching what everone gets.
One year it was just snak foods and was easy on everyone concern on cooking. This year, It will be foods that is usually reserved for New Year's Eve. As for Bible readings, we do that through out the yearand celebrate an Advent throughout the 6 weeks prior to Christmas were we gather together once a week and usually Sunday evening and read scriptures from the Bible pertaining to the birth of Jesus.

Next year we have decided that the gifts are hand made, even the little ones can participate in it as they can make neat things.

I will go one futher, On Thankgiving, we go around the table and share what we are thankfull for. Interesting to hear what little 4 , 5 and 9 year olds are thankful for. Myself, it is my Lord and Savoir and how gracious he is in allowing me to grow in his graces.

Ash, Thank you sir for starting this thread out.

[jillsy]

WOW! These are really nice traditions. Our traditions are pretty basic - we go to my parents' house on Christmas Eve and Ted's parents on Christmas Day.

As the kids grow older though, I'm going to want to start staying home and enjoying a relaxing Christmas Eve with just my family, instead of all the constant running around.

One tradition I have started though, and really enjoy is just baking cookies with Mary. AT 3 1/2, she's getting to be alot of fun in the kitchen. Although each year the kitchen turns into a warzone, and the time it takes to bake them quadruples, I wouldn't change it for anything. One of my favorite Christmas memories is Mom baking cookies in the kitchen, and I want my kids to have memories of that also.

Another tradition will be carving each child a Santa every year. My skills will grow with the children so by the time they're 20, they can look back and see the progression!

Mary also attends Bible School now and is already scheduled to sing on Christmas Eve with the other kids. I'm sure there will be lots of new traditions being started as the kids grow up.


Jillsy

[whitecree]

It would take a book to describe the chaos and mayhem that goes on in our house at Xmas.

[Thor]

Each Christmas my daughter, my son, and myself dye our hair red with temporary dyes. It is not really fair, because my grey hair turns orange, but my children love it.
My husbands is grey enough to get him dyed too this year....
Thor

[Kenny_S]

Jillsy, I will be over to help you all eat those cookies.YUM YUM! Me like cookies!

[Colin_Partridge]

Really cant say we have traditions. It used to be tradition that grandpa handed out the gifts but since the grandchildren have now grown to be teenages they have taken over that. My only tradition is to have as much family around me at Christmas as possible. It doesnt always happen but there is always at least one grandchild here. Usually I see how many chocolates I can consume along with all the other Christmas food. This year will be different as I have just shed 34 pounds since the Open House and I am not putting it back on.
Colin

[Paul_Guraedy]

The boys have now left home, started their own families and live too far away to make it home for Christmas. So the holidays are a quiet time here on the ranch with just Diana and I. We do a little decorating and prepare a couple of special dishes. But, the tradition that we call "lighting the yule log" will always be a part of our Christmas.

Our first Christmas together was at a remote assignment in the high desert of New Mexico. This was Diana's first Christmas away from her family and the only reason we had a tree and a turkey was that they were given to us as gifts. Christmas cards were the only decorations we could afford. I wanted to do something to make the season special so I went out in the desert, cut off a 3 foot length of an old, dead, twisted juniper branch, bored some holes in it for candles, cut off some greenery and brought it home. We could only afford a few candles so we waited until Christmas eve to light them. I had intended to burn the log after Christmas. Diana thought we might need it "next year".

Thirty nine years later that old log is brought out, gets four new candles, which now stand for Diana and I and for each of the boy's families. On Christmas eve we light those tapers in memory of the wonderful life we have spent together.

[Donna_T]

My mother, who passed away 13 years ago from ALS, had Christmas Day at their house until our children and my niece and nephew were old enough to get restless in grandma's house. So, 25-30 years ago, we started hosting Christmas day at our house with all the cooking and baking falling to me.

Helping our three kids learn to make things with their own hands and hearts to give as gifts was an important part of the days leading up to the holidays when they were still here and growing up--they sewed, painted, wove, macremed, cross-stiched, etc. furiously to have items done in time to give. We worked together in the 2-3 days prior to Christmas to make candies and sweets.

Now our kids are grown; they live 10 miles, 60 miles, and 1200 miles away. The four oldest grandkids live nearby--although three are in college this year. They all come the weekend before Christmas to help make sweets--one of which is white chocolate covered pretzels. The laughing, horseplay,messin' that goes with it is priceless. It usually means that the kitchen and dinning room are covered in chocolate, too, but I dearly love to have them together. I miss not having the two grandkids in Vermont here to share in making the same memories, but they only get to come for Christmas every other year.

My dad is 85 and failing and I know that the Christmases that we have him with us are numbered. My brother is in NY City and undergoing his second round of chemo with his fifth round of cancer. Three years ago I had a car wreck on Oct 1st and was still cripping at Christmas. My husband is diabetic and dealing with kidney failure. And I could go on with the human frailities that go with having a 4-generation family. So I don't take any of our Christmas memories for granted. Overall, God has been good to us and I remind myself often to stop and smell the roses because even with the troubles, there are still many good things going on with us. Christmas time is a good time to renew that faith and celebrate all the good.

Donna T