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What do you actually do on Christmas?

Posted: Dec 3, 2009

After the presents are opened and the meal is finished, what do you actually DO? I really don't like it when everyone just sits and there and watches TV but that is what happens when eventually everyone gets bored.

Does anyone have any interesting traditions?

;

On Christmas, no TV watching at all - Answering

[ In Reply To ..]
Breaking with that this year though. Children grown, out of home and for the past 2 years have had husband's family over for dinner around 2 or 3 and afterwards we sit and talk and talk and talk usually until around 12 or 1 the next morning. This is not a tradition. This year my grown daughter and I are watching some reruns from a TV program with Alec Baldwin, daughter says I will love and never have seen. Those are my plans. Hubby will be going to the Christmas dinner minus me this year. No problem, just wanted a change.

Christmas Eve is the biggie for us. - Buon natale!

[ In Reply To ..]
I try to keep with the Italian traditions that my grandparents gave us. We do the big meal of fish and pasta on Christmas Eve, then we go to Mass, then come home and eat some more.... meatballs, sausages, more bread, more wine, more of everything! When I was little, all the men in the neighborhood built a bon fire, toasted the birth of Christ and sang songs. I miss that tradition. Since my mother was American, we always opened our gifts on Christmas morning. I think it was her way to protest having to live 30 years with her in-laws! My Italian cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents opened gifts on Christmas Eve. We didn't do a lot of gifts then, and we still don't, which I'm very thankful for. Since the emphasis is not on the gifts, we are less stressed. (And there's more money to spend on food!) Basically, we're up all night on Christmas Eve, eating. Then we open gifts on Christmas morning, have breakfast (because we don't want to starve to death!), and then it's nap time. Christmas is the recovery day. Eating leftovers, sleeping, hanging out. And for me, I get an added little treat as my birthday is the day after Christmas. My husband and I, and sometimes a few friends, go out and do something together... usually eat! :)

no TV watching here either - Ralphie

[ In Reply To ..]
Our traditions start on Christmas Eve as well. That morning, I get up and get my baking done early, cookies, pies, bush de noel, etc. Then my husband gets home from work around lunch time and we pack up the car to head to my brother's, about a 2-hour drive. The kids pick out Christmas DVDs to watch during the drive. We spend the evening at my brother's with my other siblings and parents. We have dinner there and then do our gift exchange that we drew names for. The kids exchange amongst themselves and the adults amongst each other. Then we play board games or card games while the kids play video games. We head home around 8 or 9.

Christmas morning we get up early with the kids and open presents. My parents, who live in the same town, usually come out to our house for breakfast casserole and to watch the kids open. After that, we get dressed and head into my parents' house for dinner around 1 or so. It's usually my parents, my family, my 2 younger siblings (single & no kids) and my gram. Sometimes, my brother who lives 2 hours away brings his family. After dinner, we open presents at my parents' house.

Then around 5 or 6, we head out to visit extended family & friends. Sometimes we Christmas carol their houses. We're usually home around 8 or so that evening and the kids start digging out their presents to be put together. I have a feeling things will be a little different this year because we got the kids dirt bikes for Christmas and I'm sure they'll want to ride. But that's the general gist of our traditions. If we do watch TV on Christmas day, it's Christmas movies or home movies of past Christmases. My favorite is The Christmas Story -- "you'll shoot your eye out!"

What we do (and used to do) - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
I'll tell you what we used to do when I was growing up (because now I usually work).

But what we used to do is get up, open gifts. We'd have the TV going but I always remember a parade on TV. We didn't watch anything except a parade.

After opening presents we'd be getting the meal ready and after everyone ate we would either go out sledding or ice skating, or we'd play board games or do hobbies like candle making and stuff like that. But again those were in the days of TV that had tubes and only 13 channels. Now adays if I'm not working I'll watch a movie and just relax or something like that.

I don't think the TV matters so much as just being able to relax and have a nice day.

Eat - Xochiti

[ In Reply To ..]
At midnight on Christmas eve, our family goes to the traditional Midnight mass and give thanks and praise to Jesus, "the reason for the season"!

We go home and have hot chocolate and tamales (very traditional) decorate the tree and then drift off to sleep one by one.

On Christmas morning we eat breakfast and begin to prepare the evening meal because we always, always, always have lots of family in! When everyone has arrived then and only then do we do the gifts. In our family since it is so large, we only give gifts to the children and elders.

Our day is spent together, cooking, talking, laughing, sometimes sleeping. There is hardly a need for television. Someone knows how to play some instrument and there is a lot of singing.

Merry Christmas. Feliz Navidad!

I wish you were my family! - Silly Girl

[ In Reply To ..]
{sigh}!

Me too - I'm with Silly Girl - jm

[ In Reply To ..]
I'll do a double sigh. I've always wanted to be part of a large family (like the size of the Waltons). Once can only hope in my next life I'm born into a large fun-loving family like yours.

games - around the table

[ In Reply To ..]
My husband's family always plays UNO after the dishes are done.

I introduced Apples To Apples which is fun! Little kids would need Junior version, but grownups can play Junior and still have a ton of fun.

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