Christmas Tradtitions and Games
- Thread starter cyrevkah
- Start date
My dad has a really horrible Christmas joke that stopped being funny after the 1st time, but he HAS to tell it, and everyone still laughs anyway.
Really hard to answer this one, as my family is in the process of establishing new Christmas traditions from what we did as children.
As my entire family is from Long Island, NY (my sister and I were born out there and the only reason why we moved to Iowa is because my dad got a job here), we would go and visit them every year at Christmas, and as my grandparents' (in later years, my aunt) homes were only 10-15 miles apart, we would spend the morning with my mom's parents (that is where we stayed while visiting) and spend the evening with my dad's mom and the rest of his family. But it was much more than that. Christmas Eve meant the traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner - a variety of fish and shrimp and spaghetti with a fish tomato sauce. It meant midnight or Christmas morning mass. It meant spending time with family that I hardly ever got to see because we lived so far away from them. And we did this for 20 or so years. Then I had to go and get married, then a couple of years later my sister had to go and get married, which for all purposes ended that tradition, and because of that, we really have none of our own traditions (or at least none that don't involve extended family that we never get to see) and we're still in the process of establishing those.
As my entire family is from Long Island, NY (my sister and I were born out there and the only reason why we moved to Iowa is because my dad got a job here), we would go and visit them every year at Christmas, and as my grandparents' (in later years, my aunt) homes were only 10-15 miles apart, we would spend the morning with my mom's parents (that is where we stayed while visiting) and spend the evening with my dad's mom and the rest of his family. But it was much more than that. Christmas Eve meant the traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner - a variety of fish and shrimp and spaghetti with a fish tomato sauce. It meant midnight or Christmas morning mass. It meant spending time with family that I hardly ever got to see because we lived so far away from them. And we did this for 20 or so years. Then I had to go and get married, then a couple of years later my sister had to go and get married, which for all purposes ended that tradition, and because of that, we really have none of our own traditions (or at least none that don't involve extended family that we never get to see) and we're still in the process of establishing those.
Growing up Christmas usually went like this:
Christmas eve=mass with family, then dinner with family, and then dessert and games at my aunts house.
Christmas morning=delicous cinnamon rolls that my mom made every year, then at about 10 o'clock we would open presents. We usually went to see a movie on Christmas day as well. Nothing special, but we did the same thing every year.
Christmas eve=mass with family, then dinner with family, and then dessert and games at my aunts house.
Christmas morning=delicous cinnamon rolls that my mom made every year, then at about 10 o'clock we would open presents. We usually went to see a movie on Christmas day as well. Nothing special, but we did the same thing every year.
I love reading these so far. My favorite time of the year.
We would always go to the Christmas Eve candlelight service, then home for chili and cheese soups, summer sausage and all the cheese and peanuts a guy could hope for. We'd open presents Christmas morning and being the oldest of 4 boys, that usually met some sort of play guns. The most fun we had was the year mom and dad got us high quality laser tag guns, and walkie-talkies that had headsets to them. We played outside all afternoon and well into the dark in the woods behind our house.
Now that I'm "old" and married with kids, we still drive home to Butler County from Ankeny (wife is from there too which is handy) and still go to my parents' church Christmas Eve, but then go back to her parents' to open gifts and have Oyster stew, even though no one likes it. Its a family tradition there that I haven't been able to break them of. I always have the chili.
We'll go to my parents' Christmas morning and open gifts still, probably play a game of snow football (gets pretty intense as I got a rib cracked on a hit from my dad last year) and if the roads aren't bad, we'll drive up to Elgin where everyone still shows up for my Dad's side family Christmas. 6 kids, 18 grandkids, and grandpa and grandma. Even there, we'll have a pot of Oyster stew that will still be full at the end of the day
One more thing- A few years ago jones soda company had their "thanksgiving dinner" flavored sodas that we had a case of at Christmas at my parents' house. After dinner, we poured out "shots" of those and it was so disgusting we were all dry-heaving, but kept going, and "drank" the whole dinner. Ahh the memories.
We would always go to the Christmas Eve candlelight service, then home for chili and cheese soups, summer sausage and all the cheese and peanuts a guy could hope for. We'd open presents Christmas morning and being the oldest of 4 boys, that usually met some sort of play guns. The most fun we had was the year mom and dad got us high quality laser tag guns, and walkie-talkies that had headsets to them. We played outside all afternoon and well into the dark in the woods behind our house.
Now that I'm "old" and married with kids, we still drive home to Butler County from Ankeny (wife is from there too which is handy) and still go to my parents' church Christmas Eve, but then go back to her parents' to open gifts and have Oyster stew, even though no one likes it. Its a family tradition there that I haven't been able to break them of. I always have the chili.
We'll go to my parents' Christmas morning and open gifts still, probably play a game of snow football (gets pretty intense as I got a rib cracked on a hit from my dad last year) and if the roads aren't bad, we'll drive up to Elgin where everyone still shows up for my Dad's side family Christmas. 6 kids, 18 grandkids, and grandpa and grandma. Even there, we'll have a pot of Oyster stew that will still be full at the end of the day
One more thing- A few years ago jones soda company had their "thanksgiving dinner" flavored sodas that we had a case of at Christmas at my parents' house. After dinner, we poured out "shots" of those and it was so disgusting we were all dry-heaving, but kept going, and "drank" the whole dinner. Ahh the memories.
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We used to always play spoons and it got really rough, we havent done it in a few years. Maybe because all us grandkids are older.
Mixing up a batch of extra strong margauritas and making sure the wife has one too many.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
My cousins and I used to play spoons to, but after the punching started, the game seemed like it was getting out of hand.
And my youngest cousin would cry a lot at the end.
We would take all of our new stuff and play with it in our Jewish neighbor's yard.
growing up, we would go to my grandparents on Christmas Eve, then home for Santa. Christmas Day, church, other grandparents, then home to play. always enjoyed Christmas.
We started a new one at our house this year, and will continue as long as we can. If you have little kids, this is a lot of fun.
Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition
We started a new one at our house this year, and will continue as long as we can. If you have little kids, this is a lot of fun.
Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition
Growing up, my family always did a big fondue dinner on NYE. We'd usually invite another family over and stuff ourselves with all sorts of fondue food (breaded mushrooms, cheese balls, little smokies, steak, ham, shrimp) and finger food (crackers, veggies, fruit, etc...). Now that all 3 of us kids are grown, we do Christmas and NewYears all together at my parents house. We open presents on NYE morning, then we watch bowl games, fondue on NYE and then again on NY Day at noon. It's awesome.
A few things we do are play bingo 1 night and usually whoever is hosting has some trinkets or whatever they have around the house they want to get rid of for prizes. This year my wife and I are going to donate some better prizes with leftover wedding gifts we need to get rid of some someone will be going home with a set of glasses or mixing bowls!
We also made a video of the "year in review" where everyone talks about what they did or had happen to them and at the end we talk about big events that happened around the world and famous people that passed away. Kind of cool to go back and watch one from 10 years ago and make fun of their hairdo or clothes.
We also read the story of Christ's birth from the bible and mom usually makes an angel food cake celebrating Jesus "birthday." When we were younger the grandkids would open stockings Christmas morning, we'd have breakfast then the kids would hand out presents from the tree. The youngest of us just graduated college this summer so that tradition has passed on now and with all the different families and how far geographically everyone is now too our "Christmas" doesn't always happen on Christmas day lately either.
We also made a video of the "year in review" where everyone talks about what they did or had happen to them and at the end we talk about big events that happened around the world and famous people that passed away. Kind of cool to go back and watch one from 10 years ago and make fun of their hairdo or clothes.
We also read the story of Christ's birth from the bible and mom usually makes an angel food cake celebrating Jesus "birthday." When we were younger the grandkids would open stockings Christmas morning, we'd have breakfast then the kids would hand out presents from the tree. The youngest of us just graduated college this summer so that tradition has passed on now and with all the different families and how far geographically everyone is now too our "Christmas" doesn't always happen on Christmas day lately either.
I love reading these so far. My favorite time of the year.
We would always go to the Christmas Eve candlelight service, then home for chili and cheese soups, summer sausage and all the cheese and peanuts a guy could hope for. We'd open presents Christmas morning and being the oldest of 4 boys, that usually met some sort of play guns. The most fun we had was the year mom and dad got us high quality laser tag guns, and walkie-talkies that had headsets to them. We played outside all afternoon and well into the dark in the woods behind our house.
Now that I'm "old" and married with kids, we still drive home to Butler County from Ankeny (wife is from there too which is handy) and still go to my parents' church Christmas Eve, but then go back to her parents' to open gifts and have Oyster stew, even though no one likes it. Its a family tradition there that I haven't been able to break them of. I always have the chili.
We'll go to my parents' Christmas morning and open gifts still, probably play a game of snow football (gets pretty intense as I got a rib cracked on a hit from my dad last year) and if the roads aren't bad, we'll drive up to Elgin where everyone still shows up for my Dad's side family Christmas. 6 kids, 18 grandkids, and grandpa and grandma. Even there, we'll have a pot of Oyster stew that will still be full at the end of the day
One more thing- A few years ago jones soda company had their "thanksgiving dinner" flavored sodas that we had a case of at Christmas at my parents' house. After dinner, we poured out "shots" of those and it was so disgusting we were all dry-heaving, but kept going, and "drank" the whole dinner. Ahh the memories.
You have family that does that too?? It is the exact same thing at our Christmas, and we always end up with a bunch left over. I always eat the chili and there is always an uncle or other family member around to make fun of the people who won't touch the Oyster stew.. Hilarious :twitcy:
Our family used to play spoons, too, but then one of my cousins landed in the middle of the kitchen table and snapped it in half. It has been banned since.
It's been interesting watching how christmas traditions have evolved as the kids in the family have gotten older and both of my older sisters now have kids of their own.
Back when all the kids still lived at home christmas eve always involved christmas dinner, church, driving around to all the neighborhoods with the 'cool' christmas lights, and then the youngest always got to open a family present from grandparents (normally a game of some type) which we would then play. Christmas day was stockings/Santa presents, breakfast, then presents from everyone else.
Now it's more spread out with travel and the nieces and nephews needing naps. My one sister is flying in christmas morning (her husband is working a 30 hour shift for his residency) and the other one is coming over until the middle of the afternoon).
The one thing that is a given is that we will play a ton of games (video, board, and card). Things can get heated in our family and there have been some ridiculous arguments and grudges being held (I still maintain that a cone is a valid answer to 'things that are round and start with 'c' in scategories).
Back when all the kids still lived at home christmas eve always involved christmas dinner, church, driving around to all the neighborhoods with the 'cool' christmas lights, and then the youngest always got to open a family present from grandparents (normally a game of some type) which we would then play. Christmas day was stockings/Santa presents, breakfast, then presents from everyone else.
Now it's more spread out with travel and the nieces and nephews needing naps. My one sister is flying in christmas morning (her husband is working a 30 hour shift for his residency) and the other one is coming over until the middle of the afternoon).
The one thing that is a given is that we will play a ton of games (video, board, and card). Things can get heated in our family and there have been some ridiculous arguments and grudges being held (I still maintain that a cone is a valid answer to 'things that are round and start with 'c' in scategories).
Since I have a rather large family, we always do a white elephant gift exchange with the family with some cheap fun gifts. There is usually an assortment of serious and joke gifts, but it is usually a blast! For example, this year the gifts we choose to enter into the exchange are Monopoly and a Christmas man thong (which has possibly been pre-worn after a night out last Saturday :wideeyed.
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