Besides the usual foods, my parents always served borscht (traditional Russian beet soup) at every holiday, along with some pickled herring. My sister and I would always get so excited for the pickled herring lol.
My in-laws have a big Christmas eve dinner and open one gift that night with just the immediate family. On Christmas Day, the extended family gets together for a big meal and giant gift-opening session. Not sure if this counts as a tradition, but it's what they do every year. We, of course, stopped attending due to some toxic relatives . I wouldn't mind going, but my H hasn't yet gotten over things they said to us.
I hang up stockings for just us and the dog and put treats in there all through December. I always give my H a new Pez dispenser and Pez in his stocking. Sometimes we drive around the neighborhood to look at the Christmas lights. My sub is really into decorating.
ETA: I thought of one more - I must watch Home Alone every Christmas! It's one of my favorite movies.
We really don't follow any family traditions I had growing up.
DH and I did start one tradition. On Christmas morning I make waffles and we have waffle ice cream sundaes for breakfast then open gifts. We have been doing this for the last 4 years and it's DH's favorite tradition.
Post by HoneySpider on Nov 19, 2014 14:50:20 GMT -5
Pork roll on Christmas morning!
DH and I started this thing years ago called international Christmas Eve buffet. Basically we have lots of foods from different places. Doesn't always really go together, but whatever, it's stuff we like. One year when I was ambitious I made pierogies and potato latkes and that was way too much work for one meal. This year I'm planning on doing pierogies again. We'll usually throw in something easy like French bread to go with whatever we're making. Sometimes it's just frozen stuff, haha.
For a few years when we lived in AZ and couldn't afford plane tickets home, we went to Vegas. That was a fun tradition
Every year we make a gingerbread something - the very first year we did it, it was supposed to be a house but it sucked and we ended up calling it a fort. From there we got more creative. We've done a cactus, a baseball stadium (that was the best one!), the beach. Last year was actually the first time in 7? 8? years we didn't do one. This year we're going to do something DC related, maybe try to make cherry blossoms because I just got cherry icing on clearance the other day.
We have a lot of traditions about food.
I feel DH & I haven't really gotten to set too many of our own traditions yet since we don't have kids yet and we are never consistently in one places for holidays - sometimes with my family, sometimes with his, sometimes we're just on our own. We do put up a tree, make cookies, fill stockings, basic stuff like that. We also try and get an ornament with the year on it each year.
I'm hoping to make American Thanksgiving into a tradition with my H's side of the family. They don't have any traditions for any holiday anymore. So I want in 20 years that they know they are coming to our place! Eventually I want to grow the invitation when we have more space to include his aunts/uncles/grandparents ETC and have it be just a huge celebration. Makes me excited to think about.
Christmas we have lots of traditions with my side of the family. None with his.
In Canada: Christmas Eve we always have chocolate fondue and open gifts from my adopted set of grandparents. Christmas Day my mom makes cinnamon rolls and fruit salad. We open our stockings and one gift (from Santa) {Now that I'm married H and I fill each others at our place} Then we open grandma and grandpa's gift and then whoever wants to we go ice skating Boxing Day (December 26th) All the cousins go shopping for a bit then huge family dinner and gathering to see everyone.
New Years no real traditions yet with H. Other then kissing at midnight!
I'm hoping to incorporate my family for Easter since our traditions of Easter have kind of been lacking lately. I want to host Easter for my family and have that be a new tradition with games and what not
Post by estrellita on Nov 19, 2014 18:49:22 GMT -5
Christmas Eve is when H's family gets together, but we rarely get to go because his aunt always starts it in the early afternoon and we work plus live an hour away from them. This year MIL is doing it so we can more easily stop in on our way down to my parents. She is going to do it later and they are only about 30 min from us. My parents also have Christmas Eve which we end up showing up to late but I'm ok skipping that if we can see H's family at all! We will still go there to stay the night though. And to get our pajamas. We still get PJs every year on Christmas Eve and the tradition has spread to H and my sister's BF. I'm sure baby will be getting some too from now on, whether we do it or my parents do!
Christmas morning is with my parents and sister. Undecided if this will continue with baby. I think it will. It's harder to get up early enough to do our own Christmas morning, then drive an hour and a half to my family, then drive back that night. After we do our gifts, we go to my aunt and uncle's for my mom's side. We draw names on that side (for the adults, if you're over 25 or married you're an "adult", otherwise you're a kid and get gifts from everyone). We eat breakfast, do gifts, sometimes play games and just generally hang out.
Christmas evening is with my dad's side and lately it's been at my parents' house. The only gifts we do on that side anymore is a $5 gift for this game we play (it's kinda complicated to explain. Basically someone reads a story, we pass the gifts left or right in a circle, then we roll dice to trade gifts if we want). My grandpa usually reads a Christmas story. If my one cousin is there (she was living in Korea until recently, she's now in Mexico), she usually plays guitar or violin. We always eat lasagna for dinner (and the funny part is my mom always offers to make it because she and my sister always whine that my grandma's doesn't have enough cheese.. lol).
Other holidays.. Thanksgiving we trade off families every year. My family gets together at my cousin's house. He does 4 turkeys. Usually a regular roasted, a fried, a brined (is that a word?) and something else or another roasted. He makes stuffing and everything else homemade, no boxed stuff! He is an amazing cook and I'm kinda sad we only get to enjoy his food every other year (although this year he offered to send a "care package" for "baby", haha). We also play a dice game and typically drink lots of wine
New Year's we don't really have any traditions, but the last couple years we spent it with friends at a local bar. Trying to decide if I want to do that this year. I won't be as fun, haha. We'll see though
Stockings. I LOVE stuffing stockings! I get one at our house, one at my mom's, and one at my in-laws. My parents don't have them but my in-laws do. My MIL used to stuff her own so when I came into the family, I took it over. It's fun.
Christmas Eve we spend with DHs moms extended family. We also open our Christmas pjs on Christmas Eve. (Mil gives them out)
Christmas dinner is with my side of the family.
DH and I stay up later Christmas Eve and exchange our gifts together.
We get together in the first 2 weeks of December and go cut down a Christmas tree from the wilderness. We also make a campfire and have hotdogs and marshmallows. It may be a cold day but it's a blast.
My siblings and I don't exchange gifts anymore we do a dinner with just the siblings and our SOs. It's a great way to spend time together.
We decorate and put up our trees the weekend after Thanksgiving. As of last year I decided we are now doing cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas morning. H and I will drive through nearby neighborhoods to look at Christmas lights. Christmas morning we give the dog her presents first, lol. I used to always watch A Christmas Story on TV but after we got rid of cable, wasn't able to. But someone got my the DVD for last Christmas, so I plan to watch it again now. My mom and I usually go to the outlet stores on Black Friday but neither of us needs anything this year, so we're not going.
We go to my paternal grandma's for Christmas Eve every year and my mom's house Christmas day (her side of the family). We also go to my MILs on Christmas day before my mom's. For the past few years I have a pre-Christmas dinner with just my parents and brother and his family at my house, so we all don't have to open gifts from each other with our extended family. At some point before or after Christmas we have a parent/sibling Christmas with my FIL and step MIL and the step siblings.
Usually we also go to H's aunt's (FIL's sister) on Christmas Eve, though that day is not working out this year. And at some point we go to his other aunt's (MIL's sister) house to celebrate with that side of the family. There are a lot of people in that family so everyone has a stocking that everyone else fills for each other.
Last year we had 7 family gatherings for Christmas, which was insane. But that is what we do every year!
For New Years, for the past several years I've been so burned out on family gatherings from Christmas that H and I just stay home. The last couple years we saw a movie then I made us appetizers at home, played games and we watched the ball drop.
Growing up my dad and I used to run the Turkey Trot every Thanksgiving. We would usually do Thanksgiving at my grandma's house (step mom's mom). Christmas Eve was always with extended family at my dad's and alternated Christmas day with my mom and dad. If my dad and I were together we would go for a run after we opened presents in the morning. Oh, and we always had cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas morning.
Since meeting DH...we have spent the majority of Thanksgiving with his family (since they get the extended family together and my dad/step mom now go to my dad's cousin's house instead of my grandma's). Christmas Eve is always with my dad and extended family and we typically spend the night at my dad's, waking up Christmas morning there. Christmas day is always with DH's family at his aunt and uncle's house. For many years DH and I would leave for a week long trip to see his best friend the day after Christmas, spending New Year's with them...those were the good old days!
This year and future years...who knows. This year Thanksgiving is at our house because it will be 2 wks before our due date and I didn't know what would be going on/how I would feel, etc (still don't!). Christmas will be at our house and we will likely not be able to do Christmas Eve at my parent's house starting this year (they live 1 1/2-2 hrs away). I really want us to spend Christmas morning as a family and then invite all the parents/grandparents over later in the morning/afternoon. We were always shuffled around on Christmas and I want C to be able to enjoy his presents and be relaxed at home.
Post by Skyesthelimit1212 on Nov 21, 2014 14:43:47 GMT -5
Not so much with the Thanksgiving tradtions, other the dinner. Christmas though, we'd get up and make pancakes, eggs and bacon. Christmas music playing, don't laugh but when I was a kid I LOVEDDDDDD John Denver and The Muppet A Christmas Together albulm and that would the first thing we listened to. After breakfast and gifts we'd start on making Christmas dinner. Then after dinner we'd settle in and watch old movies.