1. Holidays are spent at our house. We will open gifts, then eat a light lunch, then have a fajita dinner. We haven’t decided if we are having Christmas Eve dinner. Maybe antipasti.
2. We do the elf for two weeks before Christmas. We also have a cookie decorating/candy making party at our house. It’s fun! The kids love dipping stuff in melted chocolate in the crockpot. Pretzels, marshmallows, potato chips. Then we roll them in stuff like crushed Oreos, crushed graham crackers, etc.
1. We spend Christmas eve day with Dhs family which is nice because they ate chill with finger foods and just visiting. We go to mass, then Dhs extended family
Christmas day is my mom's at noon. She is usually pretty wired.
2. We watch all the shows, Rudolph, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Frosty, Grich, through the season downstairs, fire going, lights out, popcorn, tree on. DH insist that the classics in his mind, be saved the week before Christmas National Lampoon, Home Alone, Arthur Christmas, Polar Express.
This Sunday is Christmas cookies. The kids have been begging. This is a homemade handed down recipe, so flour and powder sugar everywhere. At the rate they go through them, I'll probably have to do 2 batches.
We are staying at our house for Christmas. Usually the in-laws come over. But SIL was just here for Thanksgiving, and MIL just had pituitary tumor surgery, so neither are coming.
My mom and sister mentioned coming, but my sister is such a stressed out flake and she is on- call for her job, doing house renovations, and hosting Christmas, so if she at all comes she will tell me the day before since she is incapable of planning ahead anymore. So likely it will just be my mom at some point probably for New years.
In the past we have had a NYE party. We didn't do it last year since the one neighbor was with her family, and the other one was sick. Not sure if we will do anything this year or not. I am not too concerned either way. There is a kids celebration at noon that day that I would like to go to at the local community center.
Our only steady tradition is Christmas Eve children's service at the church. It's usually at 4 and is geared for kids.
I'm fairly ambivalent sometimes on making plans and traditions. I am not sure why. I guess I want to freedom to decide last minute or not feel too stressed about doing too much. Sometimes we do gingerbread houses. Sometimes we visit Bass Pro Shops Christmas area. I never do Santa really because I never did as a kid, and I don't want to wait in line.
1. Christmas eve with my mom's side. "Hearty appetizers" and just general socializing. Very low key and fun. Christmas day we host breakfast with my parents and siblings, then Christmas dinner with DH's parents and siblings. 2. Visit the Festival of Trees and visit Santa there. Otherwise, nothing too specific ahead of the holiday.
Post by erinshelley21 on Dec 12, 2017 11:46:41 GMT -5
1. Christmas with MIL on Sunday at her house. Christmas with my mom, brother and SIL the 23rd. Christmas with DH's extra family on Christmas Eve in the afternoon. While DH takes the kids to that, I'm going to hang back for an hour or so playing Santa. DH works Christmas Day and so far his chief hasn't offered to work like he did last year, so the plan right now is for Santa to come while we are at the extra family's house. Christmas Day DH will go to work, the kids and I will have a normal morning, then go to FIL's for lunch that day. My mom may come up Christmas night.
2. We do Elf on the Shelf. There is a drive through lights display that we like to go see. DH and I throw a Christmas party every year. We did a movie night with cookies last week. We're just getting to the point with DS that we can get some traditions set in stone. DH and I have never really had any.
Post by covergirl82 on Dec 12, 2017 11:59:43 GMT -5
1. We have DH's mom's family Christmas on Christmas Eve, then we open gifts at home on Christmas morning, then we go to my parent's house for Christmas dinner and gifts. DH's paternal grandma will be visiting from NJ, but will be staying with family 2.5 hours away. There is a family GTG on December 23, but I told DH that I would prefer to say that our presence will be weather-dependent. I feel a little bad for saying this, but I hope the weather is bad that day. I'd really prefer to stay home.
2. We do a Christmas countdown, Elf on the Shelf, drive through a light display at the local minor-league baseball park, and decorate gingerbread houses. I'd also like to make and decorate cookies with the kids.
Post by kimberlybb on Dec 12, 2017 12:07:52 GMT -5
1. What are your plans for the holidays? It is our year to spend Christmas with my family. Santa will come to our house on the night of 12/22. The kids will open their presents on the morning of 12/23 and then we will head to my parents. The kids and I will stay for almost a week. DH has to work so he will head back on Christmas day. Christmas eve we will go to church and then have appetizers while watching a Christmas movie. Christmas day will be fairly low key. I’m looking forward to it! 2. Do you have any pre-holiday traditions? (Next week I’m going to ask for holiday traditions, fyi) We do elf on the shelf, decorate Christmas cookies, make gingerbread houses, pancakes with Santa, advent calendar, and adopt a family.
1. Going to my parents Christmas Eve for dinner. DD wants to sleep on the couch to try and catch Santa (we will see if this happens or not). Christmas morning open gifts at home and eat breakfast. Then DD and I head over to my parents to open gifts and eat dinner usually after lunch. It really depends on how quickly DD opens in the morning on what time we head over. DH does his own thing which is what he prefers actually he would love it if I didn't decorate and we did no gifts at all he is a major Grinch.
2. I used to make a different batch of cookies every week starting the 1st of November. It didn't happen this year and I'm okay with it. I just haven't been in the mood to bake and don't need to eat all the cookies anyways. Other than that we try and go look at lights and go to a big display if the weather behaves.
1. We go to my family's lake house. It is usually the 4 of us, my mom, my brother & SIL and my 2 nephews, and my sister and BIL. We will all be there from the 23-26. We do a big Christmas Eve dinner and the kids get to open 1 gift (always Christmas PJs and either a game or a book). Christmas morning we have brunch after stockings and gifts. And then we do lasagna for Christmas dinner.
2. Christmas countdown calendar, elf on the shelf, bake Christmas cookies and make candied nuts, and the girls and I go to see the Nutcracker.
Post by supertrooper1 on Dec 12, 2017 12:16:42 GMT -5
1. Christmas morning, we'll open presents at our house and DH's mom, grandparents and Uncle and wife will come over for brunch. Then we'll drive to my parent's house for dinner and more gifts with my brother and his family. I think this is what is happening, since this is what has happened the last few years but we haven't confirmed everything yet.
2. As DS gets older, we're adding in new traditions. This was the first year for decorating a gingerbread house, but that will continue. This is our second year for an advent calendar. Every year we get pictures with Santa. I haven't made Christmas cookies or candy yet this year, but I will make that with DS sometime before Christmas.
1. My mom sleeps over on Christmas Eve and we do cake and one birthday present that afternoon. IL’s have a large family party. Christmas morning is at home with all three kids every year. The girls go to their Dad at noon and we go to SIL’s, and he drops the girls to us there.
2. We bake, see Santa, do the Elf (who delivers the annual family ornament), sing a carol to the elves on our front porch every night and they deliver Christmas pajamas one random night, we have a basket of Christmas books and sometimes I wrap them, we do craft sets, drive through the best local lights with a scavenger hunt and hot chocolate, adopt a family or children, volunteer together (this year is pillow delivery with an org that delivers beds), donate to the food bank, and this is our first year without a Christmas concert but the timing didn’t work out.
1. We just celebrated with my parents this past weekend (right down to having a tiny tree in their hotel room); actual Christmas day is just H and DS and I in our own house. We'll open one or two presents on Christmas Eve, then "Santa" comes at night to bring the rest of the presents. We generally put wrapped presents under the tree ASAP because we have no where to store them--I spent 4 hours wrapping stuff yesterday. Not that we have so much, but it was all so weirdly shaped and unwieldy. Christmas day I make cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and we'll have our big ham dinner in the afternoon.
2. DS and I make bunches of cookies together, and I make fudge and caramel corn. We'll drive around to look at local lights this weekend, and visit Santa. We already did 2 gingerbread houses, but I kinda want to make another. This year is the first year DS is writing a letter to Santa - we'll do that tonight. Fingers crossed he hasn't changed his mind, because all the presents are bought. I may have to gently steer him, lol.
1. Christmas Eve is spent on last minute prep, if needed. It is a low key day for us because we don't go anywhere. Sometimes we bake cookies. DH will make a nice dinner for us. The kids will track Santa on Google for a bit. After the kids go to bed, DH and I deliver presents under the tree. On Christmas day, we'll unwrap gifts and have some cinnamon rolls. We'll hang out at home until we go to my parents' house around 2pm. My brothers come with their families and we'll have dinner, unwrap gifts, and eat dessert. Holidays with the in-laws is never on the actual day since my SILs live out of town. This year, we'll celebrate Christmas with them on Dec 26th. We'll have dinner and then unwrap gifts.
2. We like to go to a local band holiday concert every year to get us in the Christmas spirit. We visit Santa downtown and try to see some light displays. DH likes to bake cookies with the kids and I'll do a gingerbread house with them. I like to do a craft with the kids that they can hand out as gifts. This year we did dough ornaments that they painted.
Post by ilovelucyvv on Dec 12, 2017 16:23:50 GMT -5
1. ILs xmas eve, my family Christmas day thru almost new years 2. Not really anything except the basics like sitting on Santa’s lap and decorating the house
This thread reminded me I have gingerbread ugly sweater kits, a gingerbread village and a gingerbread tree (DH and I both bought gingerbread stuff). No idea when to do those but have to not forget!
Post by mustardseed2007 on Dec 12, 2017 16:48:03 GMT -5
1. What are your plans for the holidays?
Christmas Eve at DH's parents. Christmas Day at my Aunt's house (with my parents)
This year we are planning on adding a day at my mom's house the day before Christmas Eve since it's on a weekend.
2. Do you have any pre-holiday traditions? (Next week I’m going to ask for holiday traditions, fyi)
I've made a tradition of gingerbread cookie decorating, although this year we did a gingerbread house.
We do a donation event through our neighborhood where the kids get together with the local fire fighters and they do some crafts, climb on the firetruck and donate a toy.
We're going to try out caroling with neighbors this year. Not sure if this will be a tradition or not but I do have high hopes.
We always go to church on christmas eve, but this year we are going to the service at the church that my sister works at and DH is going to dress up as Santa Clause for her and all the kids will get to take a picture with him. Not sure how this is going to work with my own kids.
Oh we do pictures with santa. I'm trying a new place this year and shooting for this Saturday. Fingers crossed!!
1. Christmas Eve we are hosting 6-8 people plus us. We’ll probably do a prime rib roast. Christmas Day we will go to church and then to my extended family’s big party in the afternoon. We’ll see if we get roped into making any other stops.
2. The weekend after Thanksgiving we cut down our Christmas tree with my family. We do brunch with Santa at ILs’ country club and bake cookies with my family.
Post by HeartofCheese on Dec 13, 2017 10:28:08 GMT -5
DO NOT READ if you want your Christmas spirit to remain intact:
1. I am currently uninvited from CEve at my STBXSIL's by my STBXH who is showing up very late to the Reality Party. I'm gonna bet I still end up going though. So I will either be eating CEve dinner at my STBXSILs or I'll be drinking on my couch while wrapping presents. TBH, I'm happy either way (b/c it's really uncomfortable spending time with STBXH and my STBXILs), but I'm certain the kids want to be together.
2. We have a couple of advent calendars that we maintain. I also get the kids pop-up books every year. The H makes cookies with them, i.e., he makes cookies while they watch TV. I take them for drives to go look at lights. And there's a bundle of Christmas parties that we do every year.
But the bottomline is that this Christmas is in flux, but next Christmas will be awesome.