with your family at christmas?

for us:

we take a night once the kids are out on break and drive around looking at the lights.

we open our presents on christmas eve. that way, if we go to someone's house on christmas, our private one is already over with. plus, that also helps with the extended family, no arguements on spending time with them.

we spend one day baking. cookies, pies, bread, cakes, and such. that way we have gifts for family and we always take something with us when we visit family. and since they are made by all of us, it really is a family gift.

we read and eat popcorn together after opening presents. we all get something to read, put on some music, and just sit and read for an hour. then we all discuss what we are reading.

we also make phone calls to family that is out of state. we all get a turn at talking.

because of my dh's job, he usually takes the same time off as the kids, so we get to spend almost two weeks together. we build snow forts if there is enough snow, we go sledding, have snowball fights, go shovel our elderly neighbors drive way's and such. we all have shovels and will go to just about every house on our street doing this. we don't ask for money, it's just our gift to them.

we also like to go caroling. not many people do this anymore. most of the time, we just do it on our street, but i know that the neighbors like it. especially since one of my daughter's is tone deaf, but she still get's out there and sings her heart out!

so what do you do?

My family has a Swedish background, that only tends to come out on Christmas. So we enjoy special foods like lutefisk, ostakaka, etc. We also bake, and now that we're grown and have families, it's fun to get together and bake together and then share, like a cookie/candy exchange.

We have a party with the aunts/uncles/cousins, etc (we are a large family) on Christmas Eve.

Then I go to my parents' house and it's usually just the parents and my brother and me. Late into the night, we drink Egg Nog and open our gifts.

Christmas morning, my mom cooks a huge "Okie" breakfast, as we like to call it. Her parents were from Oklahoma, so she knows how to make biscuits and gravy the right way! Sometimes we have friends over and sometimes not.

Christmas dinner is usually just the four of us. Some years back my mom asked if there was anything aside from the usual turkey dinner that we might like to have. My dad and brother love lasagne and asked her to make that. Since that time...we have had mom's lasagne (which is really good) for Christmas dinner! LOL! Not traditional, but I guess it's our tradition.

Christmas night we often visit friends for cocktails.

There are a lot more traditions I'm sure I'm leaving out, but those are the basics. :reindeer: