Bluegrassrivals

What are some of your family's Christmas\holiday traditions?

My family used to gather at my grandfather's house every Christmas Eve Night. My grandfather used to absolutely love Christmas, and while he wasn't rich, he certainly lived comfortably. Looking back on it, I'd hate to know how much money he spent every Christmas. He would go to KFC or Kentucky Fried Chicken as it was known then and buy tons of food. He would also go to Druthers and buy 50 cheese burgers etc. Most of the family members would also bring a dish and we would have a big dinner. Every Christmas he bought every male in the family, which there were 15 of us, a Case pocket knife from a local hardware store and bought something of equivalent value for all females in the family. When he died in 1986 our traditional family gathering stopped. Afterwards, my Mom was so depressed at Christmas time that she didn't want to celebrate anymore. My Dad doesn't believe in showing affection, emotion, etc so we never developed any Christmas traditions of our on.

I'd love to hear your all's Christmas traditions. I know it's a little early, but it will be here before you know it. Merry Christmas!

I've really enjoyed reading all the Christmas traditions that everyone has been so gracious enough to share, you bunch of sapsuckers. I see that the Christmas spirit over flowth on this site.

For Christmas Eve we go to my grandmas house and have Hobert’s pizza, the living room is barely enough to hold all 15 people but it’s what we have done for my 22 years of living and that’s how it’ll always be.

For Christmas, those same people come to my house and my mom and dad cook a turkey and ham and then we get a food city cake because it’s my birthday.

When I was growing up, all the relatives from both my mom's and my dad's side of the family would come our house on Christmas Eve. My mom would fix/buy all the food
She would make meatballs, chicken wings, vegetable tray, cookie, and etc. Some years there would in the range of 40-50 people in our house. The kids got to open present. After my cousins and I started leaving the area the tradition just started to fade away. My mom tried to revive it a few times but my dad's declining health and me living several hours away did not help things.
Now our tradition is driving to Kentucky as close to Christmas as we can (my wife is a nurse) staying at mom's for a few days.

With so many nurses in my family (some of them brand new), we celebrate on a different day most of the years. But the day doesn't really matter. Just as long as we can eat!! lol We will gather to open gifts and share a huge meal.

Years ago, when the boys were young, I always made Christmas cookies with them. My kitchen would look like it snowed inside and the ants would cheer as powdered sugar would float everywhere! lol

Spud6 Wrote:For Christmas Eve we go to my grandmas house and have Hobert’s pizza, the living room is barely enough to hold all 15 people but it’s what we have done for my 22 years of living and that’s how it’ll always be.

For Christmas, those same people come to my house and my mom and dad cook a turkey and ham and then we get a food city cake because it’s my birthday.

Hoberts Pizza. You can't go wrong there. I miss family get togethers. That Is great.

Jarons Wrote:When I was growing up, all the relatives from both my mom's and my dad's side of the family would come our house on Christmas Eve. My mom would fix/buy all the food
She would make meatballs, chicken wings, vegetable tray, cookie, and etc. Some years there would in the range of 40-50 people in our house. The kids got to open present. After my cousins and I started leaving the area the tradition just started to fade away. My mom tried to revive it a few times but my dad's declining health and me living several hours away did not help things.
Now our tradition is driving to Kentucky as close to Christmas as we can (my wife is a nurse) staying at mom's for a few days.

Sounded like a great time. I guess it's up to you to transition into creating new traditions for your family.

Granny Bear Wrote:With so many nurses in my family (some of them brand new), we celebrate on a different day most of the years. But the day doesn't really matter. Just as long as we can eat!! lol We will gather to open gifts and share a huge meal.

Years ago, when the boys were young, I always made Christmas cookies with them. My kitchen would look like it snowed inside and the ants would cheer as powdered sugar would float everywhere! lol

Food is an important component of cultures and traditions. It's always been my favorite part. LOL!

Well, anybody that know me, knows that I love to eat!! But my favorite part is getting together with family. My MOST favorite time was when the grand children were little. We always had to break up at least a couple of fights between the boys, and since my grand daughter was the only girl, she would always try to tell the rest of them what to do! nicker:

Now that all of that is over; it's still a wonderful memory!!!