christmas traditions and ideas for age 11 and 15

barbiedoll

DS is now 16 and thinks that Christmas is deeply uncool, him and his mates would rather spend most of Christmas day on their consoles, shooting each other.

But we still have our traditional "silly" present to open at the table after Christmas dinner.

We always get my mum a toy, and last year we got this for DS, a combination of something useful and his favourite food.

This year, I've ordered one of these for him.
A perfect combination of his (other) favourite food and something useful! :rotfl::rotfl:

Idiophreak

trailingspouse wrote: »

Sometimes it's the little things - I'd always read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' to them on Christmas Eve when they were little, but sort of 'forgot' as they got older. But then they'd ask me to do it!! Last year I read it to my grandaughter for the first time (at her mother's request) - could hardly get the words out without welling up.

I was 26 when I moved out of home, my mum read that to me every year until then. Now my wife reads it to me.

Call me weird, but it wouldn't be Christmas without it. Can't wait til we get to read it to kids of our own....

Anyway, other stuff we do (that I'd forgotten about)
Boxing day - Club Sandwiches (left over turkey) and/or bubble n squeak. (left over...everything else!)

Between Xmas and New Years - buffets. Like *big* buffets. Beef, turkey (more leftovers), gammon, prawn cocktails, pork pies, salads, breads, cheeses, continental meats, sausages on sticks, cheese and pineapple, filo prawns, samosas....

Snowballs! How could I forget snowballs! Surely that has to start getting kids interested, right...I always looked forward to Christmas as the time of year I could start having a little bit of booze.

In fact, as a teenager I used to love doing the Christmas "booze cruise" with my dad. Chunnel over to Calais, find a local supermarket, load the car up til the wheels could just about turn round still....grab a steak (horse, by accident once ) then head back.

(I should add, this did us for Christmas *and* the next 6 months at least...we weren't massive drinkers ).

Table decoration - crackers, napkins, centrepieces etc.

Organising Christmas "media" - I don't know why we always needed a new Christmas mix tape each year. Sure the yoofs could do youtube playlists etc these days.

Sale shopping is, inevitably, becoming a bit of the tradition, too...Although I only really wander into a couple of local shops while we're out for the mummers, not one of these 6AM at ikea people

devildolly5

We do bed presents in the morning. Not quite stockings, but a small pressie.

Main presents when we get up before dinner.

Then to keep things going we have table presents which we open after dinner at the table. These are usually games which we can play.

Then to end the day we have tree presents. These can be anything but the rules are they must be light enough to hang (gift vouchers, mag subscriptions etc). This way, we don't open everything and have the anti-climax of nothing else to open for the rest of the day.

PlymouthMaid

I forgot that out main tradition is probably unusual but we have always opened our presents to each other after Christmas dinner so around 4pm. I think this began so that everybody could enjoy it and some poor soul (ie Mum) wasn't locked away in the kitchen. I did this as a child and maintained it with my children although son in law isn't so keen on it as he hates to wait for his presents. Kids always have their pillowcases in the morning and the trick is to make sure that there are enought little amusements in there to keep them going til the afternoon when we all settle down with a drink and somebody has to be Santa with an elf helper and deliver each present one at a time so we can all see what we have.

Hedgehog99

Gathering & cooking sweet chestnuts.
Anything nature-wise your way? Starlings roosting, geese at the coast? Floodlit swan feeds?
Near Sandringham, Norfolk? Go and see the Royal family on Christmas morning.
Using different things to decorate wrapped parcels - ribbons by the metre, fir cones sprayed gold etc.
Some stately homes have Christmas-themed weekends pre-Christmas.
Learn carols in a foreign language.
Bake Christmas treats from other countries.

margaretclare

It's impossible to give any generalised answer to this question. It depends entirely on what Christmas means to you.

Is it about the birth of Jesus? Or is it more about that man in the red suit with the big white beard?

Church is wonderful at this time of year, going to Midnight Mass, hot drinks and mince-pies when coming back. Candles, carols, the holly and the ivy.

Some people make it really hard work, but it needn't be.

georgie262

New pyjamas on Christmas Eve!

heartbreak_star

I wouldn't advise church unless you're a religious family anyway. By the time I was about 12 I'd come around to Mum's view that it was claptrap and we left Dad and Nan to go to church if they wanted.

Definitely agree with new PJs on Christmas Eve - the hamper idea with PJs and a DVD etc. in sounds great.

Even when I got to my teens, I still had a stocking. Mum and Dad would leave a drink on my bedside table and put a few sweets and some fruit in the stocking along with a new top for Christmas Day, maybe a small pressie...but always a book (from a series they knew I adored!). That way they were guaranteed sleep until a decent hour

HBS x

Idiophreak

heartbreak_star wrote: »

I wouldn't advise church unless you're a religious family anyway. By the time I was about 12 I'd come around to Mum's view that it was claptrap and we left Dad and Nan to go to church if they wanted.

Meh, I think it's a load of claptrap, but still go along every xmas eve...nice sing song, mulled wine and a mince pie...they tell this lovely story about a baby born in a barn...it's just nice and Christmassy. Why wouldn't you advise it?

heartbreak_star

Idiophreak wrote: »

Meh, I think it's a load of claptrap, but still go along every xmas eve...nice sing song, mulled wine and a mince pie...they tell this lovely story about a baby born in a barn...it's just nice and Christmassy. Why wouldn't you advise it?

Because as an atheist kid I would have been bored with it, as a stroppy atheist older teen I'd have challenged it (yes, I had my arsey moments ) and as an atheist adult I'd feel disrespectful of other peoples' beliefs.

You do seem to have a better church than we had though. The few times I remember going at Christmas were pretty dull and the vicar kept asking if I was being good and letting God into my heart...and kept asking...and kept asking...

You can have a nice singsong and mulled wine with family and friends. Ofc, this is all personal opinion

HBS x