Xmas traditions in your house....

rosieben

Snap Ashli

jo03

I love the norad santa site last year i gave all my class the address for it and they then passed it to everyone they knew so if it crashed out on you chances are it was my fault lol.

postingalwaysposting

scuzz, your post made me cry

jo03

Struck a real chord with me too my dad is no longer with us too and he would always make a magiical christmas for us when we were kids.For a while we couldnt bring ourselves to celebrate it as it wasnt the same, but last year I thought hang it my dad loved xmas he would be going off his head if he thought we werent doing it justice so I threw myself into it.I am so glad I did too it all seemed so right I enjoyed it so much more than the previous 2 years.
I arent able to buy him a pressie so I always buy a toy for a local toy appeal.

jo03

Another tradition we have is the old porridge oats and glitter bag of santa sparkle.Worked really well one year my nephew came to stay he was only 4 he worried so much that santa wouldnt know where to bring his toys as he was in leeds and home is Bristol.A quick sprinkle round the garden and voila one happy boy with restored santa faith.Now even though he is 10 we still do it and if he cant get up to us we send him some in the post.

Michelden_2

Oooh I love Christmas too.

A couple of years ago I decided my children (then 20, 18 and 16 years old) were too old for Advent Calenders and stockings on their beds, boy was that a mistake!!! my son (20) nearly had a tantrum he was so upset:rotfl: . So even though they are all in serious relationships and with one bf living with us I still put up an advent calender for each of them including daughter's bf and make up a stocking for their beds, but I draw the line at actually putting them on their beds I now leave them outside their doors as it could be a bit embarrassing with bfs staying with us:rolleyes: .

We always have a big fry up on Christmas morning and dinner about 5p.m. as there are lots of friends and relatives to visit during the day. Our favourite meal though is cold meat and pickles, mash and salad on Boxing Day.

This year I want to make the best one yet as me and hubby are moving to Spain next year so this will be the last time I can do everything.

Michelden

joeblack066

I LOVE Christmas!! We always have an advent candle as well as calendars. Most of December is spent with DD's glitter all over the house. Cgristmas used to kick off for me when DS1 would take part in a Charity Carol Concert on the 1st Sunday in December, but sadly he has had to stop this due to moving.
Having had many a miserable Christmas due to xDH2, my kids and I had to find some fresh traditions to reinvent it for ourselves, and so Christmas day goes like this;
Up early, open pressies etc. Then on with warm clothes and we drive out into Derbyshire and climb up to one of the highest points, singing Carols at the top, and then stopping for a hot drink/ pint at a country pub on the way home. Dinner is at 5 ish, and sometimes we don't put the telly on all day. Lovely! DS1 is 21 now, and have DS2 (20) DS3 (17) and DD (10) as well as DS2 G/F and DGD and they all love this Christmas Day plan, so we will be doing the same again this year!
Ikea Gingerbread house is always popular in our house, (only circa £1.60 and great fun to make with Royal Icing and sweets!) and 1 year I made 17 dozen mince pies during the season!!
This year I am going to see a Carol Concert with a Brass Band UNDERGROUND in caves in Castleton..........WOW!! Can't wait for that one!
When the kids were small I used to use a large boot and sprinkle talcum powder round it , telling the kids it was Santa's Magic Snowprints. They loved that one!!

homeworkgirl

We like following Santa on Norad too but our real favourite is watching him on the live webcams in his Grotto at the Arctic Circle which starts transmitting round about 1st Dec each year until the New Year. It is so lovely to see him meeting all the children and lots of adults too!! There is also a second cam showing outside the building where you can see the people walking and playing in the snow before they go into see Santa. As soon as the transmissions start we have the cams on the pc for much of the day, it is sooooooo addictive! A good idea to keep the little ones occupied for a while too!

http://www.santaclauslive.com/main.php?link=santa_claus_live&kieli=eng&pid=2

lynnescomp

I stayed up just to read your lovely ideas last night. They make me hope that this will be a really good Christmas. We just lost My Unlce and he always came for Dinner on Christmas day so that will be strange and sad that he isnt here anymore.
As a Child we always put the tree up on the 6th of December it stayed up till the 6th of Jan No amount of whineing would get the tree up earlier.
Nan made all the Christmas Puddings and put in the silver sixpences even after decimalisation. Even after nan had her stroke she used to sit in the Kitchen with her daughters telling them how to make the pudding nothing was everwriten down till that point. As nan never weighed or measured anything.
Mum was responsible for the cakes on efor each family member so about 6 fruit cake were made.

We have more traditions now I have chldren of my own. But With Mum in Spirit it is still as sad time for us and I feel it is to make up in a lot of ways to not have the big family Christmas that I had as a child.

We Put the tree up on the 1st Weekend in December. It stays up to New Years Day.
We only have white lights on our tree and everything is Colour coordinated. I have 3 different themes includng Disney. We try to go to Disneyland paris every deember so i can get a new Decoration to add to the collection .

We Always make reindeer food to sprinkle on the Grass and say the rhyme so The Reindeers know where we live.



We try to do something special on Christmas Eve Last year we went on the Santa Express at Tenterden in Kent. Which makes us finish the rushing around and stops impulse Buying. We then Do bath Night before Christmas and Bed. This Year I think the PJ Elves are going to make a visit.

Christmas Day we Have stockings in our Bedrooms these are small presents that are Unwrapped. Fruit nuts and a small toy for the kids. That Comes from My husbands childhood. When we come down they are allowed one present each and all the rest we do after dinner as When I was a child mum was always to busy in the kitchin to sit for very long and it was case of keep call for her to come. I dont want to miss it or rush it so after dinner it is.

In the evening our close friends come over and share whats left of the day with us. Dad comes over on Boxing day as he spends the day with his lady friend and then she goes to her sons on Boxing day and he comes to us.

I love christmas we have loads of Christmas Dvds and they must only be watched on the count down to christmas.

homeworkgirl

I forgot to add in my last post that our biggest tradition is for us all to sit down and watch The Snowman (and now Father Christmas too since we got the double dvd) after Christmas dinner. Dad is now 76 but still insists we all watch it, he and I really love it and have done this for years now.