Bumping because Festibration has started!

My family doesn't have too many special traditions. My grandparents (my mom's parents and my dad's mother) come over on Christams morning to open up the stockings we have for them over here and to eat a breakfast. Later in the day, they come and eat my dad's AMAZING prime rib, and in the past five-six years, we've started going to see movies on Christmas (it's nice because there's almost no one there and we practically have the theater to ourselves). We also got to church on Christmas Eve together.

My Christmas traditions aren't very special (As of last year):
My folks and I open our stocking stuffers on Christmas morning, eat breakfast, then later on, we eat Christmas dinner.

My family doesn't do the tree or presents thing (my paternal grandparents used to though). But we do do a family gathering with my uncle and/or aunt and have dinner at either their place or our place. Depending on whose house we go to, we might end up making and eating cioppino (my uncle's specialty, which, since we're Chinese, we make with cilantro instead of parsley), and it would end up being a giant mash up of Western and Asian cuisine (i.e. my aunt makes roasted beef ribs, my mom makes japchae noodles, etc).

It's so nice reading about everybody's traditions! I love how different Christmas is for all of us! 

Both of my parents are first generation Americans, so my grandparents came from Italy and Germany, and lived there for the first quarter of their lives before immigrating to America, so our traditions are very steeped in that heritage.

On December 6th, my family gets together to celebrate Nikolaus, which is a day where, traditionally, Saint Nick comes early and German children leave their shoes outside. If you get oranges and chocolates in your shoes, you've been good and can look forward to a good Christmas. If you get nothing, coal, (or in the olden days, a switch for a whooping!) then you've been bad, and you'd better shape up before Christmas comes! My Oma always gave my brother and I a small chocolate Santa, and my family gets together for dinner every December 6th to think of her and celebrate together. Coincidentally, that's today, so Happy Nikolaus, GC!

On Christmas Eve, we always eat 7 kinds of fish. I've looked up why Italians do this, and the reasons are as varied as the regions of Italy. I'd love to know, but I've chalked it up to, "It's just a tradition!" Usually, this is bonding time for my brother and I as we're in the kitchen for about an hour or two cooking up muscles, clams, a cold shrimp appetizer with sauce, calamari made from fresh squid, breaded flounder and lobster. Traditionally, the last fish is baccala - codfish dried by a salting process, then rehydrated in a water bath and cooked. My dad SWEARS it tastes like an old shoe, so we usually replace this with any in-season fish we feel like, such as mahi mahi. It sounds like a lot of food - and it is! As my parents have aged, we've taken to going out to a seafood restaurant instead to avoid the messy frying oil, breading, and fish smell in the house, which is just as fun!

On Christmas, I usually wake up before anyone else, and investigate the situation in a stocking hung on my door. Santa stuffs it with little trinkets and small candies, and always a new toothbrush because he's really into oral hygiene, I guess.  Then I patiently wait until an acceptable hour to go and shake everyone awake so that we can open presents and have coffee. The best part is watching my dog find her present and tear it open. She can always smell it, and it's really cute watching her pop her head in her bag and prance around happily with some new stuffed animal or squeaky ball toy. My mom always bakes cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and then I help her set the table and cook for a dinner (which we eat at midday, around 2 PM). My parents always have an open-door policy, and anyone we know who doesn't have someone to celebrate the holiday with finds their way to our house and around our table. We absolutely do not eat turkey. That'd be far too American of us! We enjoy salad, manicotti (delicious pasta tubes stuffed with ricotta cheese), cream cheese stuffed mushrooms, and a crown roast of beef instead. Then I help my parents clean up before scurrying off to play the new video games we've been gifted (it never fails that someone gets some kind of video game for Christmas). When my Oma was alive, I'd go for a walk in the evening to look at Christmas lights, but now I try to go with my mom. Later, we all gather around the table for black Italian coffee and espresso, cracking nuts, eating chocolates, telling stories, and laughing. I've usually baked my famous cheesecake and bask in the glow of everyone chowing down and letting me know how amazingly good it is and could they have the recipe please? We clean up again and then, we usually all watch a holiday movie together and just like that, Christmas is over.

Winter, to me, is a season of magic. It's a time when people are kinder and the air is chiller. It's a season for giving (I usually donate to charity and try to give a toy to a toy drive at this time of year) and being around the people you love. No other time of year feels like it, and it's my favorite!

I work in retail so I experience the holiday shopping madness firsthand! I've done it for so long that it seems to go faster every year lol. I usually celebrate Christmas day with my mother (it'll be the 4th one without my father). We cook and then watch Christmas stuff on TV. We'll probably put the tree up tomorrow!

My family and I celebrate Christmas. My husband and I, married 5 years, are still trying to sort out our family traditions, especially now that we've a son. This year, we're starting our "25 Days of Favorite Christmas Films". We didn't start on time (2 days late), but we've watched Lethal Weapon, Scrooged, Elf, and the Thin Man so far.

It's so much fun to read about everyone's favourite ways to celebrate! ♥

I love watching holiday movies this time of year! My husband and I started with Die Hard. X3

@Sailor Mercury that's going to be our Christmas Day movie. XD “It is the ultimate Christmas movie,” according to my husband, lol. Me, I'm content to watch those old Rankin/Bass stop-motion puppet movies, lol.

My family watches the Charlie Brown Christmas special! There's also a town about an hour south of us that has a beautiful Christmas festival, and we try to make that every year.

we really dont have any traditions other then maybe buying my grandmother a nativity scene something every year

My husband and I make our own stockings each year. But, unfortunately, this year we are not, because we are starting the home buying process. My husband is startingly optimistic that we would have to pack the apartment and move before Christmas, so there's no point in putting up decorations. I haven't the heart to say otherwise, lol.

My family doesn't have traditions? the only thing that could be is that since i'm from DR we celebrate Noche Buena, which is basically Christmas Eve, which is basically what most Americans would do on the 25th minus the presents (is not traditional to exchange gifts) so every year I made my mom cook a rice that I love (posted the recipe here) and I MUST have it every year, even if she cook anoher rice I MUST HAVE IT!... and I will try to do the same this 24th and made a tradition for me and my husband (at least one of them).

 Something that is kind of my thing is watch Home Alone 3 repeatedly ...yes, that's the one that I like the most.

To update everybody - my boyfriend and I are starting the final Harry Potter movie tonight! We've watched the previous 7, one every night before bed LOL

Spoiler:

Celest wrote:

To update everybody - my boyfriend and I are starting the final Harry Potter movie tonight! We've watched the previous 7, one every night before bed LOL

Spoiler:

Now that is one cool tradition!