Christmas and New Year Traditions

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Amish Heart

Amish Heart

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What are your family traditions?
I cook a big meal for Christmas Eve dinner...this year will be prime rib. Whichever kids/grandkids can make it show up. We eat, go to church. The younger ones open one gift. Then the 20 somethings stay up talking, a little drinking (ok, some years alot of drinking), and finally crash out about 3am. Only to be awakened at 6am by the grandkids getting into their stockings. I've stayed up awhile with them, but know to get to bed at least by midnight. My husband usually helps make breakfast in the morning, but this year I don't think he can, and that's ok. We open gifts afterwards. Another big dinner in the evening...this year a ham and the other half of the 37 lb turkey. We are usually at the farm for New Years. Our party has a few relatives (nonAmish ones) in attendance. We break out the moonshine and play Farmopoly and UNO till midnight, and eat lots and lot of good snacks.
 
Christmas eve my family gathers at my mom and stepdads. Eating and opening whatever we have. Then Christmas day used to be at my Grandparents till they passed with extended family. Now we rotate between my mom and her 2 brothers every year. Some major eating takes place then. We have some really good cooks in the family. But I still miss my grandmas deviled eggs. Her and my grandpa even worse.
 
For us Christmas Eve means candlelight services at church, watching Nana cry as we all sing Silent Night, then back home for a bowl of chili and then a mug of Tom & Jerry or spiced apple cider. A bottle of red wine will get opened for some of the ladies and my Dad will pour himself a glass of Brandy. The kids get to open one present and it is always a new pair of winter pajamas. We will pass around a few plates of Christmas goodies and Papa will read the Christmas story (about the birth of Jesus). We will then tell stories about Christmas past and visit until it's time to start tucking in the kids, and then visit some more once they are all down.

Christmas morning means a big breakfast followed by clean up. As kids wake up they have unfettered access to their stockings but not their wrapped gifts. Once everyone is up and fed we sit around the living room and the youngest 2 kids hand out gifts. Once everyone has a gift in hand we go around the room and open them one at a time. When all of the adults gifts are open then kids get to open the rest of theirs with a little more expedience. This is of course accompanied by dozens of photos and followed up by lots of hugs and thank yous. After clean up we usually watch A Wonderful Life or another Christmas classic as the prime rib cooks low and slow. It's not uncommon to go sledding or just play in the snow at this point, perhaps break out some board games or the cribbage board. We usually have our big meal around 3:30-4:00pm so around Noon we put out what we call "morsels and tidbits" but is really a charcuterie platter. My wife takes great pride in it and spends a lot of time and effort making it fancy.
 
Another big Christmas tradition in our house is my wife's homemade turtles. She finished her 75th dozen last night, along with 25 dozen wrapped caramels. 95% or more already was and will be handed out as gifts.
 
Sentry18 said:
Another big Christmas tradition in our house is my wife's homemade turtles. She finished her 75th dozen last night, along with 25 dozen wrapped caramels. 95% or more already was and will be handed out as gifts.
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Adopt me!!
:):)
 
This year we are starting some traditions with our granddaughters. We jumped into the 4 wheel drive and drove thru the woods. Got out and hiked thru the woods with them and let them pick out a cedar tree. We cut it down and drug it to the truck and hauled it to the house. We dug a hole in the yard and set it up, then let them decorate it. Wife showed them How to string popcorn. The girls called it sewing popcorn! Lol. It worked great until the deer ate the popcorn off the tree. They got a kick out that.
 
Every year ws go to the Flower Market in Mong Kok and buy a Christmas ornament, there is a shop over here that has really nice French laquer type ornaments. All made in China so probably full of lead and may explode one day.... But they look really nice on the tree....
Tonight im going into work for a few hours, then meet my wife and son at Church with a turkey. Its a small parish and everyone pitches in and brings something. Those Greek ladies can cook!
Home, watch Christmas Vacation, up for Christmas morning with the boy and my wife, back to work.
Bottle of champagne or 6 with my staff, king crab and roast beef for my staff because we have been looking at turkey since Nov.
Do lunch for a bunch of whiny members and their brat children.
Another Bt of champagne with the staff...
Rush home, start dinner for the family, hopefully my wife has the ham in the oven and the bread dough proofing. Capons, honey roast ham, salads and roasted corn casserole.
Cookies and cake and fruit and beer beer beer for me. Bingo with the in-laws and secret santa gifts...
Then i usually collapse and fall asleep on the sofa with the dog
 
For years ....we always bought a huge standing rib roast and had it sliced into 1 thick Ribeye steaks..
Usually had 3-4 left over.

Thats with 8 grown ups and 6 kids.

That was the main course..
Of course we had tons of sides, and desserts.

That's Christmas Day.

Then...

photo.jpeg


Jim
 
Not exactly sure when I started Christmas at our house, but it's been for several years anyways. We have turkey and ham and lots of other "stuff."
Traditions when the kids were little: there was a pickle prize. After they went to bed, I would hang the glass pickle on the tree and in the morning whichever one found the pickle got the present. (It was always something that required more than one, but they didn't figure that out.) It was more about bragging rights. New Year is really just another day for us. When I was in HS, we would go to our "second family's" house and play the farming game.
 
LadyLocust said:
Not exactly sure when I started Christmas at our house, but it's been for several years anyways. We have turkey and ham and lots of other "stuff."
Traditions when the kids were little: there was a pickle prize. After they went to bed, I would hang the glass pickle on the tree and in the morning whichever one found the pickle got the present. (It was always something that required more than one, but they didn't figure that out.) It was more about bragging rights. New Year is really just another day for us. When I was in HS, we would go to our "second family's" house and play the farming game.
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We have a glass pickle as well. The pickle prize is a jar of pickles! I get all kinds of Christmas gifts such as a large bottle of good lotion, lip balm, etc. and pickles is one of those things that I get for a small gift for daughter along with all of the other small gifts and whatever the big gift is.
 
We go visit kids and grandkids. We have made it minimally about gifts and more about family. With the exception of the grands they get hugs and stuff. Then we go have dinner at the other grandparents.
 
Before every Christmas, for the last 25+ years, we must watch this:

I still laugh to this day🤣.
 
Sit and stare into the darkness and try not to realize I sneaked another one out the door.
Sometimes get blind drunk, but in the last few years, I haven't bothered to do that. I listen to the sound of a tree falling in the forest, without me there to hear it, and applaud it by the sound of one hand clapping and admiring the darkness without seeing it. sometimes I even drop by to see what condition my condition is in, but it doesn't seem to like even my company. Hi-Ho.

Yes, I'm being a morbid creep. LOL
 
Turkey and Ham here, I usually cook the ham in cider the day before then pop it in to bake slowly with honey and mustard on it. Stuffing and all the trimmings. Our small tradition began when the children were small, husband and I would take their presents out of hiding, to put under the tree, and then open one to each other. Christmas morning everyone waits until we are all up, into the living room to open gifts together. Now the children are older and buy their own things, they keep theirs to each other and swop them after dinner, we usually have a bit of a game, such as a pop or movie quiz or something also. We have an old game that are pizza wedges, with questions printed on, if you got it right, you got the wedge, the first person to a full pie wins. Never gets old!
 
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