Re: Tell me about your holiday traditions...

Re: Tell me about your holiday traditions...

I was just going to ask that too Glinda!!!

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These are all so sweet and FUN!!!!! I can't even imagine 75 people in someone's HOUSE for Christmas Eve!!! I've also figured out that I'd be very HUNGRY if I were Italian (I don't do fish. At all. )

Re: Tell me about your holiday traditions...

My mom started buying ornaments for my brothers and I each year since we were born...she passed them on to us when we got married.

Also when we were growing up we each had our own side of the tree...Birth order. ANd each one of us had a special wrapping paper in which all of our gifts were wrapped. My mom also stacked the gifts by size. I loved that my mom did this.

Also on Christmas Eve we went to 5PM mass and then came home and each got to open the gifts that we had bought for each other. Christmas Day was when we opened the gifts from Santa.

Re: Tell me about your holiday traditions...

Posted by mrsej

Christmas Eve is with my Dad's family. He is one of 8 children and I have 30 first cousins - everyone goes to my Aunt's house. My Dad was born in Italy so we have huge Christmas Eve dinner - tons of fish - not one piece of meat to be found! There are 75 people and it is a sit down dinner!!! My Aunt actually bought Christmas china to serve 75. Everyone uses the bathroom before they sit, b/c once you find your seat, you are boxed in for the night! For that night, it is old school - during the changing of the courses all the men sit and talk and drink and all the women are clearing the table and serving, even though the women are doctors, lawyers, scientists, professors. We actually have a priest come and say mass - a full mass- in the living room before dinner starts so noone has to leave early to go to midnight mass. After dinner and before the dessert all of the kids sit around the Christmas tree and sing carols and then someone dresses up as Santa and distributes gifts to the kids. Yes - you buy gifts for all of the kids, so my mom used to buy 27 gifts. Now the cousins who have kids buy gifts for all the cousins kids, so I bought 18 gifts. While the kids go crazy with the gifts, the adults have dessert and after dinner drinks and usually all the men are drunk and start telling jokes. we don't leave until 1a.m. This has been going on for 34 years. My dad said he thought it would end when all of the cousins got older and married and would have to go to inlaws, but instead noone would dare miss it. We joke that once you get married, you force your SO to swear that every Christmas Eve will be spent at our aunts. It is great when you go home and get ready for bed and your ears still ring b/c it was so loud. We also have this tradition that when you are pregnant you bring the salad b/c it is the easiest thing to make and then you would announce you are pregnant when you walk into the room with the salad. That tradition is 30 years old. I have seen may aunts do it and last year I finally got to bring the salad! So did 3 of my cousins! But the big joke around this time of year is "who is bringing the salad" b/c it usually is the first time that the person announces they are pregnant. When they bring the salad into the room everyone starts cheering - it is really cut. I LOVE CHRISTMAS EVE - hopefully, we will keep the tradition and my DS can experience the many wonderful memories I had.

Re: Tell me about your holiday traditions...

Every Christmas Eve we open 1 gift......it's ALWAYS Christmas Eve pj's. This is a tradition my parents started when we were born and it has continued to me and my husband and it will continue when we have kids of our own, and so on.......The fun is knowing it's jammies, but the anticipation of not knowing which pair. I LOVE this!!

Re: Tell me about your holiday traditions...

Every Christmas Eve is at my grandmother's. She makes pasta and all the fish you could imagine. Now that she is getting older, my cousins help her out with the cooking.

My mom's traditions are the christmas pajamas and each of us having our own wrapping paper.

I am trying to start a new tradition of having Christmas Day at my house but so far my dad isn't going for it. When we have kids, I will have to put my foot down LOL