Holiday traditions/memories

[latebloomer]

What are some of your favorite Christmas/New Years family traditions or memories?

Grandma's Charlie Brown Christmas tree. She always had a scrawny tree. One year she decided to get an artifical tree, and it was still scrawny and ugly. But it didn't matter, because her house was always full of people. And she always made lefse and kringla at Christmas.

The annual wrapping paper fight on my Dad's side. We always buried my uncle.

When I was growing up, we always spent Christmas Eve or the evening of the Sunday School Christmas program with some special family friends.

My brother had a goofy-looking little plastic camel about 2 inches high. No matter where we hid it, he always found it and put it in the middle of the Nativity scene in our living room. When he got married, my mom found it and gave it back to him.

One year, we went to my sister's for Christmas. While we were there, my Dad decided he needed his toenails trimmed. Dad has a bad nail on one big toe and the nail clippers wouldn't work on it. My sister ended up sending her kids to the barn to get the horse hoof trimmers. It was hilarious. Everyone in my family has a weird sense of humor.

But my favorite was always the 11PM candlelight service on Christmas eve and singing Silent Night to candlelight. BTW, does anyone know why Lutheran Christmas services always seem to end with Silent Night instead of some other hymn?

[dinkime]

i think churches end with silent night because everyone knows the words!! :)


then there isnt wax in the hymnals, lol

[MarkRohfrietsch]

Our tradition was to open our gifts Christmas eve after Church. (except for our stockings). That way Christmas day was for Church and family time. :)

Parents had a hard time getting us to bed after the gifts were opened.:scratch:

The wife's family would have no part of it. So now everything happens Christmas day.:sigh:

Mark:wave:

[stumpjumper]

We found a great family run place in the Poconos where you can cut your own tree. We are going to make it a tradition to go there every year and cut a tree a week before Christmas.

[RadMan]

When I was young we would come home after Christmas Eve service and each year dad and mom would stage some type of activity. One year as we were getting out of the car to go inside the house dad had snuck around the back and lit a skyrocket. Mom said that was santa clause taking off in his rocket sled. Another year when we ran into the house and saw the presents under the tree dad had climbed on to the roof unbeknowst to us kids an was tromping around on the roof. Mom said that the noise was the reindeer up there making noise. Each year someone would put a piece of red felt on the fireplace screen and say that santa got his suit caught and a small piece ripped off.

My grandpa bought dad one of the first American Flyer electric trains back in 1913 and it ran under their tree for years. Then when I was little in the late 40's, early 50's dad had the train working under the tree also. I set the same train up 2 weeks ago under my tree and it still works and the grandkids really enjoy it. I did some work on the transformer about 20 years ago because it didn't work but it works fine now.

[Jim47]

My favorite Christmas memories were when I was about 6-12 years old. We always went to my one grand parents house on Christmas eve. Grandpa was a camera buff for back then. I remember his camera had those huge flash bulbs, and he also had a movie camera. The dinner table was pretty big with all my cousins. Grandma had a really neat sun porch where all the kids would play, that is if we wern't in the basement playing hid and seek.

My other grandparents lives right accross the road from my Mom's folks. I was really close to them. I had every childhood illness there was at least 20 times and GrandMa would always take care of me cause my mom worked. She always let me beat her at rummy and checkers :hug: She was the sweatest lady I've evern known. She is also the one who took me to church and sunday school. Her dinner table was always full of turkey and the best dressing ever made. Then we had pecan pie and others. I only had one cousin on my dad's side, and I was about 12 when they moved to Illinois and we only saw them once a year or so after that. Grandpa always had all kinds of neat stories to tell me from when he was a young man. Working the fields with a team of horses, chopping down trees to hue them out and make a watering troff for the horses and other farm critters.

I am blessed to have a lot of good memories of my grand parents. I only remember one winter then when we weren't buried in snow, of course that wasn't a problem for me. I loved to play outside with all my friends. Now I'm old and hate the cold ^_^ at least my bones do ;)

[Tofferer]

We used to do a Christmas Eve dinner at my great-grandmother's place. This tradition died about a year and a half after she did (her husband out lived her by that length of time, dying on what would have been her 90th birthday). Since my return and Hope's entrance into the Lutheran church, our tradition has been the candle light Christmas Eve service at our church.

[Aibrean]

My fiance and I went to the candlelight service together too (and discovered that the candelabras down the aisles are available for weddings...hehehe). It was SO beautiful. This was my first time at our church for Christmas and it was the best I've ever been too.

We sang silent night and blew out the candles.

Then Devon spent about 3-5 hours the next week sweeping up the wax in the sanctuary.