Christmas Eve Traditions

hollydolly70

hollydolly70

New member
Wondering what everyone's Christmas Eve traditions are: what kind of special dinner do you have, how do you spend the evening? It is usually just myself, my husband and our son on Christmas Eve - would like to do something a bit different this year - share your plans with me!! Our weather has been changing so much here too - that outside, snowy weather fun is unpredictable... not like years ago when you knew there would be lots and lots of snow!

Holly :)
 
We drive through our local park's big holiday light display, and then we come home and let Rachel open up a present (the yearly PJ's---she is not thrilled with them LOL). Mom takes pity on her and lets her open up one fun thing as well. Then we head to church for the 11pm candlelight service. All of the kids were their PJs, there's a huge crowd, and we have a great time.
After that, we come home, read a bedtime story, and get some sleep :)
 
Our Christmas Eve is always changing. It depends on whether or not DS is working. If he is, then DD and I usually stay right at home and just have a quiet evening with the 2 of us. If DS is not working then we go to his house and have Christmas with his family (wife and daughter).

In the past we have had Christmas Eve with various friends by house hopping to open houses. I've hosted open houses before also. The years that it is just DD and I, we have our favorite appetizer foods and a Christmas movie marathon.

No matter what we do, once we get Cheyanne always gets to open 1 gift, and then she always writes a note to Santa and leaves him his cookies and milk. She also goes outside to sprinkle the reindeer food out in the yard. (She still does all this even though she no longer believes in Santa ;))
 
We send out for pizza & watch a Christmas cartoon marathon or a holiday movie. They put on their new PJs (which are not wrapped because DH is adamantly against Pjs as gifts as well as opening things on Xmas eve) set up a sausage & cheese plate & glass of wine for Santa (he gets enough sweets from everyone else & we think he might appreciate something savory) and give Elvin, our elf a note for Santa. Then DH reads the Night Before Christmas & they go to bed.

If we are in Florida with my parents we usually add a drive around to look at the holiday light displays & decorations. There isn't much by way of lighting display anywhere around us at home so we skip that part when we are at home.
 
Christmas Eve candlelight service at church & a "normal" dinner. The kids don't open anything... we do all the big stuff & the big feast on Christmas Day.
 
Christmas Eve service & sometimes we go out for dinner at a Chinese Buffet. LOL Then Luke gets to open his Christmas PJs and we watch a Christmas movie before sending him off to bed.
 
Christmas pj's, the kids exchange a gift from each other, we have our christmas dinner, usually steak & shrimp. Watch how the grinch stole christmas, mickey's christmas carol & any other christmas cartoon they want to watch.
 
We go to Mass at 4pm or 6pm, then do dinner, which varies. I wrap any gifts that aren't wrapped yet, then we watch It's a Wonderful Life. The boys no longer have Christmas PJs and no longer open a Christmas Eve gift.
 
Oh... I forgot, after dinner we always watch a Christmas movie together as a family. Then we send those kids off to bed and Aaron and I finish wrapping their gifts while watching It's A Wonderful Life. :)
 
We don't do anything special. I think last year we let the kids open one little present each, but it's not a tradition.
 
We make a big deal of Christmas Eve...I think its more a european tradition that carried over to us. It was usually also in Summer (lol) so we would BBQ and have salads and finger foods and give out the presents. Christmas morning would be Church and then after that a Big Family meal.
 
On Christmas Eve, we always go to my BILs house for a dinner and opening presents with them. Then home to sleep in preparation for Christmas morning :)
 
On Christmas Eve, we always have Chinese food dinner. After dinner, I pick out one present for everybody to open. Then we set out cookies and milk for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer. We read the kids Twas the Night Before Christmas and it's off to bed for them!

Then hubby and I do the Christmas morning prep (stockings out, presents from Santa arranged, etc.) and we watch a movie together.
 
Christmas Eve dinner is typically lasagna. I don't remember when that tradition started but my kids really enjoy it. We grab some hot cocoa and drive around looking at lights while listening to Christmas carols. Then we head home and settle in to watch a holiday movie.

My daughter's half birthday is on Christmas Eve so we sing to her and wish her a happy half birthday and give her gifts for that. It seems kind of silly, but we've always celebrated all the half birthdays so we have to celebrate hers too, Christmas Eve or not. (It started with my step-son who has a birthday in February. We never saw him in February but we always had him in August when his half birthday landed so we started to make a big fuss about that so that we still had a special day with him. He's 20 now and still looks forward to hearing from us on his half birthday.)

The kids get in to their Christmas jammies. We do NOT wait until Christmas Eve for these, they usually get them early in December so they can wear them several times before Christmas. Typically Noel, our Christmas angel, leaves the kids pajamas early in December. They wear them a lot through December... makes her feel like she gets her money's worth. ;) This year they may even come in November as the 7 year old has a pajama day on Nov. 30th and the new Angry Bird Christmas pajamas would be pretty awesome for that. ;)

Anyway, after they are all ready for bed we read the final book in our basket of books that we use to count down to Christmas (Lots of people do this lately I'm noticing. I started doing it when my daughter was born so this will be our 11th year. It's such a fun tradition!). 'Twas the Night Before Christmas is always last, of course. Then I give the kids sleeping pills and send them to bed.... not really. LOL It would be nice some years though. ;)
 
We go to Christmas Eve service (which is either late afternoon or around dinnertime) all dolled up in our new fancy clothes. Our church is jean-friendly, so getting really dressed up is a big deal. I attempt to take pictures in front of the tree in said fancy duds before church, but no one in the family is known for being particularly cooperative when it comes to picture-taking, so it can be a crapshoot if I end up with any usuable shots.

When we get home, we have pizza, bake Jesus' birthday cake, change into new Christmas jammies, watch 'Elf,' and read our last Christmas story before bed.
 
Normally I work Christmas and Christmas Eve and the ex-h, kiddo and I go out for supper and open presents that night. This year I have Christmas Eve off, work Christmas Day and then have 7 days in a row off to include New Years!!!! So, I'm not sure our plan. It might be the exact same thing as we normally do though, just more time to do it. lol Then after Christmas when its easier for me to get a few days in a row off, we go to visit our extended families on the other side of the state.
 
If we don't have extended family stuff to do we go to the Christmas Eve service at church and then usually come home and open our family gifts together. This kind of depends on what is going on Christmas day, but if we have extended family stuff going on on Christmas day then we go ahead and open our gifts. I make sure Caleb is dressed in his Christmas pjs for bed-we also start wearing them early in the season so we can get our money's worth, and then we read The Christmas Story and The Night Before Christmas. Then dh usually crashes and I get to put out all the Santa stuff.
 
My family is Swedish by heritage, so growing up our big celebration is Christmas Eve. We make Potatis Korv (potato sausage - which we make), boiled potatoes with white sauce, brown beans, limpa (Swedish rye bread), and a few other goodies for dinner before heading off to church. Then we'll come home and open the tree presents and eat a whole smorgasbord of cookies! Then the Tomte (Santa) comes overnight and brings more presents to fill the stockings, which we open in the morning.

Now that I'm married we try to do the same, but sometimes we don't. (His family is Scotch/English/Irish.) Like this year. We're not making the sausage, so we'll just do something else for dinner. We still do the majority of the celebration on C. Eve, but it's not as big of a thing.

I miss the old way, but ya gotta adapt with the blending of families.
 
It depends on if it's just the three of us or if we're visiting my family. If we're visiting family we play Dirty Santa, there's a huge Christmas Eve spread (turkey and ham sandwiches, cheese and crackers, dips, chips, chili, and lots of cookies and other treats), and there's usually a Chirstmas Eve type program where everyone can read a story or poem, sing or play a Christmas song (lots of musical talent in my family which sadly escaped me), and sometimes there will be a Christmas play, and then the reading of The Christmas Story from the Bible. We finish the evening with PJs for all the kids, hanging up the stockings and putting out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the Reindeer, before sending the kids to bed.

If it's just the three of us we do everything but the Dirty Santa and Christmas program, and we usually watch a Christmas movie or concert instead.

I really love both Christmas Eve's, I love the big family get together, but sometimes the less stress and quiet of it just being the three of us can be pretty great as well.
 
We open our gifts - except for one big gift from Santa and the stockings that is for Christmas Day... then off to church and then dinner with my mom and step dad.
 
Ours varies slightly from year to year but we try to make each year as fun and special as possible with some sort of Christmas-y activity before bed (build gingerbread house, make cookies for Santa, reindeer food etc). Our kids get their pjs early in the season too and we don't do any gifts before bed or special meals but we try to make the night feel fun and filled with excited anticipation. Of course, we read The Night Before Christmas right before bed <3.

Tim almost always has to work on Christmas Eve so it is just me and the kiddos. I try to have them asleep by the time he comes home so we can do all the last minute preparations. My littles won't leave the presents alone so we keep them all hidden until after the kids go to bed and they wake up to a whole living room filled with presents (it's a small room and we have a lot of kids LOL!)
 
MamaBee said:
We open our gifts - except for one big gift from Santa and the stockings that is for Christmas Day... then off to church and then dinner with my mom and step dad.
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As a kid we opened everything under the tree on Christmas Eve. Santa came that night and left gifts and filled the stockings. The stuff we opened on Christmas Eve was all of the gifts we had for each other and from extended family. As we got older and Santa stopped coming the tradition was still to open everything on Christmas Eve. I didn't like it because Christmas morning felt pretty empty. In DH's family they got to open one present on Christmas Eve.

I love reading about all the different traditions. :)
 
gypsystar said:
Ours varies slightly from year to year but we try to make each year as fun and special as possible with some sort of Christmas-y activity before bed (build gingerbread house, make cookies for Santa, reindeer food etc). Our kids get their pjs early in the season too and we don't do any gifts before bed or special meals but we try to make the night feel fun and filled with excited anticipation. Of course, we read The Night Before Christmas right before bed <3.

Tim almost always has to work on Christmas Eve so it is just me and the kiddos. I try to have them asleep by the time he comes home so we can do all the last minute preparations. My littles won't leave the presents alone so we keep them all hidden until after the kids go to bed and they wake up to a whole living room filled with presents (it's a small room and we have a lot of kids LOL!)
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Last year was the first year our kids ever saw gifts under the tree before Christmas morning! My daughter wasn't bad when she was little but the boy... oh my gosh, he got in to everything. We kept all the wrapped gifts put away until the kids went to bed and then, like you, surprised them with all the presents in the morning. :) I really missed seeing gifts under the tree. For me that was always something I really enjoyed. I love seeing all the wrapping paper and trying to guess what could be inside the gifts, etc. It was a real joy to me as a kid to sit in front of the tree and just stare at the presents, daydreaming about what could be in them. We never had many so maybe that is why I focused on that as a kid... not sure. I liked the gifts better before I unwrapped them though. ;) This year I am going to put gifts under the tree as soon as we get the tree put up (live tree, it'll be another week or so). My littlest is 7 now and old enough to leave the presents alone, finally! (I hope!).
 
When I was married my ex grew up doing their entire Christmas on Christmas Eve. I grew up doing the one present on Christmas Eve, then driving to visit 3 or 4 families until late at night and then every thing else on Christmas morning. So we would celebrate with his family Christmas Eve and mine on Christmas morning. Then, as our families became friends we ended up with a big dinner at my house on the 24th with grandparent gifts, then on the 25th the Santa presents and our own presents. I've been divorced for about 10 years now and my kids are 21 and 18. I still have a big dinner on the 24th with extended family on my mom's side and then my dad and stepmom come over for breakfast and all our presents with the kids. Then the kids visit their dad for a few hours later that day.
 
As a kid we visited one-side of the family (usually the boring side! :blink:)

Now that we are grown-up's with our own family, we visit extended family before the holidays and then spend Christams alone.

Christmas eve we go to a beautiful candlelight church service. Simple meal that evening.

Christmas morning we get up at the crack of dawn and open presents. Then we put together lego's all day. Usually go for a walk, or get outside somehow. This year, I think we'll have a 'dessert' gathering with some of our friends in the afternoon.
 
the past 3 years we have psent Christmas at HOME with just our own family of 6 ...and I have loved every minute of it....last year I actually cooked a ham and all the fixings for dinner (and my MIL surprised us by showing up to spend the night around 2 pm)...the kids were super excited.....my other MIL ALWAYS gets my kids PJ's for Christmas...it is totally a Christmas tradition and that is what they open on Christmas Eve along with something else small she sends them.....I wrap a few things and leave them under the tree for most of the month, but the big Santa stuff is wrapped and sved to put out after the kids go to bed and everything is openend on Christmas morning,,,,,,,stockings are ALWAYS the 1st thing everybody opens :) My family tradition that I passed on :)
 
Before hubby joined the military, when we lived near our family, we always had a huge family gathering with finger foods and we'd do the family gift exchange. Now, I sometimes try to have a get together Christmas Eve day with friends and some of DHs single soldiers who didn't go home for the holiday. Our little family tradition though is regular dinner (or leftover finger foods if we had a party). The kids get to open one small gift and their annual Christmas PJs. We make "reindeer food" (oatmeal & glitter) and sprinkle it in the front yard, leave milk and cookies out for Santa then once the girls are in bed we have some wine, listen to Christmas music and do any last minute wrapping.

Since we had kids we always try to stay home on Christmas day. We can have visitors all day long, but we decided early on that it wasn't fair to the kiddos to give them all these fun, new toys in the morning, then yank them away from them to drive all over town visiting people. lol So Christmas morning DH makes Créps & Mimosas (sparkling cider for the girls' mimosas) for brunch and then I make a nice ham dinner.
 
Well, I'm in Europe so Christmas Eve is BIG here. We have dinner with my side of the family and we take turns in hosting it. This year it's my turn. We typically have drinks and appetizers first and during that, the kids open their presents. After dinner we play board games and it usually becomes a long night, lol. Part of the family will sleep over at our house and in the morning I'm hosting the Christmas breakfast as well. :)
 
As a kid we had hot air balloons and always did a glow on Christmas Eve. We'd be up really late and then go home and do presents etc. Now it really depends on the year because so often it's a work day (this year DH works practically every holiday, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve/day etc) so we just work around it. My kids don't really know any differently, we usually spend it one way or another with my Mom and Stepdad and they are awesome about working around it too.
 
December 23rd has always been a big birthday day in our family - my dad, grandma and BIL all have Dec 23rd birthdays. So we would usually do something for my dad and/or grandma on that day, take it easy on the 24th and then all the Christmas stuff would happen on the 25th. We did open presents on Christmas eve once and I didn't like that - it meant there wasn't nothing to do on Christmas day, haha.
 
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