What are your guys Christmas season traditions?

[jballscalls]

Curious if you guys have any regular Christmas traditions that you and your families do?

We always have some fun ones. The day before Christmas eve all the cousins get together and bake cookies together. Then Christmas eve the whole family gets together and we do a white elephant gift exchange, along with dinner, then go drive around to a neighborhood near my aunts house that always has amazing Christmas lights and go look at the lights. Christmas day is breakfast with my mom and sister and then reading Santa Anita pp's!

Was just setting up some Christmas stuff and feeling in the season, so just curious what traditions you all have?

[wiffleball whizz]

My Xmas traditions......

For last 7 years it's been at work at Xmas eve.....

I get out at 8pm and fire away on the Hawaii bowl

As for Xmas day I lower my standards and bet nba.......


Sounds depressing as I type this I got buried for 1200 playing cards and horses but living in maryland I've never been happier!!!!!!

[TJDave]

There's a friend of mine in Oklahoma city who runs an organization called Wassails for Winos. He collects donations and and buys as much as can be bought of cheap wine and 1/2 pints of whiskey. Hands it out on Xmas eve and day

[badcompany]

Just the usual heated exchanges between family members.

[HUSKER55]

YEP! when the people pull up in their vans do not be afraid yet. Those are just the war wagons circling the house! The action starts hand to hand inside!

[BlueShoe]

Christmas Day? Why that is the day before Santa Anita opens, I settle down with my Racing Form and handicap, of course. Isn't this what all good horseplayers do?

[jballscalls]

I did forget to mention that of course this year we'll all be talking about Obamacare, as that's what the president told us to do.

I was kind of bummed, I was hoping for a spirited debate at the table for Thanksgiving when someone brought up O-care as my family is pretty split politically. My uncle just said "What a F**kin Clown Show this is" and everyone, even the dems kind of just nodded and that was it LOL

[delayjf]

Just the usual heated exchanges between family members.

I'm bless as my family gets along great, not perfect but still all in all. My wife is amazed at how well we get along compared to her family.

I also watch all the old X-mas cartoons that I watched as a little boy. Doesn't seem like Christmas without watching Rudolph, Charlie Brown, and Frosty. I have started staying up late Christmas eve watch a Christmas Story - it takes me back to the days when I had to politic for my first bb gun.

The Wife watches lifetime movies non-stop.

[Ocala Mike]

Yes, "A Christmas Story." Written and narrated by the late Jean Shepherd, we try to watch this 3 or 4 times every season. Ol' Shep used to regale his listeners with stories like this every Sunday night on WOR radio in NY back in the late 50's.

[Let's Roll]

For Christmas Eve, my family has observed in some fashion, the Feast of the Seven Fishes : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feast_of_the_Seven_Fishes

Years ago my Mother would cook all seven. Lately, as the family moved across the country and overseas, we have served as little as 2 different kinds of fish. Back in the day, my Grandmother made stuffed squid, a dish I have never tried....and I love squid !
1994 was a memorable year, because I caught all the different fish. I was offshore 30 to 60 miles every weekend, some of the fish was frozen from the summer and fall catch. We served fried Calamari, Cod, Pollock, Blackfish, Sea Bass, Mahi Mahi, Ling and Tuna.

[cj's dad]

Christmas is a bummer for me since the wife passed away. This is also the first Christmas that I have ever spent without my mother, so it will be a sad one.The two oldest boys and their families are out west and my youngest works at the hospital on the holidays. I try to keep a positive outlook by attending mass on Christmas morning, and then going to the nearest breakfast place. By 6 or 7 PM, some of the local establishments have opened for the bachelors in the area and I hang out there until it is time to go home. I remember the good days and comfort myself with those thoughts.

Th those of you who still have family, cherish these days for they will not be here forever.

[Tape Reader]

Originally Posted by cj's dad

Christmas is a bummer for me since the wife passed away. This is also the first Christmas that I have ever spent without my mother, so it will be a sad one.The two oldest boys and their families are out west and my youngest works at the hospital on the holidays. I try to keep a positive outlook by attending mass on Christmas morning, and then going to the nearest breakfast place. By 6 or 7 PM, some of the local establishments have opened for the bachelors in the area and I hang out there until it is time to go home. I remember the good days and comfort myself with those thoughts.

Th those of you who still have family, cherish these days for they will not be here forever.

I hear you. With me I look at a grandchild and know that it all starts over again.

[badcompany]

Originally Posted by delayjf

I'm bless as my family gets along great, not perfect but still all in all. My wife is amazed at how well we get along compared to her family.

It's great when family can get along well. However, if they can't, I don't see the point in forcing it. Best to just go your separate ways.

I wonder what percentage of families are dysfunctional, with my definition being, given truth serum, you confess to being perfectly content to never see these people, again.

[GaryG]

This will also be my first Christmas without my mother. Judy and I will go to church on Christmas Eve, go see the Speedway in Lights at Bristol Motor Speedway and then come home and watch the 1938 version of A Christmas Carol. Christmas with the kids (four grandchildren) can get a little tedious. My message to all: Be thankful for what you have and focus on the reason for the holiday and not all of the excess.

[wisconsin]

Every year on the weekend before, we go to the Wisconsin Dells and stay at a water park resort for 3 nights (fabulous cabin condos that sleep a bunch), and we rent 3 of them so everyone can fit. What a blast! Games, movies, food, water park, casino 10 minutes away with OTB, white elephant gift exchange and did I mention food? Usually about 25 of us.

Last year my sister gave away some old 1970's corny honey-style bear piggy bank that we put on the lobby mantel to see how long it would last. There are many facebook pictures with it there through the year. It was still there as of Thanksgiving when my sister swung over for photos. Too funny, the thing is butt ugly, but marginally fits the décor of the place, and the staff can't figure out that it does not belong there.

Christmas day is much more quiet, just our boys and their girlfriends, once in awhile the in-laws when they are not visiting other family.