my family is very lucky.  my mom's family still celebrates together.   i couldn't decide which tradition is my favorite.    it begins a week before christmas with a sleigh ride and dinner.  we have two to four  sleighs full of friends and family, they each hold about 12 people.   we sing all the carols we know, as we ride in the two horse open sleigh at night.

  three nights before christmas,  the extended family, again, gets together and goes "progressive carolling"   picking up people at every stop and munching on hors d'oeuvres along the way.  

    we celebrate christmas eve at my youngest aunt's house, with my mom's family.  she has three siblings and the whole clan is there.   we sing carols and do a gift exchange for the adults and all the kids get gifts.    my cousin went to chef school and fixes a wonderful  feast.

   christmas day, everyone opens their family gifts at their own homes.  we go to my daughter's  for breakfast, and SIL makes us abelskivers.    some of the  family goes off to in-laws.  it is usually a quieter day with only 15 to 20 people for dinner.  some of us stay and  play games or do puzzles together after dinner.

   these don't include the baking day.   we make gramma becker's honey cookies.  my grandmother's sister married a german man, and it is his mother's recipe.  it has directions like, add 1 coffee can of flour.    and we all individually make gramma becker's peppernuts.   these we keep in our pockets for snacks, they are bullet-proof.  

   three or four days after christmas, my mom's other sister has her famous seafood pig-out.  with all the family and all of her neighbors.

   new years eve, we go to my uncle's house.  he has a small lake.  there is a bonfire and  we do fireworks and have a sledding party.     every year, i think i am too old and too fat to run up that hill with the sled.    but so far, i'm still running up the hill.   it is way too much fun.  

   new year's day is another smaller family dinner.

   there is no way i could separate one thing out as my favorite,   it's a package deal.  

   one year, when our youngest daughter was 5 and we lived a long way frome home, my husband  and i were discussing that we should start our own family traditions.  we were in the car,packed like sardines,  making the 9 hour drive in the wee hours on icy, snow packed roads.    from out of the dark, this little voice in a very stern tone, says, " our tradition is going to gramma's house".     that settled it.   she's 35 now.      gini

Gini

Your family Christmas sounds wonderful. It is so lovely to hear of a family who are so close and loving, if only all people were like that. Please try and post some pictures of the Sleigh Ride I would love to see that. It sounds like a dream Christmas.

Jay-Marie UK

jay-marie,    the sleighride this year, it was last night, was in the rain.  we had lots of warm woolen blankets and a big fire roaring in the fireplace when we got back, so we didn't get cold, but were very soggy.    no one took their cameras out of their pockets.    dinner was delish.   one of my mom's cousins daughters married the nephew of one of our high school instructors.  so we got to catch up on that whole side of the family last night.

 several generations down here in a small town, you can see the relationships get complicated.   we have more than a few double cousins.    my aunt says, that our family tree doesn't branch much.    : )  gini

My favourite thing was spending the day with my family and listening to the carolers in the evening as they went from house to house. The day after Christmas (Boxing Day) was the day to go visiting friends and have parties. I miss the warmth of a Caribbean Christmas.

My favourite tradition is the stockings too! When I was little, I would sneak down in the middle of the night and dump out my stocking carefully to see what was in it...then I would check out my sisters' stockings too...Santa got wise after awhile and began wrapping some of the small gifts in the stocking so that they couldn't been seen until opened...lol

I still do stockings with my husband and dogs on Christmas Eve....my Dad, stepmother, and my DH's Dad celebrate gift opening with us after a lovely restaurant meal (the turkey ALWAYS turns out at a restaurant!)...I still get the same thrill when opening my stocking...except now I don't peek!

Our family tradition is having a wonderful dinner of prime rib, twice baked potatoes and all the fixin's. We've had to rearrange our plans for Christmas as my son has a fiance' now. They go to her parents for breakfast and gifts and drive back 2 hours to spend the late afternoon and dinner with us.

  I also enjoy a tradition my husband started  a few years ago by buying scratch off Lotto tickets as stocking stuffers. My son and I developed a friendly competetion of seeing who could win the most. I get so tickled when I win, because my son is so competitive, the faces he makes are just priceless.    

My children and grandchildren all arrive on Christmas eve. WE have some kind of chowder with crackers and cheese, and of course Christmas cookies which I have been making for many years to give to family and friends and to kids and now grown-ups who were in my Day Care over the years. The grandchildren each get a stocking full of goodies

My favorite tradition at christmas is making sugar cookies with my 3 grandchildren.

A couple of weeks before christmas we get together and they help make and put icing on

the cookies..

Now when the sprinkles are used just say for weeks afterwards I am still finding sprinkles

but, it might be messy but, years from now I will look back at when they were small

and how we made a mess but, enjoyed every bit of it....

Also, on Christmas Eve we go to church .

I love the memories my grandchildren and I are sharing...

Debbie Effinger

Indiana

My favorite tradition is celebrating Christmas on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas day.  My kids and grandkids come over, we have a special meal, and then open gifts together.  We take lots of photos and make sure the dogs in the family get gifts too.  

Every year we have a inside children's caroling party a couple of days before Christmas.  We have our children and their families staying at our house for the party.  Some time over the vacation we have a big meal and open presents and get to spend some time with the grandkids.  We attend Christmas Eve church service and go to our nephew's house for dinner on Christmas Day.

Because of the weather, our traditions were scrambled and abriviated this year.  The morning of Christmas Eve, we had a rushed brunch, opened presents and sent everyone on their way before the snow started.  Christmas Eve Service was cancelled and we didn't get out on the road to go to dinner at our nephew's.  We sat in front of the fire and listened to the quiet of our house.  It may sound bleak, but it was a blessing!  It started a new Christmas tradition for me!  In the years to come, I will take time to remember the "Quiet Christmas" we spent and thank God for all the people, family, noise, and glitter in my life.