I Tweet I Twat a Christmas Tradition
It's the little things that count, so lately I've been trying to figure out what little traditions we should start for the holidays. It's really the first year that Alexis could potentially remember, so this is the time to figure out what Christmas in our house is going to be about. In the quest for ideas, I asked twitter a question:
Twitter never fails to provide some fantastic answers. Like, a whole lot of fantastic ideas:
(Sorry, but I was too lazy to retype and link all that. Screen prints are for winners.)
Some thoughts:
1. Add in the DMs I received, and there were over 20 people who said that pajamas on Christmas Eve was one of their fondest "little touch" memories. I think we shall have to jump on that bandwagon so our kid isn't the loser who didn't get pajamas.
2. The whole orange in the toe of a stocking idea? Me likey. A lot. Alexis won't eat it (she's a goofus and likes mandarin oranges from a jar, but won't eat fresh citrus anything), but I sure will.
3. Little toys in the kids' rooms to encourage them to stay put a little longer in the morning? That idea makes @trxFOXHOLE's pretty much the smartest parents on the planet.
4. Lots of people mentioned candy in stockings. How much of that was Halloween candy stashed for use by Santa?
5. I need an origami star Christmas tree. Y'all better stay out of my way on December 26th because momma is gonna have to procure a clearance tree and make it happen.
What about you? What little holiday tradition do you remember fondly?
Friday, December 18, 2009
Reader Comments (22)
Mine are many fold. But I'll start with the best. We went to church on Xmas Eve and would drive around looking at lights afterwards. Santa came during that time, as we spent actual Xmas at my grandparents house. We would come home and open all of our gifts. We also opened one at a time alternating through the whole family. Afterwards it's a huge feast on nothing but appetizers.
I have a stocking that has the Twas the Night before Christmas story on the back and an illustration from it on the front. Last year we sat around and read it as it was the only x-mas'y thing really (snowed in).
Oranges always in the stockings. Stockings for the pets as well (separate ones for the dogs and cats) with 'gifts' for them (bones for the dogs, various sundries for the cats)
Orange in the stocking for us too. We always got Christmas pajama's and could open one gift on Christmas Eve. It's funny how a lot of us have the same traditions. OH.....and the dog always got presents too!
Thanks for the memories. This is a sad Christmas for me this year. The anniversary of my mom's death is Monday and this year all my family is far away.
Patti
Santa always brought a bowl of fruit (apples and oranges) and another with mixed nuts in the shell. I don't like a lot of nuts, but I do like almonds. It was always fun cracking the nuts open and eating them. Santa doesn't bring them to our house now because we don't really like walnuts, pecans, toe nuts (don't remember the name of those) and all those other ones in the mix, but I really miss seeing that bowl on Christmas morning and sitting around the breakfast table with the family laughing and cracking nuts.
Hey my twit isn't there and the world should know that Swedish fish are INTEGRAL to stockings here.
Except my 3-yo hates them.
I think she was switched at birth.
You may want to run that past tense of tweet you invented through Urban Dictionary ...
We never did pj's on Christmas eve.. :-)
There was always an apple and an orange in the toe of our stockings.. that has continued on with our kids.
We bake Christmas Cookies while listening to Christmas Carols.
My hubby and I started this tradition: Every year we get a Pizza and drinks. Eat in the car (usually a big no no) and drive around eating pizza while looking at Christmas lights. IT's great family time :)
This is my 6 month old daughter's first Christmas so we decided to start with some traditions right away! Its like Beta Testing before she knows what's going on... So far here is what we've come up with:
My husband's birthday is on Dec 1. Our first initial tradition is going to be this... I bake cupcakes every year for his birthday (or maybe for an annual holiday party) and one cupcake is different from the others...like it has food coloring swirled inside...or chocolate chips or something. Whoever gets that cupcake gets to make up a new family tradition, something silly such as everyone has to open presents with only their left hand, or something more traditional...like doing an Advent candle or calendar. This year I got the special cupcake and I have no idea what to pick! And time is running out!
Our other tradition is going to be to watch the movie Elf (and possibly do decorations) during the Thanksgiving weekend.
We had a ton- my mom was way into traditions, and I am now too (I am becoming my mother!). We also did PJs for Xmas eve, and a present to open on xmas eve (in addition to the PJs). We read Twas the Night Before Christmas on Xmas eve. We all came up with creative clues on our tags, and the recipient had to guess what the present was before opening. We opened presents one at a time- this is one of my favorites as it prolonged the opening, and let everyone enjoy seeing how happy a gift made the recipient. One year my mom did a bear tree for me (I was way into bears), and every day in December, I go to open an ornament for my tree- kind of an Advent tree. Favorite Xmas ever that year! My husband and I started buying each other an ornament each year that we open when we put decorate the tree- we now have incorporated our daughter int he tradition. The ornaments are relevant to what was going on that year. Can you tell that I love Christmas just a little?!
Spaghetti for dinner on Christmas Eve - that is a must. It started w/my grandparents and involves a longish story but I still try to have spaghetti for dinner on Christmas Eve.
My big one was Twas the Night before Christmas - my dad read it to me before bed on Christmas every year that I can remember. In my teen years, I continued it for him and later it became for me again. I called him from a bathroom in a bar one year, from a holiday party another year, from my ex-in-laws basement another year...no matter what, if I wasn't with him I called and he read it to me over the phone. It makes me sad now that he is gone but I am going it with my girls in hopes it becomes a fond memory for them as well.
@Anonymous--No worries. I knew it when I typed it. Ahem.
My dad and step-Mom created a tradition for their now-adult children. they travel a lot. They go to things like AARP conventions-as well as cruises and around the world adventures. They dabble in Real Estate and some other things. Many years ago they started collecting the free junk from their travels-soap from hotels, paper weights from conventions, etc. THAT is what goes into our stockings! The 4 of us (plus spouses) giggle and snort over the crazy crap they collect thru the year! You would not believe the stuff that I have recieved in my stocking.
When I was a kid my parents were divorced and I was drug all over the state for one gathering then another and didn't get to play with my new toys till the 26th.
Now my little family being military has a strict rule. We get the new pj's christmas eve and on Christmas morning everyone puts on their new pj's and we're not allowed to get dressed. We stay home and enjoy the day just the four of us.
Okay, the comment above from Michelle Smiles made me tear up a little....that is the sweetest thing...always making sure he read that to you wherever you were. Great memories!
My parents always waited until after we had gone to bed on Christmas Eve to wrap ANYthing. And there was always different paper from Santa. We do both of those things with my boys.
Our tree growing up, and our tree now, was never one of those "pretty" trees. The decorations were always the handmade ones from school art projects. So now that I'm grown up and have a family of my own, my mother gave me all of my old ornaments. So each year, we all hang our own: I hang mine, and the boys each hang their own. And for all that he grumbles, the teenager still gets cranky if anyone offers to hang his for him.
man, i forgot about the luminaries! how could i have forgotten that? LOVED trying to make sure the bags didn't catch fire. something dangerous about christmas.
the candy in our stockings was always lifesavers. for some reason we all got three rolls of lifesavers. wish mom was around for me to ask why...
I missed your original tweet, but we did a lot of this stuff: oranges in the toe of the stocking, plus a Brazil nut for some reason; kids exchanged one gift on x-mas eve; midnight Mass — I cannot wait until my kids are old enough for midnight Mass. We always opened our stocking gifts first, and we took turns opening presents. It was not a free for all.
Dan & I started the 'three gifts' tradition. Each of us gets three gifts (Jesus got three gifts). It helps us keep the consumerism down, plus the kids get so much from the rest of the family. We try to make our gifts extra special, like this year the girls are both getting scooters "from Santa". Dan & I also exchange only three gifts. (I get a little more leeway, as I buy the stocking gifts. And conveniently, the Lost Season 5 DVDs fit perfectly in a stocking! We have BIG stockings.)
Whatever your traditions, enjoy. Merry Christmas.
ciao,
rpm
Absolutely LOVE this idea! What a cool list of traditions!
Im going to blog about it later, but one of the thing my parents did was allow us to open the stockings filled with small toys in the master bedroom while we had morning tea. Then we opened the main pressies later after breakfast and getting dressed etc... we opened in stages and were occupied for hours.
Sorry I missed your tweet. Our family also does the orange in the stocking. We also have a huge Italian dinner on Christmas day - wedding soup, lasagna, homemade bread, sometimes tiramisu. Weird thing is our family is not Italian at all. I think we were just looking for an alternative from turkey and ham, and this dinner stuck.
At my house, we decorate the tree every year while having snacks and age appropriate beverages and watching The Muppets Christmas Carol.
When I was growing up, my parents allowed that thing that others have mentioned: My brother and I were allowed to get into our stockings (which Santa conveniently left on our door knobs) without waking Mom and Dad, which bought them a little additional sleep. Even when we were too old to believe in Santa, we'd SET OUR ALARMS to get up EARLY and get into our stockings together before Mom and Dad were up. That was my favorite time and I still think of my baby brother when I first wake up on Christmas morning now.
Our mother would not buy sugar cereal for us during the year because she was worried about our teeth. But at Christmas Santa always brought each of us our own box of sugar cereal that we didn't have to share. For example: Coco Puffs, Frosted Flakes, Lucky Charms, etc. It was exciting to find out which type of cereal Santa left for us that Christmas. And in a house with 4 kids, not having to share was spectacular!
Each stocking contained the obligatory orange in the toe. I still do that to this day!
We would each get to open one gift on Christmas Eve. Whichever one we wanted, yay! Then Christmas morning, we'd pack up the rest of the gifts and go to my Aunt's house to open everything with everyone.