What’s your Magical Family Christmas Traditions?
We all have family traditions all year round, but Christmas seems to be the time when we share them with others. I hear people saying “oh I put up my tree on the 1st Dec it’s traditional”, or “we have our Christmas dinner on the dot of 1 pm in our family” you know the sort of things.
Some are passed down from our parents or grandparents; some come from when we marry, a little from your partners family and a little of your own put together to make new family traditions.
For me it’s always been closing our front door on Christmas Eve and not opening it till Boxing Day. Family are welcome to stay, but no visitors from Christmas Eve evening till Boxing Day morning. It’s a funny one but it’s not Christmas if the door gets opened.
Some of mine may seem familiar to you like hanging stockings, leaving a mince pie and glass of sherry for Father Christmas, oh yes he is always Father Christmas in our house and not Santa! And some may not.
Another one of mine is pulling crackers between eating our main course and dessert on Christmas day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. I’m sure that was a way to get us kids to eat our greens.
There’s always lots of cooking and baking in the run up to the big day, cooking the turkey on Christmas Eve nice and slow. All the presents go under the tree when Father Christmas comes around midnight on the eve, then getting up really early to open them.
One my husband took a bit of getting use to (but is in to it now) is salted peanuts serviced on the plate with the roast pork (we have turkey, pork and beef on Christmas day dinner) and sweet almonds on the dinner table all with cooked dinner. The sweet almonds are over sweet, over hard but it wouldn’t be Christmas without them.
All these and many, many more came from my pass family and over the years I’ve kept them up and add a few new ones of my own, Like from the 1st of Dec lighting a candle in the window every night till New Year, watching the film “it’s a wonderful life” while cooking and baking on Christmas Eve morning.
These days there seems to be more and more new ones, they seem to be linked to retail (black Friday) or commercials i.e. the Coca-Cola truck. Now a days people say it’s not Christmas till their have seen the Coca-Cola truck, really?
Do you do Christmas movies all through November; putting up the tree and decorations in November or very early December?
One that seems to be a favour this year is a Christmas Eve box. These are getting more and more popular. All it is, is a box filled with items like PJ’s, movies, popcorn, games whatever you wish for the family to open and enjoy on Christmas Eve. A bit of me time together. (One of the better ideas) I’d like to see photos of pass family members added, to be talked over, smiled at, and even a tear if need be.
So what are your traditions? Old or new ones we would love to hear about them.
Megan Dovey.
