This thread is for ALL members of Menewsha. We are a community composed of unique individuals from around the world of different cultures and religions. So I thought it would be fun and interesting to know how people across the world celebrate their holiday traditions. Please feel free to post whatever you like regarding this subject. I am so curious! :)

My Family Tradition:
My daughter and I usually perform the Yule ritual on December 21st or 22nd. Yule is a time of introspect, renewal of self and planning for the future. So on Christmas Eve, my children and I light the candles and pine incense, sit next to the tree and discuss memories of the past year - both good and bad. It's our way of reflecting and being able to let go of the negative aspects of the past while hanging on to the more positive ones. Then we discuss goals on how we can each improve our lives for the upcoming year. Yes, this is a very special time for me as mother.

We usually exchange gifts the following morning since the "Christmas Fairy" does need time to take care of business before the kiddies wake up. hehe! ;) And of course, I make sure that everyone participates in the cooking and baking. We love making candy too! Our family tradition may be very simple, as we don't have much, but believe me, its a very special time for us. And you know I will be taking lots of pics, as always! :P

Hmm, well I don't think I have an exact family tradition, but every Christmas morning my little brother wakes up and runs downstairs. I'd probably be up cooking breakfast, since this is the only time of year I'm inspired to cook. I'm also probably baking sometime before that to give to people at school. And the rest of the holiday I'm just spending sleeping, drawing, babysitting, and homeworking. =D

Genuine italian ravioli and my family. :) That's all that needs to be said. :)

I celebrate a week before and we take turns to have it at my aunts place. We usually have the children on one table and adults on the other. We eat a roast dinner, then sit around in a circle, handing out gifts then cleaning up the mess while the kids play with their new toys.

On christmas day we open some gifts, then have a small lunch and dinner, and relax for the rest of the day.

Our 'tradition' for us is holding off putting up the Christmas tree until Christmas Eve's eve. It isn't by choice, really, but it was spawned from our actual family tradition. In which, we go up into the mountains nearby and cut down a tree (after obtaining the correct legal documents, of course). Since the past few years have been pretty tied for time at Christmas, we usually don't actually get it up and decorated until the eve of Christmas Eve.

@Jenn_heart: It's cool that you bake for people at school and cook the holiday breakfast - you get things going for everyone. Sweet :)

@St_JimmyHavok: Being Italian myself, I can surely appreciate that one! ;)

@MedievalBeauty: That is so cool - sounds like a fun time for everyone :)

@Zero Affinity: It's very special that you guys get to do that. And I usually like to wait until mid-December because I enjoy having the tree up for New Years too - just love the scent of it all over the house :)

Thank you guys for sharing - it's all very special :)

One of my families only holiday traditions would be the "Solstice Blanket." Every year, a blanket is placed before our tree that my parents put the presents that my brother and I can open before they wake up on. Since we rarely have relatives over during Solstice (they all live too far away to visit ;~; ) the holidays are pretty much a family affair. :D Normally how it goes is "Wake up > Open solstice blanket presents > have breakfast > open other presents > spend the rest of the day reading/drawing/whatever" :D

We...um...I don't really think we do anything. This year we're going to my grandparent's for dinner and that's pretty much it. My family's not really big on holidays. They are just a hassle.

Usually my family stays at home for Christmas. The first or second weekend in December my dad puts up the tree and puts on the garland and the angel, then my younger brother and I decorate the tree. We both have decorations we prefer and nothing matches, it's great. While doing this we drink egg nog.
On Christmas eve we try and get our father to lett us open a present. Our mother has no problem with it but our dad likes to wait until the next day. On Christmas morning we get up early and I always sit in the same spot at the end of the coffee table right in front of the tree. We then open all our presents, we wait to look in our stockings until my older brother comes over so we have something to do while he opens his gifts. He usually speeds through them so he can go and play (he's autistic and lives in a residence for adults with mental disabilities, bascially he's a 3 year old in a 33 year old's body).
We have a big meal which my parents cook through out the day. I make the salad, and the young wine and set the table with all the good dishes we only use on holidays (the china and silver).
On Boxing Day we usually end up going to my great aunt's house and visit with her family.

@Lathrine: I wonder if the Solstice blanket you mentioned is similar to what some people call a "tree skirt"??? That is so cool because now that I think of it, my mother used to wrap a red/gold trimmed blanket/skirt at the bottom of the tree and that is where she placed our gifts. Wow. I forgot all about that until now. I should start doing that with my children too! Very cool Lathrine. :D

@Tut'ankhamun: I do understand that too. We avoid the holiday shopping madness at all cost. Its just too stressful and crazy the way people act during Xmas, which is really sad because most people are brainwashed by corporate media to "Buy, buy and buy some more!" and that is NOT what makes the holiday at all. Its the simple yet pleasurable quiet moments that we share with the family and/or friends that we remember most.

@blitzy: Ah yes, decorating the tree is always the fun part. I just cannot stand when I have to take it all down again. LOL And you know, one of my best friend's from high school has an older brother with the same disability but I believe he has some other disorders that have kept him home with his parents all these years. It seems like you guys are super close and that is beautiful.

Thank you too for taking time to share with me here. You guys are awesome :D

My family don't really have any traditions, aside from always putting one same old decoration on the tree, that i made in nursery years ago.
Something i like to do, just after Christmas, more to New Years, is write about things that have happened in the last year. One day i'd like to look back, and see how i felt about things then.
I loved reading all these...Maybe one day when i have my own family and house, i'll start up some traditions like these.

Mysteria- That could be! :D We use to have both, the tree skirt and the Solstice blanket, but we haven't had a big enough tree in the past few years to have the tree skirt. XD

For Christmas my family gets together and we buy presents for each other. On Christmas morning we get up and have tea and coffee while we open our gifts. After that we have a big breakfast, usually pancakes. Then it kinda tones down and we just kinda hang around until Christmas dinner which is usually just like Thanksgiving all over again. :)

We celebrate Christmas Eve on my father's side of the family, my mom and aunts taking turns in hosting the family dinner. The family gathers, the host makes an elaborate meal, gifts are exchanged and we talk about things that happened the past year.

Christmas Day is celebrated on my mom's side of the family, but it's nowhere near as fun as Christmas Eve. Ever since my grandmother died (I was six), there hasn't been a self-cooked meal on the table there. My grandad just orders cheap take-away Chinese food or gets sandwiches and different kinds of toppings. And the woman who lives in his house now (I refuse to call her family) is greedy as hell, she doesn't want my grandad to spend anything on his offspring - if it were up to her, we'd bring our own food for Christmas.

The past four years, though, I've celebrated Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family and Christmas Day with my boyfriend's family. They usually don't have much of a party, but my mom-in-law lights candles and puts up a small Christmas tree and makes chocolate pudding. :) Gifts are exchanged on New Year's Eve, which they do celebrate with nice food and such.

@Sun: I think it's wonderful that your family still has and uses the ornaments that you created as a child. Those are beautiful memories and keepsakes for your family and as a mother, I have to admit that I do the same. All of those cute little clay painted gingerbread men, santas and snowflakes with the child's photo in the middle. I LOVE those the best! hehe! And I think the New Year journal is a grand idea. Your future family will surely appreciate sharing those memories with you. :D

@Sho-Shonojo: Mmmm yes indeed. Tea and coffee are a must have ;) I am not too fond of the flavored creamers for coffee but just LOVE the Winterland coffee blends. They have a nutty/cookie flavor that I just cannot resist LOL And yes we usually do the Turkey dinner on both holidays too but sometimes we switch it up and do the brown sugar ham with the pineapples and cherries. That is usually a favorite around here too :D

@Volucria: Well I am just glad that you have people in your family that do understand how important it is to gather and spend quality time together for the holidays. Your dad's family sounds so cool! And your mother-in-law sounds super sweet too. I am sorry about your grandfather's roommate being such a Scrooge though. It seems that almost every family has a least one, huh? Sad but true.

Again, thanks to everyone for sharing here :heart:

i don't celebrate christmas....

Originally Posted by Omote_Yugi

i don't celebrate christmas....

Nothing wrong with that - we are Pagan and celebrate Winter Solstice/Yule in the ancient traditions, which is somewhat similar to the ways that Christians celebrate Christmas. Do you celebrate New Years Day? :P

On Christmas Eve, my family has dinner with my grandmother on my mother's side, and we exchange small gifts. Then, we go home that night, set out the cookies and milk, as well as some reindeer feed (corn and glittery tinsel). That morning we open presents, and later that evening we go and have Christmas supper with my grandmother on my father's side, with small gifts given there as well.

Lots of good food and family time to relate and review the year.

Last two years, I've had to work both on Christmas and Christmas eve. I've been really considering not celebrating Christmas at all. It just bugs me that I have to celebrate a religious holiday when I don't believe in what the holiday stands for.

Most years though, my mom's side of the family gets together on Christmas day and does a present exchange and has dinner. My dad's side used to get together on Christmas eve and do the whole presents and dinner thing. It's really nothing all too big.

To be honest, I'm too poor to celebrate usually...
So in celebration I smoke, I drink, I party... And make merry. Muahaha. >;B

@Taliah: Now THAT sounds like a peaceful and fun holiday to me ;)

@Mystic: First of all, have to say that I love your name ;) hehe! Secondly, I can totally understand why you feel the way you do. Maybe someday you will create your own traditions and celebrate them the way that seems best to you. And for the reasons that you would consider valid as well. Hell, I think I might actually create my own "holiday" this upcoming year! I'm going to pick some random day and let the kids give it a cool name. It will be our own personal family holiday. HA! You could do the same - that would be cool :D

@Thoth Star: :rofl: what a trip! I love it!

we have a couple of traditions,

since we were kids my mom buys new pjs for my brother and me, still does though we're 19 and 21.

she also goes to edmonton to shop for xmas gifts and always brings back mugs from the disney store, i've got a few tinkerbell mugs, though this year i gots minnie mouse.

she also brings back expensive $20 cinnimin buns, so delicious, topped with buttercream icing and drizzeld with brown sugar syrup and sprinkled with chopped walnuts. half of one and i have sugar overload, yum

we set up the tree a week before xmas, we get a real one, i like picking the tree out but this year i was busy with work and my brother went and got it.

when we set the tree up it's my job to get it in the stand, and my job to decorate it with some help, usually i end up untangleing stuff and putting the lights and strings of beads on, and then i get my brother and mom to put up ordanments.

with the tree set up i put a couple gifts under, ones from me and my brother for mom and dad, 'santa's' gifts come xmas eve ^w^

xmas morning tis the opening of the stockings first, sometimes if my mom works at the hospital xmas day, we just get to open stockings and wait till the afternoon to open all the presents.

when we open presents, i like to let my parents go first with me and my brothers gifts, we each open one present at a time and my dad writes down what we got and from who, after opening them all and after breakfast my dad gets us to call our relatives and thank them for the gifts.

then it's playtime ^o^ heehee with all gifts open we spend the day doing whatever, reading books, playing games, i know my brother's getting an xbox360, so i'll be setting that up for him.

xmas is always fun.
some things i wanna do this winter is go sledding, 21 and your're never too old, XD i also want to try snowboarding, i got a snowboard during the summer and i recently bought some boots for it, all i need is some ski pants so my legs don't freeze.

xmas dinner will warm me up with turkey, mashed potatos, and gravy, corn and brocolli. and some pecan pie for desert, i love pecan pie it's my fave, also some eggnog to wash it all down, me and my mom like the stuff but my brother and dad thinks it's gross.
~~`

another Christmas tradition of mine is to survive on candy canes, last year i ate a box of 200, let's try to beat that nya? ^w^

Well, back in the "day" when I was younger, we just simply sat around and opened gifts while being all warm and taking pictures. Just having a good time ya know? Now it's different...we have dinner now, which is different for me, but it's nice ;0

And since I'm attempting to be more religious, I just think of it as Jesus' b-day the most and that he blessed me with these things. UNLESS they're labeled by the relative. This year I really got a gift labeled from Jesus Christ himself! :'D I can't wait to open it :3

My family has more traditions on New Years than it does on Christmas aside from everyone getting together. But because my boyfriend and I are starting a christian/pagan home i'm hoping on celebrating solstice/yule & christmas all around the same time and have different traditions for each one. We've agreed that once we get a real house we'll put up a tree because it's welcomed by both faiths. I'd really like to have it themed for both of them. I really like being in a mixed home because it gives us different holidays to celebrate (and I'm ALL about celebrating the holidays!) I'd like to create a tradition of making christmas ornaments sometime during the month of december after we have the tree and decorating it together as a family. Things are a bit crazy this year because this is our first christmas together (we went with our respective families last year because we hadn't told either side we were a real couple yet.)

I like the idea of reflecting on the past and I would love to have someone (probably my BF because he's got the build for it... just needs a little stuffing on the stomach XD) dress up as Santa for Christmas. Both families on our end are christian and so they have the whole stocking christmas morning thing with the presents that follow. I still want that. But I'm new to the whole yule thing and will be planning stuff to celebrate it more next year. I'm all excited around this time of year because my son... I live vicariously through him around this time of year because one month after christmas eve is his birthday. And he's all excited about everything this time of year. But yea... decorating the house is another one. Can't think of anything other than that...

My family always had a very Swedish Christmas. I'm half Bulgarian too, but since bg are Orthodox, Easter is a bigger holiday over there so it was just as well to do like the Swedes.

So that means a nice dinner of meatballs on Christmas Eve, with rice pudding for the tomten, and we have leftovers as part of a cold plate smorgasbord on a nice casual Christmas Day. Over all very fun.

The only thing I have really added in the way of traditions is uh, ritual baking, lol. Like I start the day after Thanksgiving, baking fruitcake while I write up christmas cards.

My cousins in Cali have an even more appropriate Swedish holiday, with Glogg, and dancing!