What are your Christmas Traditions?

[bisco1]

I dream of one day having a white Christmas or even a ‘cool’ Christmas. I think it must be easier to get the spirit of the Holy Family’s creation in Bethlehem when the weather is similar. Here in Australia, it’s normally hot as hades on the day. Especially here in Queensland.

However, when you know nothing else, heat can be holy and sweat can be sacred. Our traditions are fairly usual. Carols on Christmas eve and family on Christmas day. We normally play the latest board game after lunch or watch a Christmas movie on TV. I kind of like Christmas night when everyone has gone home and we have leftovers of everything in front of TV.

that’s funny, i’ve been dreaming of a warm Christmas the last 10 years or so.

 

[tvknight415]

Lets see here…

Christmas Eve:

• Betting pool on when and if a certain family member gets plowed today.
• Dinner at my mom/dad’s
• Sharing the oplatki (its a Polish thing)
• Trying to watch as much of midnight mass from the Vatican as possible on tv
• Getting into a fight over just how much midnight mass from the Vatican is on tv
• Opening presents
• The obligatory wrapping paper and empty box bonfire in Dad’s front yard
• getting into a fight over how many times today “A Christmas Story” will be watched on cable
• Way too much food cooked by parents
• Midnight mass at our church. Preferrably at midnight!
• Finally putting Baby Jesus in the manger (after rescuing him from the model railroad tracks for the tenth time after one of the kids put him there)
• Making sure cookies and wine are out for Santa. Yeah, after being in the air all that time we’re pretty sure he’s sick of milk and needs some booze).
• Finishing off the rest of the wine and going to bed

Christmas Day:

• Kids getting up too early and begging to open presents.
• Obligatory fight over why the anyone would want to watch yule log on tv
• Me completely wrecking watching yule log by trying to figure out how long the video loop is
• Finally taking some tylenol for the hangover from the late night vino
• Donuts for breakfast, since after the presents are done we’re all too lazy and hungover to cook
• Stopping back at mom/dads for stockings for the kids
• three hour car ride to my mother in law’s
• Complaints about how little is open to eat lunch along the way
• Early dinner at mother in laws, which is either a smoked turkey if my brother in law is in town, or Papa Murphys pizzas if not (mother in law doesn’t do feasts anymore)
• Getting yelled at for trying to turn on “A Christmas Story” just one more time (as if four times is excessive or something)
• Presents
• Calling relatives that we didn’t see this year.
• staying up late with mother in law watching sappy Hallmark Channel Christmas movies

I think I got all the traditions.