Favourite Christmas Traditions & Memories

Alex_Alumni

We'd love to know all about the community's favourite Christmas traditions and memories of the festive season!

Do you love getting family and friends together? Dressing up, or dressing down? Is Christmas all about the food for you, or something else entirely? 

We hope you enjoy sharing below

janer1967

Christmas eve tradition is Xmas eve box , wearing Xmas pjs , watching a Disney dvd and hot chocolate with marshmallows 

As a child mum always cooked the pork joint in advance on Xmas eve and we had hot roast pork sandwiches for supper 

I make biscuits with toby and we used to do a gingerbread house and decorate

Alex_Alumni

I'll share some of my favourite games that only come out at Christmas: the Memory game, Matchsticks in a Bottle, and Bagatelle.

The memory games usually involves hiding 20 objects under a tea towel and writing them all down from memory in 2 minutes or less.

As the name implies, Matchsticks in a Bottle involves 10 matchsticks and one milk bottle. The goal? To drop as many matchsticks in the bottle as you can, over 3 rounds.

And Bagatelle is one our favourite traditions, it's is sort of similar to pinball, but not quite.

As a family we get quite competitive, and loud enough for the neighbours to hear our screaming and shouting 

Alex_Alumni

That sounds lovely @janer1967 do you have a DVD already in mind this year, or do you decide on the day?

66Mustang

I like being allowed to drink champagne with orange juice at 10am

One tradition I have is to always eat a small portion of Christmas pudding on Christmas Day, even though I’ve never liked it and everyone knows I don’t like it

Alex_Alumni

It's strange what we do, even if we don't like it, and the excuse is always "because it's Christmas" 

I'm sure a lot of people share your first tradition @66Mustang!

66Mustang

Hehe

janer1967

Nothing in mind as yet we have disney plus now so will see what we fancy on there 

Alex_Alumni

Oh that's even better @janer1967,  I'm sure they're planning a lot of excellent Christmas content!

Sandy_123

Its all about family for me we all get together for Xmas Dinner, do the crackers ware party hats, then we do prezzies. Then we watch TV or play games

Alex_Alumni

That sounds lovely @Sandy_123

It's always interesting to hear when people like to open presents, whether it's before or after dinner, I wonder if there's an even split across the country 

Alex_Alumni

I think my sister or I may have done something similar in the past  never dull!

Ross_Alumni

I do love the food and drink, and very much can't wait to get stuck in this year. 

One tradition that comes to mind, and it's most certainly not unique to me, is that we've always taken it it turns to open presents, so that the person opening theirs can have the spotlight on them. We do it one present per person at a time until everything is opened. When we lived at home, as me and my siblings grew older, we realised that our mum often had a pile of presents that was much bigger than ours, very much a sign of the tide changing So, we would all end up finished with our presents and would just watch our mum happily opening hers, which was always lovely.

66Mustang

Ross_Scope said:

One tradition that comes to mind, and it's most certainly not unique to me, is that we've always taken it it turns to open presents, so that the person opening theirs can have the spotlight on them.

Very civilised, I might have to suggest that. I especially don't like it when two people are opening a present that I have given them at the same time as I like to watch peoples reactions, I'm sure others feel the same!

Tori_Scope

I definitely like to see people's reactions when they open their presents, so I agree with that @66Mustang. We tend to take it in turns to open them too!

I also used to force myself to eat a portion of Christmas pudding every year, despite not liking it. It was a couple of years ago that I finally stopped doing, it and I don't regret it  

MarkM88

As a child we were always woken up at 6.30am and we all just dived in. It was a very mad moment and there was wrapping paper everywhere. This has changed as we have all grown up though. 

Another thing we always did and I even took part as a was going through my teen years was we made cakes and chocolate rice crispies on Christmas Eve. 

Now…I look forward to the lunch, the family gathering (as much as we can) and then the going home on the evening and throwing myself on the sofa as I’m still bloated. 

MarkM88

@woodbine yes we made them with cornflakes too and I’m the same I haven’t made any for ages. 

janer1967

Try putting mini marshmallows in the choc crispy cakes yummy 

vikingqueen

 I remember quite vividly my son telling me to drink a shot to celebrate it being Christmas.... Aftershock .. only those that have tasted it will know the feeling 

vikingqueen

 Trust me when I say it's the devils brew, I've never tasted anything as bad in my life. Oh I'll get my own back I'm just biding my time, he knows it's coming he just at doesn't know when ?

MarkM88

@Libby_Scope your other thread reminded me of this tradition I have. 

I never buy a TV mag throughout the year I just use the online sites, but I always buy the double Christmas issue at this time of year so I have a printed copy to refer to.