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Your holiday season plans and traditions? 🎄

posted 5 years ago by GlenEllyn (21660)
62 replies | jump to latest

It is fast approaching, so what do you do during the holiday season? Do you travel? Stay home? Host a big party? Have all the relatives over? If you celebrate Christmas, is Christmas Day the biggie? Or are you one who prefers a Christmas Eve celebration?

With all the nightmares I read about holiday travel, I'm really glad I have no need to fly anywhere. My family all lives within driving distance, thankfully, so getting together is easier - and cheaper.

Our tradition has become that we celebrate together during the weekend between Christmas and New Year's. It makes life simpler. We find it's not about the specific day; it's about being together and spending time together during the holiday season. With everyone so busy these days, it means a lot that for once, we can set aside our busy daily lives and simply spend time with each other. We find it much more relaxing this way.

As for the actual day, there's something to be said for just staying put at home. A quiet day at home, sleeping late, a simple meal, perhaps watching a favorite movie, listening to music, or a good book, is awfully nice, in my mind. After many years of dashing here and there, it's pretty nice.

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Stopped holiday travel years ago after tiring of slogging through crowded airports, weather delays, shivering in the ice cold freezing places my family resides, paying luggage fees to cart home gifts I never wanted in the first place, and finally catching colds, flu and the freaking norovirus from other travelers.

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[–] GlenEllyn (21660) 5 years ago

Boy, do I get it! There is nothing appealing about air travel during the holiday season.

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[–] sslssg (35198) 5 years ago

My partner is actually going to be home Christmas day this year so we will have family over for a Christmas/Yule dinner. Christmas Eve is my Dad's birthday so we try to go out for dinner and ignore all Christmas stuff.

We had a family get together last Saturday and we do a gift exchange. It used to be a re-gift exchange where none of the gifts could be new. Now we do a socking exchange where you put a small gift inside a pair of funky socks. That's pretty fun.

Other than that I'm working everyday but Christmas Day until new years eve. Then I'm going to sleep for a week.

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[–] GlenEllyn (21660) 5 years ago

Ooooh, I like your idea about the socking exchange. It sounds like a lot of fun with minimal stress to pull it off.

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[–] sslssg (35198) 5 years ago

It's a lot of fun

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[–] GlenEllyn (21660) 5 years ago

I'm going to suggest it to my adult children for next year. Could be a lot of laughs, too.

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[–] sslssg (35198) 5 years ago

My cousin's 16 year old son ended up with pink unicorn socks last year, but wouldn't let them go because they had a gift certificate he wanted in them.

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Sometime in the early 90s my grandmother started having an Xmas eve pizza party so all my cousins and I could all see each other around the holidays even though there would be different destinations on Xmas day. After my grandmother died my mom kept the tradition going where we all got together on Xmas eve. My parents sold their house last year so it was the first time she wouldn't have the capacity to host the party so my cousin took over and we also changed it from Xmas eve to the Saturday before Xmas. My grandmother would be happy to know that the tradition she started still exists.

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[–] GlenEllyn (21660) 5 years ago

We used to do our Christmas get-together at our family home, but I sold it six years ago to downsize and the house I live in now is not really big enough to host everyone - and the family keeps growing, too. It's fine during warm weather when we can be outside, but during the winter it really feels a bit claustrophobic.

I have no doubt that your grandmother would be pleased to see the tradition carries on. Nice!

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[–] Stratego (31085) 5 years ago

We have two Christmas days over here in Holland. I'm celebrating both with the family. It's become a tradition to go to a Christmas market every year, this time in Belgium instead of Germany.

New Year's Eve is a party with the family, playing games, setting off fireworks and drinking lots of cocktails.🍾🍷🍸🍹🍺🍻🥂🥃🥤

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[–] GlenEllyn (21660) 5 years ago

What kinds of things do you see at the Christmas market?

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[–] Stratego (31085) 5 years ago

All kinds of things, really. Christmas decorations, sausages, mulled wine, tools made of chocolate.😁

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[–] AndyKing1967 (39864) 5 years ago

We’re always out of the country and our daughter always asks, ‘how will Santa find me?’ So I bought something that looks like a Do Not Disturb sign, but instead says, ‘Dear Santa, ***** has been a good girl and is here for Christmas’, which we hang on the door handle. Santa always leaves her a present, which amazes her. Then when we get home early January, the rest are waiting for her, under the tree.

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[–] GlenEllyn (21660) 5 years ago

This is SO sweet, Andy! Well done.

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[–] AndyKing1967 (39864) 5 years ago

I absolutely adore my little girl and I want to give her lots of happy memories.

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[–] AndyKing1967 (39864) 5 years ago

Oh I forgot to mention, we’ve started buying a Christmas Tree decoration in each country we visit.

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[–] GlenEllyn (21660) 5 years ago

Oh, that is pretty cool, Andy!

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[–] AndyKing1967 (39864) 5 years ago

We bought a Mexican one today.

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Family is local, so I'll see some, and the usual Christmas meal etc.

Trying to vary up the movies a bit this year. I'm getting bored of my usual route of Home Alone and Die Hard. Maybe HA2 and DH2. lol

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[–] GlenEllyn (21660) 5 years ago

I've already watched Home Alone this year. I saw HA2 a few years ago and it just didn't have the magic of the first one. It felt like they took the original script and tweaked it just a little bit, and called it a sequel.

How about It's a Wonderful Life? I thought The Santa Clause was pretty good, too - the original one.

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

I saw HA2 the other day and I agree completely. It's basically the original on steroids and much more frantic/faster paced beginning. Definitely doesn't capture the magic of the original overall and the Bird Lady is an awful replacement for the Shovel Slayer. I will say the hotel parts with Tim Curry and co are every bit as good as the original, though, but they make it more something I'd rather catch clips of on youtube vs view in full.

I can't understand how people can say it's on par with the original. (Some do.) Despite being made by almost exactly the same crew it doesn't feel the same at all.

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Christmas Party - last Saturday in November
Christmas Lunch at work - last week
Christmas Eve - so quiet. We stay home and watch a long movie.
Christmas day - the feast at my brother's.

We don't buy any gifts except for one thing for the kid. My wife has bought something for the house but I don't know what it is.

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[–] GlenEllyn (21660) 5 years ago

Did you buy something for the house, too? I think a lot of folks do this and it makes sense. Most of us already have more than we need, so why not get something everyone in the household can use and enjoy all year?

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

I think its a new washer/dryer which we need.

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[–] GlenEllyn (21660) 5 years ago

Sounds like a good thing to me.

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[–] slimone (7996) 5 years ago

I'll be spending time with relatives on Christmas day. My sister will be baking a ham and serving it with mashed potatoes, a salad, and who knows what else.

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[–] GlenEllyn (21660) 5 years ago

Sounds good to me. We had ham on Thanksgiving this year. My daughter hosted and I don't think she and her husband felt confident enough to make a turkey and stuffing. Ham is easier.

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