what are your unique holiday traditions?
- Thread starter PMT
- Start date
Usually we spend Christmas eve overnight at my folks.
Every Christmas morning, the first one up has to make coffee for the parents...and OJ for me since I don't drink Coffee.
My Dad throws on Burls Ives' "Holly Jolly Christmas" for the entire house to hear. That's his nice way of saying to get our butts out of bed. The evening is spent with relatives, dinner, food-coma and songs & games.
Every Christmas morning, the first one up has to make coffee for the parents...and OJ for me since I don't drink Coffee.
My Dad throws on Burls Ives' "Holly Jolly Christmas" for the entire house to hear. That's his nice way of saying to get our butts out of bed. The evening is spent with relatives, dinner, food-coma and songs & games.
You mean you don't get to eat the pickle if you find it? what kind of gift does a pickle give?
traditions seemed to fade as the family grew older. 20 yrs ago when i was a kid the whole famn damily would gather at the grandparents house every thanksgiving and christmas eve, bout 20 of us, we'd eat, open gifts, do the whole family thing. cut to last year there were maybe 6 of us there. this year one less since im now out of state.
- Thread starter
- #5
If you go to year round Christmas shops, they will have a pickle ornament, eat at your own risk!
I don't have any with my parents deceased and being divorced, but I do remember that our opening presents was done on Christmas Eve so that we could just crash on Christmas Day and relax. We would also go out for a buffet dinner so Mom wouldn't be stuck "home on the range" and with clean-up duty. I think these were wise traditions that minimized the commercialism of the holidays and put an emphasis on family.
You can't have your pickle and eat it, too
You mean it's not a real pickle? It's just an ornament?
My world just turned a darker shade of gray
My world just turned a darker shade of gray
Well being of Lithuanian heritage on my Mom's side, we had a rather bizarre ritual before we went to bed on Xmas Eve. My Mom would buy candy, nuts and fruit and put them in small baskets or plastic containers and put them on the dinning room table. She then lit a couple candles and put on the table as well and we went to bed (yes, I know a major fire hazard). The thing was we could not eat any of this stuff until morning because she said they were a gift for the Gods, which was again, weird because she is a devout Catholic and so was my Grandmother who did this as well.
I was always curious about this and decide to do some research on it. It turns out Lithuania and the rest of the Baltic countries were the last European region to convert to Christinanity and the it went so far that the Pope ordered the Teutonic Knights to Invade Lithuania in the late 1300s early 1400's where they were eventually defeated by Lithuania and the Pols in the Battle of Grunwald. Eventually the Baltics converted to Christianity but some old Pagan customs I guess still survive. Plus December 25th is also considered a Pagan holiday in some pre-Christian European societys.
Oh yeah also, for Thankgiving all of us would play football in the backyard. The one rule was that the QB had to hold a beer in one hand, so you're playing one handed. Not sure where that one came from.
I was always curious about this and decide to do some research on it. It turns out Lithuania and the rest of the Baltic countries were the last European region to convert to Christinanity and the it went so far that the Pope ordered the Teutonic Knights to Invade Lithuania in the late 1300s early 1400's where they were eventually defeated by Lithuania and the Pols in the Battle of Grunwald. Eventually the Baltics converted to Christianity but some old Pagan customs I guess still survive. Plus December 25th is also considered a Pagan holiday in some pre-Christian European societys.
Oh yeah also, for Thankgiving all of us would play football in the backyard. The one rule was that the QB had to hold a beer in one hand, so you're playing one handed. Not sure where that one came from.
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We have our triditional Thanksgiving Sushi every year. Home made of course 
- Thread starter
- #12
LOL, no, never a real pickle, but hey start your own tradition of a live pickle on the tree if you like syngent!
I may have to... in the meantime I'll have to find a traditional Christmas pickle lol
Many Christmas's ago, I went to buy a doll for my son. I reach for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows apon him, I thought there has to be a another way. The doll was destroyed, but out of that, A new holiday was born; A Festivus for the rest of us.
And at the Festivus dinner, you gather your family around and tell them all the ways they have dissapointed you over the last year. Instead of a tree there is a pole, requires no decoration, I find tinsel distracting.
Festivus begins with the airing of greivances, followed by the feats of strength and doesn't end until someone pins me.
And at the Festivus dinner, you gather your family around and tell them all the ways they have dissapointed you over the last year. Instead of a tree there is a pole, requires no decoration, I find tinsel distracting.
Festivus begins with the airing of greivances, followed by the feats of strength and doesn't end until someone pins me.
I loved that game, and played it all the time as a kid with my mom.
Our xmas tradition was chinese food on christmas day. we always had the big fancy dinner on xmas eve, after mass. there was only so much keilbasa and sauerkrat and ham we could eat though, and one xmas day my uncle and I were sick of being stuck in the house so we went for a drive. The only thing open was the chinese restaurant, so we ordered about $200 worth of food.
We had to start our own traditions a few years ago. We're a big "blended" family and all five of our kids are grown and have spouses and kids of their own now. Given they have obligations to the inlaws and our ex's, it's hard to get all of them together at the same time. After trying a few different things, we found that everybody could make it for brunch. A tradition was born!
We make a breakfast casserole, home fires, bacon etc. It's easy and everyone loves it.
We make a breakfast casserole, home fires, bacon etc. It's easy and everyone loves it.
Watch at least once "A Christmas Story" when it is shown for 24 hours straight on TBS or TNT. My bro and I watch "Santa VS the Martians" on Christmas eve. A few years ago we stumbled upon the Mystery Science Theater version and we have sat and laughed thru that stupid movie every year since.
When I was a kid my uncle gave me a bag of coal for Christmas as a joke. So every year we pass the coal to someone else. It is always more fun when a "new" person gets it.
We do the pickle in my house too, well at my parents house. Us Kids 30, 33, and 36 still fight over it.
We do the pickle in my house too, well at my parents house. Us Kids 30, 33, and 36 still fight over it.
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