Lets talk Christmas!

[eaty]

Thought it would be fun to start a thread with a bunch of Christmas related questions to start some conversations!

What are some family traditions this time of year?

What is a fond memory from Christmas?

Do you decorate early? Or late? On that same token, if you are from the US, do you decorate before Halloween or Thanksgiving? Or after Thanksgiving? If not in the US, do you start to decorate in November or December?

Do you enjoy gift wrapping?

Do you tend to finish your shopping early? Or wait till the last minute?

I'll share some of my answers in a few days. Feel free to add more questions if you think of any!

Family tradition: Christmas dinner and watching my nieces and nephew open gifts. Going to my dad's Christmas morning

My fondest memories are actually Christmas eve because my husband and I spend the night together and go to check out some Christmas lights

Decorating is usually reliant on how I'm feeling mentally. I've decorated later and earlier in the past. This year I got everything ready November 30th

I prefer to wrap gifts instead of using gift bags

I usualy get shopping done early.

[Starseeker]

Originally Posted by eaty

What are some family traditions this time of year?
What is a fond memory from Christmas?
Do you decorate early?
Do you enjoy gift wrapping?
Do you tend to finish your shopping early? Or wait till the last minute?

1. Family gatherings, many traditions specific and customary to my country.
2. Visiting a part of the family that we do not visit anymore.
3. I decorate my Christmas tree and put up some other decorations at the beginning of December.
4. I love gift wrapping! It's one of my favourite parts of Christmas I enjoy making different kind of wrappings and get creative with ribbons, stickers and so on.
5. I finish my shopping early, so that I can avoid crowds (or delayed packages if I'm shopping online).

[eaty]

Traditions: The main tradition in my family is to make homemade fudge every year, it was a recipe that came from my grandfather. And it has been made for as long as I can remember. Funny tradition from my father's family, they use to carry the tree around the house 3 times before it could come inside. No idea why.

Fond memory: The one that came to mind when I made this thread, was when I was really young and I got my first GameBoy in my stocking, which was opened at like 5am. And I just remember sitting under the Christmas lights playing till my family got up.

Another memory that makes me laugh: My parents are divorced, and we spent Christmas Eve with my father. We got home and the house smelled like salmon, which my brothers and I hated, but my mom loved and rarely made cause we all complained. Next morning there was a box labeled to my brother in big letters "Do no shake, do not turn upside down" Turns out she made him an apple pie the night before, and she made salmon to mask the smell.

Decorations: I put up my decorations the weekend after Thanksgiving, so almost early December.

Gift wrapping: I love to wrap gifts! To the point that if my family is running out of time, or just don't like it. I volunteer to wrap gifts for them.

Shopping: I try to get my shopping done early, and I'm usually pretty good at it.

[Starseeker]

Originally Posted by eaty

Another memory that makes me laugh: My parents are divorced, and we spent Christmas Eve with my father. We got home and the house smelled like salmon, which my brothers and I hated, but my mom loved and rarely made cause we all complained. Next morning there was a box labeled to my brother in big letters "Do no shake, do not turn upside down" Turns out she made him an apple pie the night before, and she made salmon to mask the smell.

I love this one

[Everglow.]

What are some family traditions this time of year?

My mum and my siblings and I usually go and see the Christmas lights down a road near me where they do charity collections on Christmas Eve. We have done this ever since I was a child, and the only year we didn't was last year because of Covid.

What is a fond memory from Christmas?

I remember being at my nans house with my uncles, mum and siblings and taking Christmas photos. We had a serious set of photos, and also an 'outtakes' set of photos. Every year we always look back on them and laugh at everyone pulling faces or wearing Santa costumes and trying to climb out of the back window.

Do you decorate early? Or late? On that same token, if you are from the US, do you decorate before Halloween or Thanksgiving? Or after Thanksgiving? If not in the US, do you start to decorate in November or December?


It's usually the first weekend of December, but if I had my way I'd put the tree up as soon as possible

Do you enjoy gift wrapping?


No! I'm very bad at it

Do you tend to finish your shopping early? Or wait till the last minute?

Early for sure. Nothing stresses me out more than crowded shops, so I'd rather get it out of the way with before everyone starts last minute shopping.

Originally Posted by eaty

Traditions: The main tradition in my family is to make homemade fudge every year, it was a recipe that came from my grandfather. And it has been made for as long as I can remember. Funny tradition from my father's family, they use to carry the tree around the house 3 times before it could come inside. No idea why.

Fond memory: The one that came to mind when I made this thread, was when I was really young and I got my first GameBoy in my stocking, which was opened at like 5am. And I just remember sitting under the Christmas lights playing till my family got up.

Another memory that makes me laugh: My parents are divorced, and we spent Christmas Eve with my father. We got home and the house smelled like salmon, which my brothers and I hated, but my mom loved and rarely made cause we all complained. Next morning there was a box labeled to my brother in big letters "Do no shake, do not turn upside down" Turns out she made him an apple pie the night before, and she made salmon to mask the smell.

Decorations: I put up my decorations the weekend after Thanksgiving, so almost early December.

Gift wrapping: I love to wrap gifts! To the point that if my family is running out of time, or just don't like it. I volunteer to wrap gifts for them.

Shopping: I try to get my shopping done early, and I'm usually pretty good at it.

My mom used to make fudge every year. Usually starting in November and ending in December. Used to get asked to make it by people at my dad's work. I wish my dad were making it this year but I think he's too stressed.

[Rivière]

We normally buy in a load of food, and over the week of Christmas we start opening up the food and binging a bit. Then on Christmas day we have a food spread and open gifts etc. Later in the evening we have Christmas dinner and that's it. My family doing usually do anything big.

Since last year we decided to use little decorative Christmas mittens to put on the tree which contain wrapped gifts. We each pick one random mitten a day. You don't know what's in it and you can't pick and choose either. Once you've chosen your mitten, that's it. This year my mum's joined in so it's more fun. So far I'm the proud owner (or was, I ate them all) of several nougat chocolate bars, some lollipops, and hard sweets, as well as lib balm.

I enjoy wrapping gifts! Only issue is that I always get backache from excessively leaning over.

It depends. We do multiple food shops. Freezer stuff early, then fridge-y stuff after, then desserts last. As for Christmas presents, this year, I'm really, really late. Normally I have them ready as far back as November.

[Starseeker]

Originally Posted by Rivière

I enjoy wrapping gifts! Only issue is that I always get backache from excessively leaning over.

Same!! I always have to break up gift wrapping into a few days, because I get backache and sore legs from hunching over the boxes