Growing up, I never really thought of our Christmas and holiday traditions as being — quote, unquote — “traditions.” They were just the things we did every year without fail…
(Also known as, “traditions.”)
For instance, our family always celebrates on Christmas Eve. We have a big feast, and I’m talking MASSIVE, with special Christmas dishes like honey glazed ham, and Filipino dishes like lumpia (our version of fried egg rolls), pancit (rice noodles with vegetables, chicken and shrimp) and leche flan (caramel custard).
There’s always enough to feed a small army, and family members stop by throughout the night to say hello, deliver presents, chat and eat.
Back in the day, we’d also go to midnight mass, but now that my parents are in their 70s (and I’m perpetually tired), they prefer to stay in and watch mass on TV.
The wonders of technology, right?
We usually stay up past midnight (or at least to midnight) before we open gifts, have a midnight snack, eat a little more (did I mention that there’s ALWAYS a lot of food?), and eventually everyone passes out at like 2 or 3.
The next day, we sleep in, have a big breakfast, and then everyone hangs out in their pajamas, talks and plays with their new toys.
That’s just how we always do things.
When I first started dating El Hub in the late 1800s (ha ha), I remember being shocked when he told me that his family didn’t do much on Christmas Eve. They would usually go to a Christmas Eve dinner at a relative’s house, and then they’d go home to bed, only to wake up early to open presents on Christmas morning, which totally blew my mind, LOL! I just can’t imagine Christmas without the party the night before, ya know?
Merry Christmas Eve, sweet friend. What are your Christmas and holiday traditions?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Krystal says
December 25th, 2018 at 7:14 amMerry Xmas Kare! We’re a Christmas morning group, sip hot cocoa in our PJs while opening presents and listening to Christmas music, then mass, then playing with toys.
Sometimes we go to a movie, but not today I’m afraid, and then it’s back to work tomorrow!
Have a very merry Christmas to you and yours.
Karen says
December 25th, 2018 at 7:04 pmThank you, Krystal! Merry Christmas!
Jane says
December 25th, 2018 at 8:17 amWe do what most Jewish people do on Christmas and go out for Chinese food.
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Karen says
December 25th, 2018 at 7:03 pmThank you, Jane! I hope the Chinese food was delicious.
Rachel Runyan says
December 25th, 2018 at 9:41 amMerry Christmas!
Christmas Eve we usually just chill. We have homemade French onion soup ( and homemade chicken noodle for my younger son who hates it).
The kids and I are night owls, so as they’ve gotten older, we’ve gotten into the habit of opening gifts around midnight. We play Christmas music softly and someone hands out gifts. This is my brother’s first year living with us, so he passed out the gifts.
Christmas morning, we break into our stockings. We have stockings for the pets. For breakfast, we always have gingerbread pancakes served with butter, maple syrup, vanilla bean ice cream and/or whipped cream, and bacon.
We don’t really like to do the full turkey dinner after having one at Thanksgiving. Most years we make Chinese barbecued pork, eggrolls, and sweet n sour chicken and steamed rice. We were too tired to do that this year. We roasted a small turkey so my picky younger son can have turkey breast, and we’ll make the dark meat into enchiladas. We’ll have a spread of homemade white and wheat breads, nuts, cheeses, chips, dips, crackers, fruits and veggies, eggnog, sparkling cider, soda, and desserts.
My sons play whatever new video games they got, and we usually get in a few rounds of Cards Against Humanity in the evening.
Karen says
December 25th, 2018 at 7:03 pmMerry Christmas to you too, Rachel!
Timmy says
December 25th, 2018 at 9:51 amMerry Christmas Karen! 🙂
We did the whole big family Noche Buena and Christmas breakfast/lunch tradition too! I love celebrating on the 24th – it extends the whole Christmas celebration and it’s just always so full of good vibes. 🙂
Karen says
December 25th, 2018 at 7:03 pmMerry Christmas, Timmy!
Stephanie Smith says
December 25th, 2018 at 12:16 pmMy family does tacos, enchiladas, and tamales on a Christmas Eve, and everyone comes, family, friends that have become family, it’s big and tasty! We used to open presents Christmas Eve until my Grandma passed away. Now we open presents Christmas morning, after a ginormous breakfast. It’s allllllll about the food. The one thing that does change is the actual days. For example, this year we did Taco Night on the 23rd and Christmas presents on the 24th. It worked better for schedules. Since we’re done, and my husband works today, I’ll take my two teenagers to Starbucks for a drink and sandwich, and then we’ll drive around looking at Christmas lights!
Karen says
December 25th, 2018 at 7:02 pmYes, it’s all about the food! 🙂 Merry Christmas, Stephanie!
Mickaela says
December 25th, 2018 at 12:58 pmReading your old Christmas traditions brings back memories of mine- mine went down EXACTLY like that! And of course, changed as I got older. Now with a family of my own, I’m trying to recreate the Christmas of my youth… so the last few years, we party with extended family and eat on the Eve, go home to watch a late movie and get in matching family pajamas. Christmas Day is all about staying home, just playing and relaxing. It’s my favorite time of the year.
Merry Christmas Karen, to you and yours!
Karen says
December 25th, 2018 at 7:02 pmI love the idea of going to a late movie! What a great tradition. Merry Christmas, Mickaela!
Sakura says
December 25th, 2018 at 3:42 pmMerry Christmas! My husband and I cook a good dinner. I like to enjoy some eggnog. We always eat Panettone.
Karen says
December 25th, 2018 at 7:01 pmMerry Christmas, Sakura!