What did you do on Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day?

[Archae]

Especially when you were a kid.

On Christmas Eve my 2 younger sisters, parents and me would go to our church, (UCC) and watch the Christmas play put on by the kids from Kindergarten to 12 years old.

Our congregation had a woman in it that wrote the plays, and they were good.

We'd then go home, and open our presents.

Christmas morning we'd get in the station wagon and drive about an hour to my Grandma's house, (maternal) she had a large basement and lots of uncles, aunts and cousins would be there. Had a meal, turkey, ham and fixings. Us kids would play outside in the snow later, the ladies would sit and talk, and the guys would sit in my Grandma's living room and watch football.

Sometimes my Dad would drive us in the afternoon to his relative's homes, we would visit and us kids would go out and play in the snow some more.

Then we'd go home, rather tired out.

[Ocelot II]

1. On Christmas Eve we'd have a nice supper, which,

for our parents would include oyster stew, a tradition which we kids found disgusting. Starting in high school I was in the church choir so I'd be at the service until later in the evening. We'd finish wrapping presents and put out cookies for Santa Claus. I never understood opening presents on Christmas eve because how does Santa Claus deliver them if you're awake? So we always opened them in the morning. When I was really small we'd visit relatives but we moved when I was about 7, so there weren't any relatives in town - just the immediate family. After we opened our presents we'd have a big dinner and hang out and play with our new toys. I'd get new ice skates almost every year for awhile, so of course I'd have to go skating in the afternoon.

[TlalocW]

2. A few times on Christmas eve

We would go to a Lutheran church in Wichita, KS (we lived in a small farming town just outside of it), because Dad was ostensibly Lutheran, but often it was watch a Christmas special and go to bed. My brother and I would get up early, and we were allowed to get into our stockings, which for whatever reason, always contained a new deck of cards. So we would play card games until the parents got up. When we got older, we played Blackjack and would bet the pieces of candy in our stockings - just to keep track of who won. We'd divide them back up later. My brother has done well enough in Texas Hold 'Em to place in a Vegas tournament against professional players, and I've worked as a walk-around magician specializing in card tricks so... thanks Mom and Dad. We'd normally have a big dinner either at the family farm where my grandma lived in another town about 30 miles away (it was literally over the river and through the woods to Grandma's house we go) until she couldn't live on her own anymore.

Special memories from different years
One time, the weather was so bad that my older siblings and other relatives didn't feel they could make it so we braved the weather to drive to Wichita on Christmas day. My parents believed that Furr's Cafeteria would be open. They were wrong. Parking lot was a blizzardy desert. We found a Church's chicken. Grandma found it funny, but Dad was upset.

We lived on about an acre of land on the edge of the town, with a huge front yard. Our picture window faced west. My brother and I were playing a board game in front of it as the sun was beginning to set, and we had fresh snow, and two of the horses from the house next door playfully galloped diagonally across the yard into the back yard and the wheat fields beyond. It was a very beautiful sight... Then we had to get our coats and boots on to go get them.

From about 7th grade on, I was a paper boy which required me to get up 365 days a year at 3 in the morning to fold and deliver papers for a little under an hour before going back to sleep. I delivered them on a mo-ped. On Christmas Eve, everyone left their Christmas lights on so other than the put-putting of my mo-ped, it was a silent, chilly world that I got to explore. I could deliver my route in about half an hour, but a few years, I drove all over town looking at all the lights which were on just for me. It was kind of magical.

[Haggard Celine]

3. It was a good time.

We always had all of the traditional food for Thanksgiving, but we always have seafood for Christmas. We'll have seafood gumbo and crab cakes and boiled shrimp, among other things like fried oysters. I never really asked for anything in particular, so it was always a nice surprise on Christmas morning. My parents would give us everything we needed and most of what we wanted. They enjoyed seeing our reactions when we opened our presents. We would go visit relatives sometimes on Christmas, who expected us to eat there too. We'd stuff ourselves and watch movies. Those were good times.

[applegrove]

4. We'd open presents in the late morning early afternoon with the 4 grandparents

(a great Aunt too). Then when we were a bit older we'd have christmas dinner with the same people and the cousins. We'd alternate houses. Once we had it at my grandmother's house before she sold it and she made an emotional speech about how the house was good to her family. The cousins are great fun. It was fabulous. I was terribly shy and intimidated by my proper grandmother and the extroverted cousins. As I got older alcohol eased my fears. When I quit alcohol I was like "why was I intimidated by these people they are th nicest people ever". Christmas eve when we were kids was at a more distant cousin's house. The parents were upstairs with cocktails. We kids in the basement that was filled with candy and chips and pop.....all the things we were not allowed all year. More cousins and kids from the neighbourhood would be downstairs. The poor poodles were locked in a basement room and barked often as they were missing out. There was a huge piano. It was lots of fun. Brilliant of that aunt to plan a party with the kids all downstairs surrounded by jellybeans. Our parents did not have to get babysitters. I would do that if I was in her situation.

[sakabatou]

5. Nothing, as my family isn't Christian

😅

[GPV]

9. Makes clean up a snap!

[peacebuzzard]

6. Only time I ever celebrated Xmas was with mom.

She made it a point to always have a grand Xmas. (midnight mass, presents, a full feast for dinner, special drinks, music, dancing, singing, visitors)

Especially her last one; which she didn't even know it was her last Xmas with us. She wanted us all to reunite internationally because she thought it would be the last family Xmas because of dad's ill health.

He healed.

Mom died suddenly and unexpectedly a few months later. That was 42 years ago. Christmas will never be like her last one for me again.

[GPV]

8. Yep. Holidays now are quiet. We're the older generation, but

there are no grandkids.

[peacebuzzard]

13. I like quiet holidays, especially xmas

There is something about becoming joyous for a particular day I find kind of made up and irrelevant in my situation. No kids or companions in my life who I would go out of my accomodations for.

[GPV]

7. When tiny, Santa brought the tree and gifts. Later, stockings were the

evening loot, presents next AM with cinnamon or Pecan rolls and hot chocolate, followed by a huge meal late in the day after much admiring of the loot and chasing of the tomcat out of the tree. (He pulled it over more than once. Real tree, so real mess. Real tinsel too, had to be dealt with later. Thank God we never lost a pet to it.)

[Wicked Blue]

10. Church, then traditional Xmas Eve dinner and presents

Last edited Sun Nov 27, 2022, 03:30 PM - Edit history (1)

We usually attended the Estonian Lutheran Christmas Eve service in Paterson, NJ.

On the drive home, we looked for the first star in the sky, which signaled that Christmas had begun.

Once home, Mom set to work cooking the last parts of dinner, while my brother and I opened presents. Usually I got a doll or small stuffed animal and a book from a godparent, maybe a pair of mittens knitted by my mother or a great-aunt in Estonia.

Then we ate. Roast pork loin, Estonian blood sausages topped with bacon, sauerkraut, boiled potatoes with dill, and homemade lingonberry jam. The parents drank red currant wine and vodka. I can't remember having any kind of dessert until I learned to bake piparkoogid, a kind of gingersnap. My mother might have made floating islands once in a while, with whipped egg whites floating in a kind of eggnog.

Afterward we played with our presents while the parents got loaded. Then bedtime.

Christmas Day was a let-down. The parents were hung over. They drank coffee and ate cold boiled potatoes with butter and salt, which they loved. My brother and I ate dark pumpernickel bread smeared with cold pork fat. Since we had no relatives in the U.S., there wasn't a lot of visiting as there would have been in Estonia.

About a week before Christmas, we attended a Christmas party given by the Estonian children's school in Paterson. Everyone dressed up. Sometimes there was a play. Kids had to get up one by one and recite a poem, sing or play a musical piece on the piano in order to earn their present. I had a terror of speaking in front of people and usually messed up and got scolded by my furious and embarrassed mother. I dreaded these parties. Santa appeared and called up kids one by one - sometimes we had to recite to him - and gave each kid a paper bag with nuts and hard candies.

[SoBlueInFL]

11. Christmas Eve was spent cooking followed by a nice dinner and then presents were r/o

exchanged/opened around the fireplace.

Christmas was spent sleeping late, eating what was cooked the day prior, and visiting family & friends including family & friends dropping in for their presents and food gifts.

[lark]

12. Christmas eve we'd usually have fried shrimp.

After dinner us 2 girls would get to open 1 present that mom would pick out. This was always pajamas or a robe. We'd fuss because no toys, even though we knew full well there wouldn't be any, yet. Then we'd watch the Nutcracker and go to bed while mom and dad assembled presents, wrapped others and did the stockings.

Brenda and I would wake up early and get our parents up. Mom would make a quick breakfast, always including home mad hot chocolate. Then we'd get our 2nd cup and open presents. Then there was a quick pick up and we'd set out some treats for guests and get started on Christmas dinner.

It was a wonderful time of eating, drinking and playing with family and friends. I look back with great fondness. The 6 adults, at the time, are all now passed, and our holidays are much smaller. Now people my age and even younger are starting to pass. My sisters life partner of 34 years passed in June. He was only 61!

[Major Nikon]

14. When I was a kid I opened presents and ate till I puked

As an adult I open a bottle and drink till I puke.

[yellowdogintexas]

15. usually we were doing a lot of last minute stuff. Our church didn't have services

So package wrapping, cake baking and so on.

If my mom's brother and step brothers (& wives) were visiting, we would have a big family dinner at my grandparents' and exchange gifts with that part of the family. We always took cakes to that dinner and a couple of other things I remember one Christmas someone had given my grandfather a brace of quail and we stuffed ourselves silly - my step-grandmother braised them in butter and sherry in the oven and they were amazing.

The Christmas I was 12, my mom and I sat up and put together a cardboard Barbie Dream House for my 7 year old sister. It was the old timey insert tab A into slot C type of thing. We laughed ourselves silly, ate cake and generally had fun. We bonded over that crazy thing if you can believe it

Christmas morning was Santa gifts and our gifts to our parents. Usually Grandaddy came to see what we got from Santa. Sometimes other older relatives stopped by in the afternoon. Good thing we had lots of cake.


We did not celebrate with my dad's family until after Christmas, usually on the next Sunday afternoon. Sometimes we were at my other grandparents' or at my Aunt's farm. Always the same special dishes, and we cousins were at the "kid table". The adults drew names and the kids exchanged according to age; each of us had a companion cousin close in age to us.

There were about 17 of us until we started adding girlfriends and boyfriends, then later on spouses and our own kids.

My sister and the 2 cousins who still live there have continued to have a cousins' party with their kids and grandkids.

When we are here I go to Candlelight Communion services on Christmas Eve, then we all get together somewhere on Christmas Day.

[Marthe48]

16. Our family would have a late dinner

My Dad had a grocery store and we stayed open until 5, maybe 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Whoever was home cooked a festive meal that was ready when my Dad and whichever of us worked with him that day got home. We'd go into my grandmother's bedroom and she'd let us go through her box of nylons with runs and we eached picked one to use as a stocking. We had a fireplace with the mesh screen, and we all hung our stockings on it as well as we could. There were 4 finials and 5 kids, so someone would lose out

We'd get up Christmas morning. The steps to the upstairs were partially enclosed and we'd huddle on the steps waiting. We could peek out and see the Christmas tree and stockings at the further end of the room. There was a couch at the foot of the stairs, and we would see our Mom asleep on it. We had to wait for my Mom to mutter from the couch, "okay, you can come down." And then there was a blur of unwrapping and joy. I remember there was always an orange, then an apple at the foot of the stocking, and then candy, and other things to fill it up. Back then, fresh fruit was special in the Winter in Cleveland, Oh. Later in the day, we'd either go to my Dad's brother's house, or they'd come here. Once in a great while, my Mom's brother and his family would come over, but just for a gift exchange.

It was pretty low key and family oriented.

[wnylib]

17. Our church had a Christmas Eve pageant put on by the Sunday School kids.

The youngest kids sang Oh Come Little Children. After them, the next oldest kids recited a small part of the Christmas story from Luke. Then a Christmas Carol from the next class, followed by more Luke recitals, etc. After the pageant we had a party in the church basement, exchanging gifts and getting mini boxes of chocolate drops from the church. It was the same every year.

Most memorable year of the pageants. My oldest brother's class was assigned to sing We Three Kings. For weeks before the pageant, my brother jokingly sang the "exploding cigar" version at home. On Christmas Eve, nervous in front of everyone, he forgot the real words and belted out the joke version.

We opened presents at home on Christmas Eve after the pageant and were allowed to stay up until we were falling asleep. My father's sister lived next door and often joined us. Christmas day we all slept in and had guests, either friends or relatives or both for a big Christmas dinner.

But, the biggest and most most memorable Christmas celebration was always on the Sunday closest to Christmas. My paternal grandfather had a farm on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. (Grandma had passed away when I was a year old.) My father had 8 siblings, all married with their own children (and the oldest had grandchildren). We all gathered at the farm, bringing food dishes with us. We sat wherever we found room and balanced plates on our laps. I was mesmerized by the old fashioned bubble lights on the tree. After we ate, the kids were all sent outdoors to slide down the very long, steep hill in front of the farmhouse, which was at the top of the hill. We had sleds, saucers, and one year, a pair of skis that my cousins brought. While we were outside, the adults gossipped indoors, played cards, drank beer or mixed drinks, and nibbled on snacks.

Two memorable years from those gatherings. One was the first time that we met the woman who would be grandpa's significant other for many years. Her name was Anna and she was Jewish. She had been raised in a religious family, but was no longer religious herself. When a cousin mistakenly called Hannukah the "Jewish Christmas," Anna corrected him and told us the story of the Festival of Lights while we ate Christmas dinner.

The other one was when my brother (the one who sang We Three Kings) decided to make our sledding more adventurous. Grandpa's farmhouse was very old. There was still an outdoor pump next to the house and it still worked. So my brother organized the cousins to help collect water from the pump to pour it on the packed down snow on the road to make it icy. We competed to see who could go down the hill fastest and farthest.

But, after dark, when it was time to leave, everyone used to drive down that hill to get to the highway on their way home. After the first two cars slid into the ditch, the rest waited until they were hauled out and then spread ashes from the fireplace onto the road. A couple people had cat litter bags in their trunks as counterweight against sliding in winter so they spread litter on the road with the ashes.

My brother was grounded the rest of the holiday season.

[rurallib]

18. Raised Catholic, so that meant Midnight Mass

I had two older brothers so we were all altar boys and served that mass for 6 years running.

I was lead altar boy for two years and for one I was flat out drunk - long story.

Opened presents on Christmas Eve, played until we had to gat ready for Church which was @ 11 PM. Mass took around 1.25 hours. Back home @ 2AM where we crashed til about 10 Am.

Pretty lethargic the next day. My parents were both orphans so all we had was an Aunt that was family. Played with toys til we all passed out @ 8PM.

This was '50s/ early '60s. We had a TV but it was mostly off at Christmas.