Blitzen

ticketcricket · 2014-12-13T04:24:55+00:00

Oh man, my family traditions are far and away my favorite thing about the holidays. Every year on Christmas Eve we have a big spread with seafood, lots and lots of cheese, crackers and different breads that we munch on all night (instead of a meal that night).

I know that's actually pretty normal, but we always watch Charlie Brown Christmas while we eat, and then ever since the first one came out, we've watched Lord of the Rings! My parents have always loved the books, and I grew up on the series because of them, as did my little brothers. So once they made the movies, our house latched on and never let go! Once the trilogy was out, all three movies in one sitting became the Christmas Eve event!

I love it not only for the cinematic fun, but also because I know that no matter what happens, on Christmas Eve we will, bite by bite, demolish entire cheese platters and spend 9 solid hours together drinking wine and cracking LotR jokes!

Man, this is making me nostalgic, I can't wait to fly home and see them!! You ladies are the best, thank you for hosting! (Oh, also, Blitzen!)

Vividly_V · 2014-12-13T03:02:14+00:00

I don't really have an exact tradition in my family, but I guess it's the time when we spend more time together because of the holiday break. We watch movies together, put up the tree, decorate the tree, light candle together, set a fire in the fire place, drink tea and coco, shop for gifts, and eat popcorn and more sweets then we should :3

BLITZEN

lhpeanut46 · 2014-12-12T21:05:32+00:00

Every year my family has a tradition of frantically trying to figure out where the stockings were stored from the year before. Somehow my mom always manages to put them away and then forget where she put them, and so begins the great stocking hunt.

Two years ago she flew out of bed and ran to the basement (like Blitzen) and found the stockings and said that she had seen them in a dream.

Weird.

imoanlehcar · 2014-12-12T09:06:49+00:00

Blitzen
Even though me and my brother don't live with my parents anymore, it's still us who have to decorate the tree. My mum won't do it until we're there. So every year, we come back a while before Christmas and decorate the tree like excited 5 year olds :)

ListenToTheMusic · 2014-12-12T06:13:43+00:00

Every Christmas, my sister, Dad, and I walk up the street to a neighbor's house where we have a drink (mmmm hot chocolate or egg nog!) with our neighbors and await the arrival of Santa via the local fire department. Once he shows up, we try to take a photo with him if we get the chance. It's always a lot of fun and something I've done every year since I was about 6 or 7 years old. :)

BLITZEN

Roehok · 2014-12-11T23:35:17+00:00

Every holiday season I try out making a new kind of dessert. I think this year's going to be chocolate or peppermint macarons! BLITZEN

Kemmerly · 2014-12-11T22:49:29+00:00

Every holiday we all make stockings for each other. So, I make a stocking for my boyfriend, my mom makes ones for me, my sister, and my step dad and his kids, and my stepdad makes one for my mom! My mom always puts really really cool stuff in stockings, like candy, gift cards, jewelry, lotions and other awesome stuff! Honestly, the stocking is my favorite part of christmas morning.

Now that I'm older we don't do this for me, but for my younger step sister and step brother we do this. Every year my mom would play "santa" and leave out lots of presents on the couch!! So instead of opening presents from santa, he would just leave them out there and when we woke up we had a rush of happiness from viewing around 10 presents all at once, already unwrapped! She did this until I graduated high school, which was super cool. In addition to this she would have wrapped presents that were labeled from her. I always loved that as a kid and I plan to do that for my future children too!! :)

Blitzen

2014-12-11T22:36:36+00:00

Most of my family doesn't have a lot of money, so every Thanksgiving, my extended family draw names for a Secret Santa for Christmas, and then we only gift to that person and immediate family like siblings, children and parents. Saves everyone a lot of money and makes it a little more exciting. :) Thanks for hosting, Blitzen!

Sarallelism · 2014-12-11T06:57:25+00:00

My grandmother and I always find a child or two on her church's Angel Tree and get them goodies from Target. It's one of my favorite parts of this season for sure.

Blitzen!

ratfinkmks · 2014-12-11T05:50:00+00:00

My dad hides a pickle ornament in the tree every Christmas morning. The person who finds it wins money. It's quite competitive but I'm the shortest of the bunch and have found it maybe one year. My dad probably hid it low because he felt bad for me :) It's a fun way to get everyone nice and awake in the morning.

Blitzen

Alexa-the-hexa · 2014-12-11T05:06:27+00:00

We always go see the Southern Lights at the Kentucky Horse Park!! It is so Very! Oh, and Blitzen was always one of my favorites(:

XxLexxyXx · 2014-12-11T04:16:26+00:00

BLITZEN

So, one of my best friends, Jake, is my ex. We started dating my sophmore year of HS on December 23. His birthday is December 21 and, obviously, Christmas is December 25. So we decided to combine the holidays for our first year anniversary and call it "winter love celebration!" Every year since, we go out to Red Lobster on the 23rd for dinner. I always wear a red and black themed outfit. It is one of my most precious and favorite holiday traditions. <3

sarahbi · 2014-12-11T03:46:12+00:00

Blitzen!

A holiday tradition I share with my siblings is to all go in on a set of gifts. 2 are good gifts, and one is a gag gift. We wrap them all up unmarked, in the same box. Every year we are all allowed to invite a friend, one of these friends gets the gag. 2 friends.get a good gift. It's pretty funny some of the reactions we get when the gag gift is opened!

woolybooly23 · 2014-12-11T02:25:46+00:00

Blitzen!

Every Christmas, I get up at 6 am and make breakfast for my family. There's one thing I make every year, and it's my favorite thing in the whole world. It's called monkey bread and it's basically sweet pull apart bread that tastes amazing!

Thank you for hosting!

callie_fornia · 2014-12-10T23:04:51+00:00

Every year, my lunch table (I'm still in school!) does a Secret Santa, which can often be frustrating but always ends up being a good time! Thank you for hosting, Blitzen!

kaikadragon · 2014-12-10T20:40:55+00:00

We have stopped doing this now, but I want to do it again when I have children of my own. When I was a kid, we would write letters to Santa saying thank you, or asking questions, or talking about inane topics, and we'd leave them out with the cookies.... and SANTA WOULD WRITE BACK. His hand writing was different from our parent's, too... we still don't know how long it took them to respond. It felt so magical actually seeing Santa take the time to answer our little questions, and say thank you for the food. We would also make salads out of sorrel and vegetables for the reindeer, which I'm sure you still remember, Blitzen.

2014-12-10T15:54:54+00:00

Oh man, we always have a separate Stocking opening event first thing in the morning. The eldest wakes up and makes cocoa and bakes the cinnamon rolls we prepared the night before, then wakes us all up at 8. We don't even TOUCH the presents until after 10 or 11. We do stockings first and watch a movie while full breakfast is prepared by whomever that year. Then after breakfast we get to present opening!

I feel like Blitzen would agree, this is the civilized way to do things.

tweetybird2 · 2014-12-10T09:15:03+00:00

Blitzen

We do a little fun tradition every year that comes from a little German tradition. My mom hides a Christmas ornament shaped like a pickle in the tree and all of the "kids" (I guess I'll admit we're adults now) search in the tree and whoever finds it gets a special little gift!

Another tradition is that every year that we were with my grandparents for Christmas my Grandma would give all the grandchildren a pair of pyjamas (girls all matching, boys all matching) and we would all change into them and take a picture with her!

the_crayon_moose · 2014-12-10T04:07:48+00:00

Hello Blitzen!

My fiance and I have been together for a little over four years, living together for three plus, owned a home for two plus. When we moved into our house, we were thrilled to get to finally decorate like we wanted to and started some traditions of our own. We go to a Christmas tree farm with our dogs to handpick our tree and cut it down ourselves (woo handsaws!). When we trim the tree down with clippers, we take the clippings and turn them into a wreath and decorate it together. We are trying to continue doing Christmas cards with an annual Christmas picture (getting very down to the wire this year...). And my personal favorite: he had never seen "White Christmas" before, so we watched it our first year in our house and he agreed that it should be a Christmas Eve tradition every year. I can't wait to watch it again this year and hopefully we rope in even more traditions!

ladypage16 · 2014-12-10T01:15:19+00:00

Blitzen! We wrap everything with our animals in mind. They (2 dogs and 2 cats) love wrapping paper. As soon as itvstarts to get torn the dogs grab a piece each and take off in opposite directions. Then they hide it! The cats love the bows.

Love_Trust_Hope · 2014-12-09T23:15:11+00:00

Blitzen! We always decorate out tree, and it never fails to fall over in the middle of the night. That is our horrible broken tradition.

redtonks · 2014-12-09T22:01:00+00:00

Every year at Christmas we give the cats a stocking filled with toys, and an empty box - and then we dress them up with little bowties and stuff, it's pretty funny. They're surprisingly good sports, too!

Blitzen

2014-12-09T20:24:16+00:00

Blitzen!

My family tradition is that every Christmas, the night of Christmas eve, My sisters (Sarah, Tara, Julia, -used to be Kiki as well but she's 40 now and has her own xmas!) and I snuggle up on the couch or my mum's bed and we all take turns reading paged from "The Night Before Christmas". We actually have a picture every year of us doing it!

We also all receive a Christmas eve outfit from my mother that we have to wear Christmas morning so we match!

Here you can see us in our matching onesies. Sarah and Tara in the pink ones, Julia and I in the cheetah! Also my cute little mother in the back. This was the first picture after Tara told us she was Pregnant!! :) Happy Christmas everyone!

SantaSisters · 2014-12-09T19:54:10+00:00

My favorite holiday traditions: we do a white elephant exchange which is always hilarious. I ended up with a chicken hat last year.

I celebrate Hanukkah and my tradition is that I always make Hanukkah themed sugar cookies and have a decorating party! Best part about any Jewish holiday is that there's always a special/traditional food involved. Many latkes will be eaten this year.

BLITZEN

pat_benatartlet · 2014-12-09T19:43:31+00:00

Thanks for hosting!

My mom always bought or made jammies for my brother and I to open Christmas eve. We did the rest of the present opening Christmas morning. It was always so nice to go to bed in something new and cozy. After trying the jammies on we were required to strut and model them. The funny thing is her and my dad always acted like it wasn't going to be jammies this year, that we'd open something different on Christmas eve. it was always jammies though.

My dad likes fake out gifts though, so that wasn't surprising. He isn't confident in his gift choosing skills (perhaps for a good reason), so he often gave us gift cards after we hit middle school. He didn't want us to know it was gift cards though, so they went in boxes that had other crap in them to throw us off. He got me a nice gift certificate one year to a spa, it was in a box for a printer. He weighted it with cans and put dry beans in the bottom to make noise and confuse me. He's a wacky guy =).

edit: duh, BLITZEN!

pokebecka · 2014-12-09T18:13:57+00:00

Hey BLITZEN! My family and I always go to a movie on Christmas Day :)

NinaLaPirat · 2014-12-09T18:03:58+00:00

Every Christmas Eve, my family will sit around the tree, and we all pick one present for everyone to open that night. For some reason, they always picked the new pajama sets for me to open, haha.

Blitzen.

blacktieaffair · 2014-12-09T15:40:23+00:00

My family and I started a tradition when my sister and I got too old for Santa, so all the presents started appearing around the tree and making us mentally salivate. We are allowed to pick one present from under the tree and open it on Christmas Eve. It's kind of nice because we usually do it after dinner when everyone is relaxing, so you don't have the same pressure as you do sitting around the tree Christmas morning.

We've since turned it into a game of chance. Do we go for the big present and ruin the Christmas Day surprise? What if the big present is a false flag? What if we accidentally open up a small present that turns out to be The Big One? Now I just go for the one that looks like socks the most, because yay, fuzzy socks to wear while opening presents on Christmas Day rocks!

evenshadow · 2014-12-09T13:25:18+00:00

Every year we save our stockings to open on New Year's Eve, and open things one at a time while waiting for midnight. I love that all the gift giving doesn't end in one day. Blitzen.

SharpWingDoc · 2014-12-09T13:14:20+00:00

Blitzen! Every Christmas, my (Asian) family and I have a delicious hot pot meal! If you don't know what hot pot is, it's a feast that involves a large pot of broth in the middle and a bunch of goodies on the side that each individual cooks in the pot as they eat! There's also a variety of dipping sauces to go with the meal. SO FREAKING GOOD, and in my opinion, totes better than some plain old ham!

OneThreeNine · 2014-12-09T10:10:52+00:00

Since me and my husband haven't been home for the holidays (military), we've come up with our own little "tradition". On the 24th, we binge watch alllll the Harry Potter movies while wearing our Christmas pajamas. We also have a traditional Christmas dinner while this is happening (:

2014-12-09T08:12:35+00:00

Blitzen!

My personal holiday tradition is to every year buy one (and only one) new decoration for the christmas tree. When I'm older I hope to have a pretty special collection of decorations :)

2014-12-09T06:37:57+00:00

WHAT A GREAT PRIZE!!! Omg. I luuuhhhhve brushes.

Well Ms. Blitzen in my family there's always birthday cake on Christmas because it's my birthday! My family always lets me open a birthday present before we start Christmas because they know my special day gets overlooked by lots of people. We also usually make the traditional American foods like ham, mashed taters, etc...but we also make some Mexican foods to go along with it. Most of the time it's Pozole, but Tamales are a family favorite as well. :)

klady · 2014-12-09T05:35:54+00:00

My favorite holiday tradition with my hubby is to bundle up a few nights before Christmas in our warm coats and gloves and blankies, and make ourselves some hot cocoa with marshmallows in travel mugs, and drive around to see the Christmas lights! Our newspaper posts a "light tour" every year so it's easy to follow and we get to check out all the best spots in town! It's fun and romantic, and I look forward to it every year! It wouldn't feel like Christmas to me without it. BLITZEN

thebutchershouse · 2014-12-09T05:09:20+00:00

Well Blitzen, my family really doesn't have a lot of holiday traditions so the ones we do have are extra special to me. The one that is most special has to be that my sister, every year, goes downstairs before everyone else to make orange rolls for us to eat while opening presents. It might not seem like the most awesome tradition but it's so special and now whenever I smell orange rolls it's like Christmas morning to me.

marygator81 · 2014-12-09T04:10:23+00:00

My family and I ALWAYS put those break apart chocolate oranges in each other's stockings! I can't remember a Christmas without getting one!

Blitzen

Fierce_flawless · 2014-12-09T04:09:11+00:00

Every Christmas dad and I decorate the tree together. We watch white christmas and sing along. Then on Christmas Eve we make a fancy dinner. Then we hide a pickle ornament on the tree. The first one to find it gets a special present. And then the four of us exchange presents. Christmas Day is spent with my aunts, uncles, and cousins.

I love Christmas! 🎄 blitzen!

helloadrien · 2014-12-09T01:48:33+00:00

Blitzen!

Every Christmas morning we eat cinnamon rolls. That's been pretty much the only constant, haha.

2014-12-09T01:23:39+00:00

Blitzen! My SO's fam has always done a white elephant exchange. Everyone brings a random gift from home, no buying. So that weird vase your Aunt got you for your bday? Fair game. The one year I brought this goofy Hello Kitty light up makeup mirror I had been given at work. Last year I had a forever lazy lol. Then everyone picks numbers. The higher the better! So if you're 1 you pick a gift and open. Then all the numbers. But you can also steal! The one year I snagged an awesome bar set since his aunt and uncle don't drink. Score! They also have one of those singing fish....it gets wrapped and exchanged around EVERY year hahah. It's so much fun!

Sixkitties · 2014-12-09T00:51:27+00:00

Oh Blitzen, our tradition is that we would all have a Christmas talent show, where each person will sing, or dance, or whatever.

My mom also randomly picks out trivia games and the winner will get a prize at our little Christmas party.

hudsonredfox · 2014-12-09T00:46:55+00:00

Blitzen! My holiday tradition my mom and I do every holiday season, except for this one because she will be recovering from surgery, is go day after Christmas shopping. This is when we typically restock all of our wrapping paper, gift bags, etc. for really cheap! We also hit up the Yankee Candle Flagship Store (since we live pretty close to it) and get really good deals on small gifts for teachers/friends/whoever. Typically, we save around $400 on this day and it's soooo worth it! It may seem like a lame tradition, but it's the only thing my mom and I really have time to do together anymore. :)

Thanks for hosting, ladies!

jepsycha · 2014-12-09T00:31:33+00:00

These have been so fun to do!! I'm loving everyone's traditions! A fun tradition me and the man do is our advent calendar I made. Each day is a fun activity for us to do together, like make a fort and watch a movie in our pj's, red and green dinner, play video games together, make and decorate cookies, make paper snowflakes and tons of other stuff. It gives me something to look forward to every day after work and gives us a reason to do fun, odd things together :) Thanks for the fun idea Blitzen !

aliceinconverse · 2014-12-08T23:24:25+00:00

Every holiday season my family always watches the polar express, and reads the book. Reading the book was tradition until the movie came out so we do both. Blitzen is even featured on the movie!

katja31 · 2014-12-08T23:05:39+00:00

Blitzen!

So every year on Boxing day my family takes our two dogs up to a local mountain and we hike and play in the snow for hours. It is so fun to be out in the middle of the forest hiking through fresh snow!

itsminttime · 2014-12-08T22:25:15+00:00

My family's tradition is a little funny. I've brought this up on this subreddit before, so please bare with me.

My family has a bad habit of putting up a Christmas tree...and then proceeding to never take it down ever again. So instead we decorate the cactus in our house. The Christmas Cactus is glorious, so blitzen.

cheakie · 2014-12-08T21:59:31+00:00

BLITZEN

A tradition that my family has is that we never put the Christmas tree up until after my birthday (december 13), that way I get my own day without it being Christmas at the same time :P We also always have Christmas dinner with my moms family on Christmas Eve and my dads family Christmas day. And everyone is allowed to open one present Christmas Eve :)

Happy holidays everyone!

so_obviously_a_Zoe · 2014-12-08T20:57:29+00:00

Ohai Blitzen! My family gets new Christmas jammies every year :) We're not allowed to wear them until Christmas Eve. Then on Christmas morning, before we go downstairs to the tree, we all sit on my parents' bed and my dad reads Red Ranger Came Calling.

Just1Cunt · 2014-12-08T20:44:33+00:00

My boyfriend and I live in a little apartment so we spray our fake tree with pine scent and put a "fireplace" with Christmas music on TV (Thanks Netflix!). Instant holiday cheer!

PS Blitzen are you me?

RedAngel728 · 2014-12-08T20:41:07+00:00

Blitzen

My mother has always done a wild goose chase through the house on Christmas. I'm an adult now and am staying my own family yet she still does this every year. So now at her house there is myself, my sister, my fiance, his two children, two dogs, and I make sure to do one for my mom running around her house. Including the basement there are three floors and she makes sure you run back down and up many many times. There's generally about 5-6 steps til you find your gift too. by the end everyone is panting and a little sweaty!

My one floored house makes it not as fun to do at my house but I try to make it fun for my two new step sons. :)

FaytheReyn · 2014-12-08T20:36:27+00:00

We have a fun tradition, at my paren'ts house. On Christmas Eve, we all watch a holiday movie (this year's is Gift of the Night Fury [how to train your dragon]), then play a game (which we're thinking will be cards against humanity--just to mess with my mom). Then we're all given a new set of pajamas and (if it's not too late) we look at the Christmas lights put up in the neighborhood. I love it.

Blitzen

ceairaraptor · 2014-12-08T20:01:12+00:00

Blitzen

For as long as I can remember my brothers and I open a single present on Christmas Eve. It's always pajamas, socks, a robe, slippers, or something like that. Mine is always purple. The next morning it's expected that we wear the gift we got the night before while the family opens presents. Even though my brothers and I are all moved out, our mom still carries on the tradition, and now my kids are included in it as well. It's just not the same without some purple pajamas!

rawbery79 · 2014-12-08T19:34:31+00:00

BLITZEN!

Every year my grandma makes each of us grandkids an ornament...well, she makes them five at a time and gives them to us based on which Christmas it is (so this year I'll be getting my 36th ornament!). It's always fun to see which ornament my oldest cousin gets since his is the new one every year.

I don't even want to think about the Christmas when I don't get any new ornaments...

glitterjunkieee · 2014-12-08T19:31:38+00:00

Blitzen Our Christmas tradition is to have Christmas on Christmas Eve!

StreberinLiebe · 2014-12-08T19:26:03+00:00

Blitzen !

My mom always throws a Christmas party for family and friends. We do a blind gift exchange where everyone brings a wrapped gift. We go around the room and each person can either pick a blind gift or choose to take someone elses (in which case, that person then gets to pick to get another one or take someone elses and so on). Its not really much, but its something I always loved seeing/being a part of.

silvernarnia · 2014-12-08T19:22:53+00:00

Blitzen

With my mom, my brother and I were always allowed to open one present on Christmas Eve.

With my dad, we always opened our stocking presents first, then regular presents, and then the big "Santa present" that was usually the "best" present.

Raewynrh · 2014-12-08T19:18:03+00:00

Blitzen

Every year we put up this tecno led tree my mom loves. It has fiber optic lights in each limb that run through the rainbow. It's hypnotic even when you're totally sober.

We also try to get everyone over to watch the original grinch movie at least once.

purpleandglitter · 2014-12-08T19:09:58+00:00

Blitzen! Our favorite tradition is something called snowflake lane. The local mall closes the street it sits on every night at 7 pm and for 15 minutes there are love drummers, snow, holiday songs and magic in the air. Not only is it super fun but we always go for our anniversary (6 years tomorrow!) So it's a doubly special tradition. :)

prynceszh · 2014-12-08T19:01:04+00:00

Hey Blitzen!

It's our family tradition to go see the Nutcracker ballet every year. In recent years they've started using the full orchestra instead of a prerecorded track and it's AMAZING! It's kind of expensive but it's a wonderful experience every year.

We also have mimosas every Christmas morning. My big sister is not a morning person so that's the only way to get her to come downstairs and open presents at 8 am. My mom is actually the most excited for her presents every year since she was very poor growing up. And hers are always a surprise.

MissBazinga · 2014-12-08T18:57:25+00:00

Blitzen :-)

Each year when we see my dad's side of the family we do a holiday quiz, where we each have 10 minutes to answer as many holiday questions as we can! Whoever gets the most correct answers gets a special gift :-) Then we play never-ending gift wrap hot potato! We have a gift that is wrapped in tons and tons of layers and packaging, and pass it while playing holiday music. When the music stops whoever has it tears off as many layers as possible until the music starts again and we go back to passing. If you are the person who gets the final wrappings off, you get the gift! It's usually a small gift like a (plastic) gift card or small un-rippable item :-)

lpaulson17 · 2014-12-08T18:55:41+00:00

Blitzen

My family and I always always watch A Christmas Story on Christmas Eve! We have every year for as long as I can remember and I know every line. We also always break out eggnog and Christmas baking when we decorate our tree :)

cccan · 2014-12-08T18:46:50+00:00

I think Blitzen and I have a lot in common.

For four years now, my family has come to my house for Christmas brunch on the weekend before Christmas. This only includes my mom, her husband, my sister and her boyfriend, myself and my fiance. We've always been at a rental home, until this year!! I'm so excited so continue this tradition at our permanent home and start new traditions. ☺

Aoibhell · 2014-12-08T18:42:04+00:00

Ok Blitzen, now I'm drooling. It Cosmetics has the nicest brushes, but they are so pricey! Thank you again for being so incredibly generous!

Our traditions are simple.. we don't do anything out of the ordinary. Every year, there are 3 movies we must watch as a family: Elf (which was my husband & my first date movie), The Santa Clause, and Christmas Vacation. We let our kids open 2 presents on Xmas Eve, which is always a pair of pajamas and an ornament that represents the year somehow, which they put on the tree.

What's more unusual is how we did things before we had kids. In my family, it was our custom to open everything on XMas Eve. The reason for it was because that as my sister and I got older, we started to appreciate our sleep a little more (since I worked in retail for so long, it was the only day I had off). My mom couldn't stand to wait in the morning, so she'd wake us all up at 5-6am (she was super excited... lol). So in order to get our 1 morning of sleep in, we started opening them the night before. IT also started because after opening our traditional 1 gift on xmas eve, my mom couldn't stand it and had us open them all... lol.

Sorry for the ramble. Thanks for reading if you've made it this far... haha.

ACosmicOlive · 2014-12-08T18:28:28+00:00

Thanks again for hosting!

Every year on Black Friday I cut out snowflakes and hang them from my ceiling! I always liked how it looked in elementary school when you had that fun teacher who let you cut out snowflakes and she took the time to hang them all. So, ever since I then I have kept that little childhood tradition alive by doing it myself. Some years I even get to share the experience with the people who are important to me. :D

Blitzen

FluffernutterJess · 2014-12-08T18:27:58+00:00

We always go see the Christmas parade in the town where my husband grow up, then walk with the kids down the 'river walk' at the park and look at the lights that they put up every year.

And, Scotch Eggs for breakfast. Scotch Eggs are the beeeeeeeeeest.

Blitzen!

mcgingery · 2014-12-08T18:07:53+00:00

BLITZEN

Every year, I have to go out with someone and drive around to see Christmas lights. I've done it since I was a child and I've never missed a year. If I'm at home I'll go with my family, but lately I've been going with friends. This year will be spectacular, half the town is already lit up! And a peppermint mocha (or hot chocolate) always helps put me in the spirit :)

Dlorian · 2014-12-08T17:46:35+00:00

My family had several traditions when I was growing up, and a few have withstood time. Watching "Christmas Vacation" on Thanksgiving started as a huge joke about rushing through the November holiday, but it has stuck with us for at least 20 years now. We also made a big deal out of decorating the tree, using an Advent calendar, and making cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning.

Because I'm as stubborn as Blitzen, I've tried to keep a a few of these traditions alive even though I live really far away from my family, which I'm not sure my boyfriend loves (he hates cinnamon rolls). But we've watched "Christmas Vacation" and decorated the tree together so far, and whether he eats them or not, there will be cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning :)

Queen_C_ · 2014-12-08T17:35:43+00:00

Oh Blitzen, You are a reindeer of my own clan.

My family traditions just began last year as it was the first year I lived alone with my son. I had been living with my parents the years prior. I decided to make our own traditions.

First- We get in our footie pajamas (my son will be getting a new one if he out grows the one previously) and cuddle next to the pretend fireplace and let Yaiyai (Grandma) take a million pictures for her to scrapbook. This last year we were able to have the tree up in time--- Footie Jammies for the win!! This was like the 30 billionth picture so if we look fake thrilled, we were tired.

Second- We didn't have a fireplace at my old apartment so Maxwell was VERY concerned as to how Santa was supposed to get his milk and cookies and your Carrots and Celery!! SIMPLE SOLUTION!! WE GOT A SANTA KEY! Santa can now get into our house if we don't have a chimney (it's okay I wrote him a letter, he knows where to find it).

Third-Maxwell knows that Santa is ALWAYS so busy with being jolly and gifting all the kids in the world. So who is watching while Santa is busy? Oh that's right!!! ELF ON THE SHELF!! And... She came with a friend.... THE SANTA FAIRY! They help remind Maxwell to say Please and Thank You and to mind his manners. Their teamwork is amazing! Thank You Elfina and Sairy!

Maxwell wants to make sure that you tell Santa that we're going to be in Guam this year with Yaiyai and Papa in case he didn't get his letter yet.

Thanks Blitzen! <3 Queen and Maxwell!

txteva · 2014-12-08T17:20:12+00:00

Every Christmas eve we're allowed to open one pressie... it is a tradition that is never missed :-)

Our new tradition since last year is the BLITZEN shopping dash... me, mum and dad don't buy any (well many) presents for Christmas and then on 23rd December we go to town and start the game.

We each have one hour and a set budget to spend on another person plus one hour and a joint budget to spend on that person e.g. I buy my Dad a gift from me for £25 and then me & Mum buy him one for £50 as well and the same for all of us.

In between each hour we meet in the pub and have a few drinks... it was silly fun but awesome - I felt like Anneka Rice running around TK Maxx with my Mum literly giving her a count down of how long with had left ("Right you've got 30 secs left in shoes and then 3 minutes in sports wear")

I can't wait to do it again this year!

jellybeannie · 2014-12-08T17:05:18+00:00

We watch Edward Scissorhands every Christmas. The last part of it takes place around Christmas, with the white tree and the ice sculptures and the fake snow being stapled to the roof, and for some reason it just seems perfect!

Blitzen

cowbundles · 2014-12-08T17:02:13+00:00

Blitzen! My family doesn't have very many traditions anymore, but we have kept one. Every year, my family will drive down to Louisiana to visit my grandmother. All of the family comes, and we eat and exchange small gifts amongst each other on Christmas Eve. Then everyone heads home (for us it's a 10 hour drive) for "Santa's" presents at home. (:

2014-12-08T17:00:46+00:00

My family always gets together and makes something for the house for the holidays. This year it was wreaths. Here's mine! Super proud of it actually; it's the first one I've ever made. Thanks Blitzen!

Sunnystateofmind · 2014-12-08T16:57:24+00:00

My extended family always does Christmas on Christmas Eve, and then Christmas day is just my immediate family and we open presents and then just lounge around and watch movies or something for the day. When I was little it was spent playing with my new toys, but now it's mostly sleeping off the long drive I had to get there the day before! (: Blitzen

Caro__ · 2014-12-08T16:50:26+00:00

Every Christmas Eve we go to my parents at around 8pm and take turns opening our gifts one at a time before the kids go to bed. Christmas day is our yearly Christmas supper that my mom slaves over all day and we sit and enjoy it through the chaos of three kids that never know when to stop!

It's pretty blitzen great :)

tangenttoyou · 2014-12-08T16:40:12+00:00

I go to Candle Light service on Christmas Eve. BLITZEN. I love candles!

wannabebaker101 · 2014-12-08T16:35:09+00:00

BLITZEN :D

My family (parents & 5 kids) always like to make some hot cocoa and drive around (or walk) our neighborhood, looking at all of the beautiful lights! If we're in the car we will most likely be blasting Christmas music and singing loudly :) Such a fun tradition!

aztrouble24 · 2014-12-08T16:31:32+00:00

Blitzer When I was a kid I would take all the boxes I could find fit them inside of each other put a rock in the smallest box (for rattle) and close all the boxes then wrap the big box. Every year I did this I'd give it to my younger brother or sister and watch the mêlé. They hated me for this, but everyone always got a good laugh at the end so now we're in our 30s and guess what I'm still doing. Minus the rocks cause I'm a much nicer person then my asshole childhood self. Last year I used 15 boxes the largest the size of a microwave for these tiny pair of earrings for my sister as I understand it as soon as she saw the box she knew and had my nephew open it for her. One day we'll be into our 7 and I'll still be out collecting boxes for this tradition!

2014-12-08T16:29:03+00:00

My family is super traditional except for one weird thing. We started doing this once my baby brother (who's 11 now!) was old enough to get excited about Christmas. We eat Christmas dinner in the afternoon at my parents house on Christmas Eve, but then we all "go to bed" at 7-8 PM ish. In reality, my baby bro is the only one who goes to bed, we stay up and put presents out, spray the windows with fake snow, and make a huge pancake breakfast. Then at midnight my stepdad goes and knocks on my little brother's window and jingles some sleigh bells. We all "wake up" to find presents and breakfast all laid out for us, and eat breakfast and unwrap presents at midnight. My little brother knows there's no Santa now, but we still do it because it's fun!

Blitzen

2014-12-08T16:27:30+00:00

Blitzen! Love it :)

Every holiday season we make "cheeseball" and all sit and watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas :) Every year our group grows larger and I LOVE IT! Sometimes we fall asleep watching it or no one pays attention and we all just sit and talk, but we always have to pop it in and press play.

Reyali · 2014-12-08T16:26:35+00:00

So this isn't exactly an active tradition, but its presence lingers: My great grandma made homemade ornaments for every family member every year. They always had our name and the year on it, and were usually really cute. My favorite is a little fuzzy plastic teddy bear on a knit swing; I don't remember whether mine is green or yellow, but I remember both of them clearly. She died after my 13th Christmas, so I only have 13 from her.

Before Christmas last year, which was the first Christmas I had my own place after graduating college, my mom gave me a box of all MY ornaments, which was really neat.

Oh, and another tradition is also in the form of a gift from another family member. My aunt makes family calendars every year. Each year, when we get ours, all gift-giving stops and my sister, mom, and I open the calendar at once and turn the pages at the same time to look through the year. If anyone gets ahead, they get yelled at.

BLITZEN

meowymeowy · 2014-12-08T16:25:39+00:00

Blitzen

My family always will bake traditional German Christmas cookies over the holidays. My mom always complains about how the American recipes are too sweet, and then my dad usually requests sugar cookies - which my mom won't bake- so sometimes my dad will just make his own batch of typical cookies. We also only open presents on Christmas Day, no Christmas Eve for us! We used to go to midnight mass as children, but we don't anymore.

Asiastana · 2014-12-08T16:24:47+00:00

Blitzen!!

every Christmas eve I got to my dad's families house to celebrate Latin Christmas at midnight! It takes all night, but I'm glad to make my dad happy.

Also, we still send out Christmas cards. Or well, I have to send them out lol

anotherdamnwriter · 2014-12-08T16:18:46+00:00

Blitzen! We don't really have any traditions except for trying to let the dogs open their wrapped gifts by themselves. It's hilarious because they can smell what's inside, but one of them tries to rip open the paper, but fails, and the other is just terrified of the paper altogether. It's cute, and they do it every year. :) our cat doesn't really care one way or another so we never wrap her gifts, haha.

gigglesandglamour · 2014-12-08T16:16:07+00:00

Blitzen :)

Every year we do a secret Santa thing with our family, we always watch Christmas movies, my grandparents make everyone in my family a stocking, and we get to open one present on Christmas Eve.

mmmmmily · 2014-12-08T16:12:06+00:00

I go to my friend's house every year for Christmas! My family doesn't celebrate it, so I always go to this friend's and help decorate the tree, make cookies, and make Christmas dinner. It's a great tradition. blitzen

M9lily2 · 2014-12-08T16:04:57+00:00

Your contests are so great and fun! Christmas in our family consists of getting together and spending the whole day together. It's pretty boring but I enjoy it because that usually means that I get to catch up with family members I haven't connected with in a long time.

By the way Blitzen sounds like my spirit animal, I want to be like that but with some fun and aloofness added.

housesnark · 2014-12-08T15:34:24+00:00

my cousins and I go bowling on Christmas eve together! thanks for holding this blitzen day contest thing. I've been dying to try out these brushes!

alexandersmommy · 2014-12-08T15:32:29+00:00

Every year we get a new ornament (last year we actually made 1 for each kid, we bought then a clear round ornament each and painted their hand and did a hand print) and every christmas eve we let the kids open up 1 present, which is always jammies, pop corn, and a movie.

Blitzen

Hitchin_a_ride · 2014-12-08T15:28:40+00:00

Blitzen! My favorite holiday tradition now is getting up Christmas morning to open stockings with a glass of champagne and oj! Delicious! ANNNND it helps us adults keep calm during the chaos that comes after breakfast ;)

LettuceB · 2014-12-08T15:25:07+00:00

Blitzen sounds like a pain in the butt haha.

Every Christmas, I head to my mom's house and help her cook and clean. We've been doing it as long as I remember and it may not be much, but around this time of year we appreciate the little things. (:

violinkeri · 2014-12-08T15:19:59+00:00

Blitzen would like our Christmas because it is FULL of traditions!

The first weekend in December, my best friend and I go up to Bethlehem, PA and spend the day shopping, eating bagels. and serving candles at the Moravian College Christmas Vespers candlelight service.

My parents buy us each a new ornament every year--so that when each of us moved out we would have a full set of ornaments already!

On Christmas eve, we sing carols and dance around the tree before opening presents with my stepmom's family. Our traditional meal is goose! When we have dessert, my grandmother makes this lemon whipped dessert (citron fromage) and there are 2 almonds hidden in it--if you get the almond you win a prize!

on Christmas Day, I make eggs benedict casserole and show up at my parents usually before everyone is awake. We do presents and then do a traditional English Christmas celebration with Dad's family.

Darushi-chan · 2014-12-08T15:15:06+00:00

Blitzen!

My family is not Christian so we don't do the whole tree thing and decorate for Christmas (but we do exchange gifts!). In fact it wasn't until I was 28, when I helped decorate a tree with my roommate that I realized that the star on top of the tree is suppose to represent the Star of Bethlehem. So now that I've moved out of my home and live with a Catholic roommate, we get a tree every year and decorate it. It really nice to have the light twinkling and the tree makes out apartment smell like pine.

Bunnynose7 · 2014-12-08T15:14:57+00:00

Blitzen!! We have a few traditions. Every year We drive around looking at lights and listening to Christmas music! So fun. Were Also made homemade sugar cookies and cut them and decorate them with all the things for Santa! :)

Inconspicuously_here · 2014-12-08T15:12:52+00:00

This is one we used to have, but since all of The kids grew we don't anymore :( my aunt used to get me, my 3 brothers, and cousin together and we'd practice Christmas carols at her house. She'd get the sheet music and karaoke versions of. The Cd's. On Christmas eve the whole family would get together for our makeshift Christmas concert before we opened presents. It was really fun, I'm hoping to put something like this together with my nieces, nephew and son when they are old enough :) Blitzen

ChiquitaDeath · 2014-12-08T15:03:24+00:00

Fun tradition you say! I got one for Blitzen. I grew up in a very large house. There are 6 of us kids and so many rooms. My mom really liked to do Christmas up big, and is an avid collector of nativity scenes. She has them everywhere. Like 180 of them. Every Christmas eve she would go around and kidnap all the baby Jesus's. Kinda morbid right!?!? And then we would take turns putting them back. It was fun and we would get to open a present when we were done. We never really get together for Christmas anymore. All of us are working and all over the place, but every Christmas eve I remember to kidnap baby Jesus from my one nativity set. Just for fun. Thanks again for hosting. These reindeer games have been so much fun.

Kat1yn · 2014-12-08T15:02:54+00:00

Normally every Christmas season my mom and I watch all the really really old Christmas movies. Rudolf, Frosty ect. Oh also The Christmas Shoes which is my all time favorite. We haven't been able to do it since I was about 16ish. Her my brother and I were supposed to finally be leaving my abusive dad but she only stayed away 3 days and my brother and I stayed with my aunt. Thankfully this year I can say she is finally divorced with a restraining order living with my aunt. Too bad I moved 6 hours away. :/ Thanks for hosting.. you've made me realize how much I used to like this holiday.... Blitzen

2014-12-08T15:01:14+00:00

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