So What Are Your Christmas Eve Traditions?

[cshold]

For me it is two church services, the big one at
7:00 pm then home to open some gifts.
Then back to church for the 11:00 pm candle light
service with communion. (my favorite )

[Hobie]

Midnight mass was always my favorite, even when I was an acolyte.

[86er]

I have always had a duck hunt on the morning of the day before Christmas. I wasn't so sure it would continue in TX since it was at my fingertips in NY. Well new friends and new places made it even sweeter. RKrodle and I continued that tradition by shooting a pair of greenheads, a pair of hooded mergansers and a widgeon. And back home by 9:00am! Love the Christmas traditions!

[dkmlever]

A glass of scotch on ice with my wife looking at our Christams tree, reading a novel thanking the Lord for how lucky we are.

[Terry Murbach]

THE BEST PART WAS SHOOTING OUT EVERYONES CHRISTMAS LIGHTS WITH A BB GUN, THE SHERIDAN 5MM WHEN WE GOT OLDER, OR THE 22 RIFLE LATER WHEN CCI INVENTED THE THE ZIMMERPATRONEN. SOMETIMES WE GOT TO STEAL ALL THEIR PRESENTS TOO WHEN THEY WENT OFF TO CHURCH AND LEFT THEIR DOORS UNLOCKED. THIS IS WHEN WE REALIZED THE CHRISTIANS WERE REALLY SERIOUS ABOUT ALL THAT IT- IS- BETTER- TO- GIVE STUFF. SINCE THERE WAS SO MUCH LOOT WE DIVIDED IT ALL UP AND SWITCHED IT ALL AROUND AND LEFT IT IN THEIR BARNS SO THEY COULD ALL BLAME EACH OTHER. THIS IS AMONG MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS REMEMBERANCES. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT, WE HELPED 'EM ALL BE BETTER CHRISTIANS 'CAUSE NOW THEY HAD TO PRACTISE THAT FORGIVENESS STUFF...MY CUP RUNNETH OVER...MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD SIXGUN....

[CaptainFinn]

Thanks. Terry, I just had eggnog come shooting out of my nose.

Now ..."It's beginning to smell like christmas"...at least until I take a shower and clean my sinuses out.

God bless and happy holidays everyone. May everyone find a new gun wrapped under the tree tomorrow morning, and nobody shoot your eyes out !

[Mike D.]

This afternoon I am shooting ducks. After that we go to my sister's for the in-law Christmas assembly. She is married to my wife's brother, how you like that? Keeps the relative's small.
Tomorrow, we attend Christmas Mass at 10A because we are assigned as Eucharistic Ministers. Following Mass, we go to our oldest daughter's home for our family Christmas dinner and gift exchange.
We all live within 10 miles of each other, so rotate Christmas's between various houses. Last Saturday, we had Aunts, Uncles and Cousins, plus all their kids, to the ranch for that traditional gathering and dinner.

[Borregos]

Just finished making the brandy butter and the rum butter for the Christmas Pudding. (licked the spoon, tasted as good as ever )

Off to church at 18:30, three of the grandkids are in the Christmas Pageant, should be good entertainment for everybody

Also spent four hours early this morning with a neighbor plowing and cleaning up the church lot

A Happy Christmas to everybody

[Leverdude]

Sadly I dont really have one anymore. Its been 4 years but it still pains me a little on just this day. Memories are like that, great things to have but they bring a longing too.
We used to go to my dads sisters house, my Aunt Barbera & my Godmother too. They lived next door to my grandparents so its just the way things developed.
She'd make a ham & we'd bring a turkey with the fixins. Along with that ham she made sweet potatos, stuffed baked regular taters, vegies & everything under the sun.
It was really more of a Christmas than the next morning now as I look back. Getting to see everyone in a relaxed manner, we'd get there before noon & pass the day talking & shareing in the way close families do. Never realized it at the time, how truly blessed & dern lucky I was. Towards the end we'd have 4 generations laughing & enjoying life together, I can only hope my kids realize how blessed they were to have great grandparents. They still have one, my grandmother is still alive, 93 years old & still fit but she's got Alzheimers pretty bad now & is in a home. She'll be with us tomorrow at my sisters, I'm still blessed.
Anyway 6 years ago my grandfather died at 94 years old, it hit my Aunt pretty bad. She did the routine for 2 more years before it fizzled. That was the year she put Grandma in the home. By then the families had grown & all the kids had kids & we drifted apart.
My mom did it last year but she's recovering from sucessful breast cancer surgery last week. That popped up pretty quick, less than a month ago they found it, diagnosed it & took it out. I barely had time to digest the idea of my mom with cancer. She's up & about fine other than a bit of discomfort. They took the tumor & the nearest limf nodes from what I gather. The nodes they took to see if it had spread & it hadn't.
So, like I said, I'm traditionless at the moment for this day. But theres a turkey in the oven & I'm bringing it to moms house & maybe that'll be the tradition for my kids to grow up with & think about when they aint so young anymore.

Merry Christmas & God Bless.

[mescalero1]

Years ago, it was hunt cottontails: and then have biscuts, gravy & cottontails.
That has gone by the wayside.
Now I will just stay home,
I'm retired
healthy
have plenty of guns ( well memories, lost in the same boating accident with another forum member )
Good outlook for the years ahead
Time to reflect on my good fortune
Merry Christmas to all
Mescalero

[dr walker]

I dont have a tradition, but I often find myself fishing on days off. No luck this morning, but will be out again in a few hours when the tide turns.
My Mother's new, the last 3 years, tradition is ordering Chinese take-out on Christmas eve, so we will go over to her place and eat.

Good job on the ducks.

[2ndovc]

My stepsons go with their dad for the night and I have my beautiful wife all to
myself for the evening.

We get a good fire going and enjoy the piece and quiet.

jb

[AmBraCol]

Well, this is the first "kidless" Christmas we've had in 20 years. The oldest is with his wife and two young'uns up in MO. The youngest is in California at Camp Pendleton - adjusting to his first Christmas far from family and friends. He's been there about a month so no friends to hang out with. A couple guys he knows are going out drinking, not something he's interested in - besides being a minor to boot. Anyway, we usually have something going on Christmas eve with the church or folks from the church. This year we're going to be at a friend's house to celebrate with him and his family - it's his wife's birthday and he's roasting a turkey and preparing a special meal for her. Kind of funny that they're doing "non-traditional" things on this typically traditional evening. Tomorrow we'll be at another friend's to celebrate with them as his son comes down for a week. He's on leave from Iraq and coming to spend a week with "the old man" and his wife.

Down here in Colombia it's very traditional to have a "cena de medianoche" (midnight dinner) with "stuffed turkey" (an abomination in which they rip everything out, chop up the meat and stuff some of it back in the skin with a bunch of junk and then sew it up and roast it) or with a fresh killed pig (there's a lot of porcine blood running this evening). Buñuelos and natilla are typical treats enjoyed by a great number of the folks around the country. We'll be having fresh baked rolls (thanks to my wife) to go with the turkey. I don't know what else is on the menu. I Do know that I'm thankful that dinner's scheduled for 8 instead of midnight. I'm getting too old for this all night stuff.

[AJMD429]

Towards the end we'd have 4 generations laughing & enjoying life together, I can only hope my kids realize how blessed they were to have great grandparents.

Same here - in the 1960's, huge multi-generation family gatherings happened, but the boomer generation took off all over the place and by the 80's the oldest relatives were a bit too old to host such things, and we were the tail end of the boomers, in college still. Then for awhile we were the only ones in a position to host a Christmas dinner, and we'd have to go fetch the elderly with their wheelchairs, walkers, or oxygen, and bring them to our virtually-one-room house (700 square feet of living area, with one bathroom and one bedroom, plus 200 feet of pantry/furnace room/storage).

Needless to say, it changed the character of Christmas. Not entirely in bad ways, either. Both versions were warm, spiritual, family times. The more recent ones served as a chance to pay back the oldest generation for their years of putting up with us, and put things in perspective as even our humble accomodations were better than what some of them had when growing up. It also showed our kids that family is important, and the simple act of assembling together once in awhile to talk and share a bit of each other's time is something to cherish, whether it's fifty houseguests, or five, and the amount of money thrown about is pretty meaningless. This country has had a couple generations go by where the chase of money and materialism has eclipsed spiritual and intellectual growth, but such has come and gone in generations past, so will likely give way to the more family-oriented priorities of the 'conservatives' (and the 'real' hippies ).

'Traditions' for us include some quiet time to contemplate our blessings, and remember some of the ancestors who have passed now but who helped us grow to the point where we can be 'host' of a sort.

[AZ Desertrat]

I go out quail hunting with my trusty old 28ga. Parker and my Weimaraner. This year we have out of state relatives over, and we spend most of the day making "finger food" dinner. I also make about a gallon of spiced cider and leave it simmering on the stove so the house smells good all day!

[BlueStateSaint]

Gotta go to sing in my church's choir at 9 PM Mass. I'm a tenor. One of the pieces we do is Handel's Hallelujah Chorus, just after Communion. It's one where we invite members of the congregation (1500+ attend that Mass) to sing in the choir with us, if they so desire. It is a bear to sing.

Then, after we put our 14-month-old daughter to bed, Santa comes. One great thing about my daughter's age is that she doesn't care what she gets, as long as it's fun. (I tried already to get a Remington Model 5 Youth Model for her. Didn't work. I'll try next year.) We got a bunch of fun stuff for her. She's walking a few steps at a time, so she'll be graduating to a new level of "fun stuff" soon.

[jeepnik]

Usually, a midnight mass, followed by a bit of cheer, then sleep. Used to get up pretty early when the boys were little. Now there gone, so my wife and I sleep in a bit. Then it's time to cook. This year the get together is at my sisters. Just her, her husband and the wife and I. But Sunday, most of the family will be getting together. The kids now have lives and loves of there own, so this year it's a couple of days late. Still have all the same insanity, but it's nice to think we can all go to church together on Sunday, haven't been able to do that in some time.

[JerryB]

We went to church just like any Wednesday service. had a good service came home and had a bed time snack.

[RIHMFIRE]

EVERY YEAR WE SPEND CHRISTMAS EVE AT MY PARENTS HOUSE....
GOOD GERMAN DINNER...BEER...AND EVERYONE OPENS 1 PRESENT....
BUT...THIS IS THE FIRST YEAR WE WILL NOT BE TOGETHER...
DAD PAST AWAY ON HIS BIRTHDAY THIS PAST YEAR....
AND MOM WENT UP NORTH TO HELP OUT MY SISTER AND HERE FAMILY....
FIRST TIME SINCE 1985....
BUT WE WILL HAVE A HOUSE FULL ON CHRISTMAS DAY....
AND TONS OF FOOD AND THE REST OF THE FAMILY!
CANT WAIT!

[Ysabel Kid]

We go to the children's mass (early mass) each year. Used to go to midnight mass, but with young kids, it is hard to do it now. After early mass it is off to my brother's house for a family gathering and exchange of a single gift. We draw names for the kids to exchange at Thanksgiving. Everyone gives my Mom a gift; she is now the matriarch of the family, since my grandparents are all passed on.

Christmas day is usually just us - my wife and children - opening up gifts, relaxing in our pajamas most of the day, and then me doing the Daddy's duty of assembling and figuring out how things work!

[Old Ironsights]

I think (hope?) I'm starting a new Christmas Tradition by Arrowing a Deer on Christmas Eve... and butchering it on Boxing Day.