Favorite Odd/Unusual Christmas Tradition?

Who’s got odd or unusual Christmas traditions? What’s the story behind it? My youngest son is a nut for all holidays, and traditions are VERY important to him.

Ours at home is cinnamon rolls and grape juice on Christmas morning. Not homemade, but regular Pillsbury ones that come in a tube.
The story behind it came from my late Mom. When we kids were little, there often wasn’t a lot of money-or any at all. Some years were pretty lean. So…as the story goes, one Christmas morning Mom had nothing for a Christmas morning breakfast for her three young children. All she found was a tube of cinnamon rolls, a can of frozen grape juice concentrate and not much else. She served it up feeling like the worst failure of a Mother in the world(she was a GREAT Mom), and Christmas day went on. But she remembered.

The next Christmas money was better and, remembering her shame from the last year, planned ahead and had a “real” Christmas morning breakfast ready.
We kids pitched an absolute fit that there weren’t any cinnamon rolls and grape juice, and so a Christmas tradition was born…

Billy often graciously accepted my silly holiday traditions and for several years we would built a gingerbread houses together. While it’s not an unusual tradition per say – it’s not usually a tradition in a household without any kids. Just two adults, listening to Christmas music and decorating gingerbread creations LOL. We made houses, trees, a mansion, train, village… Last year I was going to pass on this holiday tradition, until I saw a gingerbread cabin kit. Complete with two chairs and a campfire! I plan to carry on with this tradition this year too, and found a fun kit that I haven’t made just yet.

One of my favorite kits was the large gingerbread mansion (top right photo in the collage) – the kit came with two gingerbread children but no place to put them on the tray… so logically, we ate them. 😋

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Very similiar story to your’s Reverend, not much money growing up. 1988 was a really tough drought year, the crops were bad and the grasshoppers were even worse eating almost everything that did make it. But mom had a garden and dad shot a deer. Homemade venison stew and homemade bread for Christmas! And just like you the next year was a little better so we had a traditional holiday meal. Everyone agreed it just couldn’t hold a candle to what had been scraped together the previous year and so a tradition was born. To this day we make sure to save the best cuts of meat from our deer for Christmas stew!

We always get a live tree-started a tradition by keeping it-getting rid of the branches and then on XMass Eve we burn last years tree in the fireplace while we open presents.

cool thread idea

We are kind of a “foodie” family and make pretty elaborate feasts for holidays. However, for Christmas Eve we have Garlic Polish Venison Sausage from deer we shot that fall, made by Thielen Meats. Wild rice hotdish and cherry jello with marshmallow topping. Not sure how or why that tradition started, but it’s not really Christmas without it!

i don’t know if its odd but we have/had a tradition of going to the mall the week before christmas and getting drunk and then shopping for presents. Would usually be my grandpa, mom, aunt, brother and i. When i say drunk i mean a nice buzz i don’t mean falling down making a scene. Made for a lot of fun memories and some interesting gifts being picked out lol

I grew up in the 60s-70s so like a lot of others we didn’t have a lot of money. There were 8 in the house. My grandma, my parents and 5 kids. My mom would buy all the stuff and the kids would wrap “their” presents for the others, one for each. My parents would give 2-3 presents per person. It could be a jar of peanuts, a bottle of shampoo, etc. That’s ~70-80 presents under the tree. They would be spilling out into the living room.
My mom and grandma baked all the goodies: rosettes (I still have the iron), cookies galore, bars and candies. A couple of the candies were chocolate covered coconut (like a Mounds Bar) and chocolate covered peanut butter (like a Reeses). My friends would always ask me or my brother to bring some when we got together to fish, play pond hockey, go sliding, etc.
The goofiest one which I’m sure was my dad’s favorite was we always had oyster stew. The kids hated it but the adults liked it. It would be the last thing he finished as everyone else was waiting to go open presents (Christmas Eve in our house). We were all starting to get up and he’d say, “Can I have some more stew?” The kids would say, “No it’s time to open presents!” Then he’d say “Oh, alright.”

I don’t know the we do anything odd. With our children, we go to Christmas Eve mass, come home and have our own “Christmas Eve Crab Fest”, and then open some presents. Christmas morning, we have caramel rolls, open the Santa gifts, and then usually head to my folks house. This Christmas will be different, but we’ll still have our crab legs.

That’s funny Ralph we have crab legs on eve also at my folks house and open presents. Then in the morning Santa gifts are unwrapped under the tree for the kids, that was what the wife’s family did so we are doing it that way. Then off to her folks house to have early dinner and open gifts again. Not sure what it will look like this year and we were supposed to have Christmas dinner at our house for the first time as my in laws are starting to give up the holiday gatherings at there house.

Very cool thread!

I watch rocky every Christmas. The kids just asked if we are going to watch rocky again this year. I guess it excites them as it does me

When I was a kid we ate Burger King for like 8 years in a row. My dad worked for UPS and usually worked straight through Christmas day. We’d do a full meal and traditions between Christmas and New Years. On Christmas Eve we’d eat BK and open one present since Dad usually couldn’t be there.

I try do a funny family Christmas card to send out every year. It’s getting harder to come up with new material and it’s also hard to get my boys to cooperate if a funny pic is needed, etc. But it’s pretty much now expected that I do this every year by friends and relatives… So now it’s probably more of an additional holiday stressor for me. But, I give. And if it makes friends and loved ones smile than it’s all worth-while.

I think I have a good idea for this year but our photographer is going to have to go along with it. We’ll know if it’s going to work out after our session this weekend.

Festivus!

Chicken and Waffles for me and my family Christmas Morning breakfast. Had family stay over Christmas eve and bought everything for Christmas dinner but nothing for breakfast. So we had no breakfast meats and only a couple eggs. We had some chicken in the freezer. My wife just got a waffle maker as a gift on Christmas eve. So it was a perfect storm. Done it the last 4 years

We were allowed to open 1 gift on Christmas Eve, any gift we saw under the tree with our name on it. Breakfast is always raisin buns toasted in the oven with butter. Can’t beat it

We did this on my wife’s side of the family when there were still young kids in the house.

Christmas eve later in the evening before the kids were sent off to bed. Everyone would get one scoop of chocolate chip mint ice cream with a birthday candle on it. The lights would be dimmed down and candles were lit. Then everyone sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. Candles were blown out and ice cream eaten. Then kids were off to bed.

-J.

Oyster stew christmas eve after church.

When we started our family I was working in the printing biz. For two seasons we printed Christmas wrap for a customer. We’d have boxes (4X6’wood boxes) full of wrapping paper, most with slight flaws such as registration etc… employees were free to help themselves, with the majority being donated. I kid you not, some of the rolls weighed 5-8lbs. I joked with Mrs. BT it was enough for the rest of our lives. Then the bulb when on! I grabbed two rolls of red paper with fantastic “old time” looking Santas. We used it for the Santa gifts that magical arrived Christmas eve. Everything wrapped in whatever form it came in, no boxes, and the child’s first name written boldly with a silver sharpie.
Our girls are both married now and we’re still using the same wrapping paper. We are however using twice as much these days due to the bigger family!

My parents lived next door for many years when the kids were young. My dad used to make tracks from our house to theirs using a saved deer leg and big boots to simulate Santa and his reindeer. Mom would buy small cheap things to drop in the snow to make the kids think Santa’s bag was so full they were dropping out along the way. I think they had more fun than the kids.

Jon Jordan wrote:

We did this on my wife’s side of the family when there were still young kids in the house.

Christmas eve later in the evening before the kids were sent off to bed. Everyone would get one scoop of chocolate chip mint ice cream with a birthday candle on it. The lights would be dimmed down and candles were lit. Then everyone sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. Candles were blown out and ice cream eaten. Then kids were off to bed.

-J.

I really like this one! Might have to try it with my kids!

My Dad ALWAYS had to have oyster stew on Christmas Eve. I hated it. I ate the oyster crackers instead.
The other tradition–Tom and Gerry drinks.

I grew up in the 60’s / 70’s. Not much money in the family, got a apple in my stocking and Santa would bring us socks and underwear. Loved looking at the Sears catalog and just wishing.
Always went to Midnight Mass Christmas Eve. When I was old enough, I was humbled to serve as Senior Alter boy for Midnight Mass 2 years running.
I miss those days.

Anyway – I make eggrolls and fried rice as I listen to Christmas music and wear my Santa hat on Christmas Eve.

mxskeeter wrote:

The other tradition–Tom and Gerry drinks.

Yum! I made our first of the season last week.

Back in the 1960’s – Lutefisk and swedish meatballs at the grandparents christmas eve. The swedish meatballs were so good it made up for the smell of the lutefisk.

Lutefisk for my Dad. I would eat some just to be Swedish. He loved the stuff, the runnier the better.
RIP.

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the ladies enter a giant gingerbread house in the local festival of trees. and usually win in the amateur division and have won best in show a few times.

Christmas day we go feed the ducks and geese on the river. Even though they’ve created ordinances that its illegal (cops won’t enforce). dad said he remembers doing it when he was a kid so he did it with us and now i’m trying to do it with the kids.

Snake ii’s wrote:

Lutefisk for my Dad. I would eat some just to be Swedish. He loved the stuff, the runnier the better.
RIP.

When I moved up here, part of my fall chores was hunting up some lutefisk and fresh cranberries for the old Swede duck partner back home.

Sharon wrote:

I plan to carry on with this tradition this year too, and found a fun kit that I haven’t made just yet.

the kit came with two gingerbread children but no place to put them on the tray… so logically, we ate them. 😋

Sharon, of course you ate them! Please, keep up your tradition, and keep blogging!

These are great, I’m so glad I asked! I completely forgot about oyster stew! I was well grown before I’d eat it, and only my Dad is allowed to make it. So the years we manage to get together now Dad and I share some oyster stew.

Last one that’s somewhat recent…a few years ago when Mom was sick(she’s the one who made Christmas, CHRISTMAS) and she wasn’t feeling it on Christmas Eve, somehow hot wings from a local bar came up. It got us all craving them, so on Christmas Eve a collection was taken a road trip was made to pick up 10 dozen wings…it was so nice we’ve had them every year since. We couldn’t go back last year, so my Dad shipped us some! (If you’re ever in Galesburg Ill swing by Sully’s and grab some-they’re great!)

As young kids we would sit on the steps all night close to the fireplace/tree area with a big landing net thinking we would catch Santa.. Never failed, we’d wake up the next morning after he had come & gone…

And lutefisk? My grandma was 100% Norwegian. Fastest way to empty that house was making that nasty stuff.

on the night of Christmas Eve we have waffles, sausage, and mimosas…that family meal of camaraderie, comfort food, lights and Christmas music is more important to us than opening presents the next morning.

Chinese on Christmas eve…and tom and Gerry’s!