Silly Christmas Traditions

Lust4Life

I was having a conversation with my friend Eric the other day, discussing Christmas and things you can count on families / family members do every single year.

For me, it would be consuming large quantities of Eggnog on Christmas Day.
Oh how I adore Eggnog!

For my friend Eric, it has been tradition since he was like 14 to rearrange his Mother's Nativity Set so that the 3 wisemen are all in a comprimising position when she is not looking.


So what silly traditions do you / your family members do each year at Christmas that complete the whole experience for you?

rugbug86

go to america the day after for the sales!!

ehm, waking up, opening presents, having brekkie, uncle coming down and eating spiced beef, neighbours coming in, dinner, die of over consumption.

thats pretty much my christmas (missing a few details!)

but for me, christmas starts on christmas eve, when me and my mam throw everyone else out and prep all the food and stuff for the next day, then wrap the presents and then have the first christmas drink. its lovely!

Terry

i like to make threads about how christmas was originally a pagan feast day and that the bastard christians usurped it for their own greedy purposes and then bitch and moan about how the spirit of christmas has been lost and it is no longer about celebrating our lord and saviour, but rather about consumerism.
then get drunk.

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Pazaz 21

Get up, open presents that you already know what they are, complain that christmas is no fun once you don't belive in santa clause, have dinner, sit around playing board games, watch "The Great Escape", again, drink, have supper of left overs, drink, eat mountains of chocolate, watch tv, drink, sleep.

:|

Every christmas eve my family go to graham o sullivans for our breakfast. It used to be so my dad could sneak the santa presents into the house but now its just something we have to do

bluto63

Get up, open some presents, over to the nieghbours for drinks, back home for dinner then the rest of the presents.

I love Christmas. I can't wait for it.:)

wheres me jumpa

My day will consist of:

• Get up.
• Dish out pressies.
• Get in my car and drive to various houses where at each I will have "just the one please, Im driving".
• Come home.
• Get dinner.
• Open the Roses.
• Watch a dvd/play a game somebody gave me.
• Watch a dvd with the entire family. More often than not a comedian, e.g. Brendan Grace.
• Make some turkey and stuffing sandwiches.
• Finish off the Roses.
• Bed.

fade2black

Is Eggnog a part of any Irish person's Xmas tradition?

wheres me jumpa

fade2black wrote:

Is Eggnog a part of any Irish person's Xmas tradition?

Nope! Never had it!

Hagar

On Christmas Eve, dress up as a homeless person and knock at the door of the house with the nicest decorations and ask for a room for the night. See how much Christian spirit is shown. You will probably be threatened with the Gardaí or they will set the dog on you.

Ruu_Old

Christmas Day is not complete without Home Alone, Its a Wonderful Life or A Charlie Brown Christmas. Forget about everything else.

Alter-Ego

Get up, Hangover, Presents, Breakfast, Bad TV, Visit Brothers Grave, Visit Grandparents Grave, Dinner, Booze, Relatives come over, More presents, More Booze, Bed/Sofa.

Kojak

Usually our Christmas Day involves getting up, presents being exchanged, go to mass, have relations for Christmas dinner (longest part of the day - nothing but sh1te talk) rest after all the heavy eating, get loads of drink and basically complain that there's nothing good on TV on Christmas day.

BlueSpiral

Celebrate my birthday.
Sleep for 12 hours.
Celebrate Christmas Day, where we'll all eat the dinner round the table without any of us wanting to escape, then turn on Rte for the Christmas day movie.

the Shades

I usually end up wrapping presents for my mother on Christmas Eve. After that it's the post midnight mass drink of tea nad biccies that really reminds me of Christmas as a kid, my Dad is increasingly trying to turn ,y tea into something alcoholic but I'm having none of it. He gets me with at about 2pm the next day and well the drinking stops sometime late in the evening long after dinner and a lot of consumption of various kinds.

bluto63

Ruu wrote:

Christmas Day is not complete without Home Alone, Its a Wonderful Life or A Charlie Brown Christmas. Forget about everything else.

And Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Black Swan

The unfit fat guy in the red outfit myth.

Terry

Hagar wrote:

On Christmas Eve, dress up as a homeless person and knock at the door of the house with the nicest decorations and ask for a room for the night. See how much Christian spirit is shown. You will probably be threatened with the Gardaí or they will set the dog on you.

best idea ever.

DublinWriter

BlueSpiral wrote:

Celebrate my birthday.

Are you Jesus?

DublinWriter

My Mum is sick and will probably be stuck up in Beaumont Hospital for the festive.

I'll probably do something like bring the nurses up a crate of Bicardi as they've been absolute stars, but a lot of them are Indian/Phillipino and might be a wee bit offended by the gesture, so I'm open to ideas for gifts of a more non-Irish (i.e. alcoholic) nature...a half-dozen boxes of Butlers Irish chocolates maybe?

BlueSpiral

DublinWriter wrote:

Are you Jesus?

No but everyone celebrates christmas because it's my birthday, well Christmas Eve as well. Jesus just had the sheer ignorant, and wanted all my glory by being born nearly 2000 years before me.
It was just coincidence that damn star shone that night aswell. >_>

feylya

BlueSpiral wrote:

No but everyone celebrates christmas because it's my birthday, well Christmas Eve as well. Jesus just had the sheer ignorant, and wanted all my glory by being born nearly 2000 years before me.
It was just coincidence that damn star shone that night aswell. >_>

Pfft, Christmas Eve blows. Christmas Day is when you need to be born. Then you could be Jesus, just like me. Long hair and all

Terry

feylya wrote:

Pfft, Christmas Eve blows. Christmas Day is when you need to be born. Then you could be Jesus, just like me. Long hair and all

are you jewish?

feylya

Not the last time I checked

Terry

then there is no way you could be jesus.
i could make you look a bit more like him if you're willing to undergo a circumcision.

BlueSpiral

feylya wrote:

Pfft, Christmas Eve blows. Christmas Day is when you need to be born. Then you could be Jesus, just like me. Long hair and all

I was born on Christmas day SOMEWHERE.

If we're thinking like that, then Jesus was also born on christmas eve in Ireland.
Don't make me want to turn you into chocolate and throw you to the lesbians.

feylya

Touché. Na, I'll pass on the knob chop, thanks.

Sleepy

Have quite a few traditions at this stage:

the row about me not going to midnight mass even though neither I nor the rest of my family have been Catholics in over 20 years :rolleyes:

eventually going to midnight mass pissed as a coot for the sake of getting the mother to shut the fcuk up and laughing inappropriately during the ceremony

having grapefruit for breakfast on Christmas morning

Swapping presents with my little brother doing the 'dishing out the presents from under the tree' role that he's had since he was 2/3.

Watching 'It's a Wonderful Life'.

The Christmas dinner with a nice bottle of wine

Reading on the couch, stuffed as the turkey was only an hour earlier, sipping on a glass of my sisters West Coast Cooler and knowing the lads would rip the piss if they saw me with a glass of the stuff!

Munching on Double Centres and selection boxes for the afternoon/evening.

Calling around to one of my friend's houses where we start "the twelve drinks of Christmas", having a drink in each of the lad's houses with their families before ending back in my house at about 1am where the beers flow, the guitars are taken out and an all-night session kicks in

Terry

meh. i suppose i'll post on topic.
i meet up with all my friends in my local on christmas eve (the ones who are in the country anyway).
christmas morning is spent with my extended family where we all go to one of my cousins houses for breeakfast. sometimes i have a drink, sometimes i don't. depends on my mood. then to a cousins house for dinner and that night is spent in a friends house at a party.
then toi the pub on stephens day with my friends or family or both.

CathyMoran

We used to go to see my gran, sadly she passed away this year This year will be special but tough as I am very ill and it may be my last Christmas (though hopefully not), we will spend it in a hotel, have a wonderful Christmas lunch, then dad and I will go for a walk, will be my first Christmas with Shane

Hagar

That sounds like a good Christmas. I wish you many, many more of them. I missed one Christmas with my family. It's yours if you need it.

DublinWriter

Sleepy wrote:

Reading on the couch, stuffed as the turkey was only an hour earlier, sipping on a glass of my sisters West Coast Cooler and knowing the lads would rip the piss if they saw me with a glass of the stuff!

...especially if they knew that West Coast Cooler is basically Babycham rebranded. It's the same stuff. Honestly. You girl. You big girl. You big girl who's just got a Cindy Beach-House from Santy and needs a glass of Babycham to calm down.

smallpaws

We always have these half delightful, half excruciating family gatherings on Xm as Eve, where we all eat huge, I mean huge, amounts of shrimp, lobster,lobster stew, stuffed lobster, scallops, crab dip and sometimes a little steak (my family is from an island off the coast of Maine) along with every rich , gooey dessert the granny, mum and aging aunt brigade can create.
What's delightful about these things is seeing my uncle perpetually telling the coolest jokes and trying not to laugh food out my nose (While the teenaged members of the family try not to look conspicuous as they listen in), seeing my elderly relatives, and spending time talking with my brothers, it is rare to have them in the same room at the same time; what's excruciating is imagining the amount of work I'll have to do in the gym later to burn off the five trillion calories I consumed while listening to my uncle and shooting the breeze with my brothers. The rest of the excruciating bit is going home after and 'helping' my parents assemble gifts for the grandkids, all ten of the gadget-wanting little bastards. "Oh, sure, YOU' RE really handy with these things, let's ask you..." so I end up putting together bikes, play kitchens and anything else with way too many parts and then wrapping them afterwards. I hate that ****.


What may be potentially excruciating this year is watching my very beloved grandmother sit through all the dinner and such on Xmas Eve with her new Alzheimer's diagnosis--I worry that it may be over stimulating for her and that some of the younger greatgrandkids don't understand why she sometimes asks the same questions over and over, calls them by the wrong name then the right one a few seconds later, or why she looks lost sometimes and doesn't seem to know what's going on. Some of the members of my family are...economical in their feelings and respect for others at best, and seeing an adult snicker and laugh and then their small child join them when she does something AD related is not too fcuking funny, in my book. When she was well, there was nothing she wouldn't do for her family and now that she is unwell, some members think nothing of making a joke of her when she needs them to be understanding. They owe her better.
I think they should be ashamed.


My, what a depressing post this turned into.
lol!
Merry Christmas everyone!

CathyMoran

smallpaws wrote:

My, what a depressing post this turned into.
lol!
Merry Christmas everyone!

I hope that you enjoy your time with your grandmother - mine was depressing, being 32 and having oesophageal cancer with an 8% survival rate and having an operation in February which has a 20-40% chance of killing me is sad, I want to live, sorry, just had to tell my brother today about the risk of dying as a result of the operation and a bit upset over that. Sorry, having a bad day.

CathyMoran

Sorry for the depressing earlier post, I just ocassionally find it hard to deal with my cancer, normally I am fine, I just really do not want to die as I have so much to live for.

Back on topic - watching Dr Who.

smallpaws

Our movie traditions include watching A Christmas Story ( "you'll shoot your eye out") and watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Every year, watching Randy Quaid as Cousin Eddie pump raw sewage from his tincan Winnebago into the storm drain on Clark's street in his longjohns, while waving a cheery greeting to Chevy Chase," 'Morning, Clark! shltter was full!" puts me in the holiday spirit.

smallpaws

CathyMoran wrote:

I hope that you enjoy your time with your grandmother - mine was depressing, being 32 and having oesophageal cancer with an 8% survival rate and having an operation in February which has a 20-40% chance of killing me is sad, I want to live, sorry, just had to tell my brother today about the risk of dying as a result of the operation and a bit upset over that. Sorry, having a bad day.

Don't worry about it, everyone's entitled to a bad day from time to time, especially when life treats them unfairly.
Cancer is the suckiest, as you know. But cancer can be gotten rid of, and you know that, too. Hang in and let the sad days pass, there's more good days to come.


I like Dr Who! We have been getting it over here for a while now, though we are ( I think) a year behind you.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Charades.

At some point, someone will always suggest, with a surprising attempt at originality, playing charades.

**** charades. Sharades is a horribly **** unimaginative game that should be banned. I make this point EVERY year and EVERY year, people look surprised and point out that it's not like me to be moody....

I can practically recite the conversation verbatim at this stage....

Mr Magnolia

I love watching comedy dvd's, last year it was Tommy Tiernan, I nearly p!ssed myself laughing.







Best of luck Cathy, myself and the missus will be thinking about ye.

ninebeanrows

Yes Cathy it's really sad and unfair what you have to go through..

But we all know your going to pull through:)

tk123

CathyMoran wrote:

Sorry for the depressing earlier post, I just ocassionally find it hard to deal with my cancer, normally I am fine, I just really do not want to die as I have so much to live for.

Back on topic - watching Dr Who.

FYIs - when you have the op and get discharged - make sure you tell everybody. My nana had the same type of cancer around christmas a few years back(shes grand now) and got discharged early. One evening my mum and aunt went to visit her to find an empty bed and all her stuff gone and hysterics followed!:D - its funny now!
Back on topic - it wouldn't be xmas without Indiana Jones!!!

Fraggle Rocks

Ikky Poo2 wrote:

Charades.

At some point, someone will always suggest, with a surprising attempt at originality, playing charades.

**** charades. Sharades is a horribly **** unimaginative game that should be banned. I make this point EVERY year and EVERY year, people look surprised and point out that it's not like me to be moody....

I can practically recite the conversation verbatim at this stage....

Play The Game

savage when you're hammered

thelordofcheese

By the looks of it, i'll be bringing a nintendo Wii into the house for christmas. Quite how the energetic antics of playing Wii Sports and a belly full of christmas dinner will go together, is anyones guess.

Lust4Life

Cathy, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas.
My Mother had the same type of Cancer. The best advice I can give is to take it slow and stay as stress-free as possible. (Hard I know, given the season).
Wishing you the best!

Hugs!

Lusty

netwhizkid

Generally me and my family go on a walk about three hours after the Christmas dinner to help the stomach digest those calories. Traditionally we always go to my Aunts house on St. Stephans day and one year I came up with the idea that I sellotape two euro coins to the glass of the door for the Wren boys as I had done (with chocolate bars and taytos) the same Halloween being away for it too.

However this time with it being money, I bought around the Mini-Security Camera and rigged it up so it recorded when someone came along, (obviously the little tardo never saw it or thought it wasn't working) Sure enough the little F*cker went and helped himself to all the taped change about €15 worth I knew him and told his mother (giving her the tape) and I reckon he got one heck of a lecture.

(I put a sign please take €3 each and some crisps and bars etc.) He gave me the finger the next day he saw me, however getting him into trouble was worth the bit of change (which instead of taking from his mother told her give it to saint vincent de paul). It was a stupid idea in hindsight but the trick or treaters were happy to oblige. Firing off shots on Christmas day in an attempt to kill some creature is another one too.

Kilkenny

Ikky Poo2 wrote:

Charades.

At some point, someone will always suggest, with a surprising attempt at originality, playing charades.

**** charades. Sharades is a horribly **** unimaginative game that should be banned. I make this point EVERY year and EVERY year, people look surprised and point out that it's not like me to be moody....

I can practically recite the conversation verbatim at this stage....

A gang of us who usually go on the p*ss Stephens Day also have the tradition of playing charades when we get back in from pub / club ... however, the basic rule is to make the clues as obscene as possible (while still functioning as clues), regardless of what the film etc. is actually about! Works great when you're plastered!

Try that at home ... either your clan will get into it and you'll have a great laugh ... or no-one will ever EVER suggest charades again!

Kilkenny

julep wrote:

then there is no way you could be jesus.
i could make you look a bit more like him if you're willing to undergo a circumcision.

Now that's the true Christmas spirit of generosity and giving ...

Sam_irl

I love Christmas time with family.

Hail 2 Da Chimp

Drinking your self into a mess on christmas eve is the best tradition ever!!!

stovelid

My mum making us all get up early to open presents (her kids range from 24-35 years old) and her pretending that (a) she can't see my hand shaking as I drink my coffee (b) pretending that she didn't hear me coming in a few hours previously..

Also my selection box. Still get it every year.

rugbug86 wrote:

go to america the day after for the sales!!

ehm, waking up, opening presents, having brekkie, uncle coming down and eating spiced beef, neighbours coming in, dinner, die of over consumption.

thats pretty much my christmas (missing a few details!)

but for me, christmas starts on christmas eve, when me and my mam throw everyone else out and prep all the food and stuff for the next day, then wrap the presents and then have the first christmas drink. its lovely!