Bah Humbug

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-29-2003
Bah Humbug
9
Mon, 12-05-2005 - 11:32am

I have an idea. Surely I'm not the ONLY one suffering from Monday-itis, or the holiday blues.........how about sharing short recipes or family traditions to pull spirits up for those of us who need it, or if you don't need it, just to share fun things.

We still buy different wrapping paper, and use pre-printed labels (thank goodness for the computer) for our 'santa' packages under the tree. Our kids haven't believed in Santa for several years, but there is still somthing magical about all those presents 'appearing' with previously unseen paper and bows...............and of course mom and dad don't use their own writing to address each package............

Shels

Avatar for heartsandroses2002
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: shels2003
Mon, 12-05-2005 - 12:18pm

Here are some traditions:

I premake about 5 dozen butter/sugar cookies and freeze them. About a week before Christmas, my dd's invite a GF over and we all decorate the cookies with many colors of sugared frosting. We then put together platefulls of our favorite cookies and wrap them up as neighbor's/friend's gifts with bows and notecards. We play and sing Christmas Carols and talk about stuff that otherwise would be taboo - it's lots of fun.

We (the dd's and I and friends) go deep into the woods and cut greens from all the different pines to decorate our mantels and flower boxes.

During or just following a major snowfall, (like the other day), and before the plows have had a chance to hit our neighborhood, we all, including the pups) set out for a 'quiet' walk through - it's so new and fresh and beautiful. We usually wind up back in our yard having a snowball fight and then inside for cocoa.

We have a pre-Christmas dinner with extended family. A few days before Christmas, my brother and his family and my sister and hers all come over for a holiday dinner with spirits, carols and lots of desserts, a roaring fireplace and lots of fun. Then, on Christmas Day we're all free to do our own thing.

Some other things we sometimes do: We used to make our own wrapping paper every year - we still do though not as much as when the dd's were little. I buy a giant roll of plain white or brown shipping paper (brown is my fave) and then roll it out in sections and deocrate it with either poster paints using cookie cutters for holiday shapes or stamps in various colors. Let it dry. When wrapping gifts with the white paper, we use colored raffia to tie bows and add a small wooden ornament along with a hand written note for the recipient. On the brown paper, I tie it with plain jute (buy a giant roll of it) and add the ornament. Not only does this save money, but it's fun and it gives the gifts a real down home look and feel.

We also make bath salts using epsom salts and fragrant oils. It's easy and fun. You can either buy inexpensive plastic jars or containers and just put a bow on top or you can buy or make bags/sachets and tie with ribbons. Makes a nice gift for young girls or grammas.

We take last years holiday cards and cut out the pictures and use them as next year's gift cards. Again, inexpensive, fun and inventive.

For dd's friend's gifts, you can buy a small stocking and fill it with inexpensive bath stuuf, nail polishes, etc., instead of giving a box. It's cute.

Oops - my dd is here to take me to lunch, so I have to go. I'll add more later and the recipes too.

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-05-1998
In reply to: shels2003
Mon, 12-05-2005 - 12:43pm

Shels-- We also have special paper and tags for our Santa gifts. Santa presents are in paper with images of Santa, ditto the gift tags. That paper and those tags go directly to my office, which becomes wrapping central during December lunch hours. The kids never see that paper, so it doesn't give us away (we still have two "believers" at home--ages 9 and 3).

We always have an Advent calendar with the little doors that the kids take turns opening. This year, my teen, Matt, bought the calendar, because the German Club at high school was selling them--and because they have little chocolates behind the doors! We also have an Advent wreath that we light every night at suppertime.

In our house, the kids set up the Nativity set, and baby Jesus goes in a drawer until Christmas morning. In my house, baby Jesus miraculously appeared in the creche, but in my grownup household, our "new" tradition is that the first child up on Christmas morning gets to put baby Jesus into the manger.

We also take one evening to go out in the car and see the Christmas lights.

Elizabeth

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Registered: 08-17-2005
In reply to: shels2003
Mon, 12-05-2005 - 12:52pm

I just found out that my dd (born on December 20th, no less) does not particularly like Christmas. Now, I don't know if this is because she's going through a difficult time right now, or if she has always felt this way but not articulated it. She can't explain why, and its sad to me because Christmas is such a special time for me, and always has been. By the way, my birthday is December 15th so its not the "birthday too close to Christmas thing" (though it may be for her...after all, as she tells me hers is a whole 5 days closer than mine). We celebrated her birthday this year early (yesterday in fact) and probably for the first time ever, we didn't have the Christmas tree up yet.

Our traditions (some of them are just mine): I play Christmas music; sometimes I think I could listen to that music all year long, but the fact that its just one month out of the year makes it extra special. For the second year in a row my 9 yo ds has participated in our small town's Christmas parade (this past Saturday). He's a cub scout. We usually cut down our Christmas tree up in the woods. We go see The Nutcracker. We all participate in the decorating of the house and the tree. I find that my teens are less interested in participating in any of these traditions so I'm going to have to find some new ones. Of course, we do see family but we are fortunate enough that our extended family is all close so no one has to travel.

Maria

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-20-2005
In reply to: shels2003
Mon, 12-05-2005 - 12:58pm

I taught a wonderful lesson yesterday morning in Sunday School about Advent and the kids really paid attention (happens maybe once every three or four Sunday's) so I was in a great mood but then the sh*t hit the fan and that was the end of that mood. So I'm right there with you Shels.

My family doesn't have many traditions - we attend Christmas Eve service together and then go home and just the four of us eat lasagna together. Christmas day is so hectic visiting grandparents that we needed some calm before the storm. We used to have alot of things that we did together but the year that DD had surgery and I had pneumonia sort interrupted that. We realized that we had too many "have to do" things that weren't necessary - Christmas was fun w/o them so now if we want to and have time, we bake or get a live tree or whatever. If not, we don't stress over getting it done.

I am going to pick up my friend's son from school one afternoon and let him help me put up the outside lights. He's 10 and we both enjoy putting the lights up. My kids don't enjoy it anymore so I just borrow hers! We have a ball!

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-05-1998
In reply to: shels2003
Mon, 12-05-2005 - 12:59pm

Maria -- My middle son was born December 7, and when he was little (he's turning 13 this year--good lord, my second teenager!), I refused to put up a single Christmas decoration until his birthday was over. I didn't want him to feel that his special day was overshadowed by Christmas.

A couple of years ago, I stopped doing that because he told me that he didn't really care whether we decorated before his birthday. Turns out that he loves to decorate for the holidays, so he didn't want to delay until after the 7th. So I changed that tradition.

Elizabeth

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-22-2003
In reply to: shels2003
Mon, 12-05-2005 - 2:08pm

Well, DD just said this past weekend that she always feels like Christmas is really here when I put on Amy Grant's Christmas CDs'(Home for Christmas and A Christmas Album). I also play the Mormal Tabernacle Choir quite a bit.

Christmas shopping! DH and I used to take the kids to the mall and tag-team Christmas shop. He'd take one, I'd take the other, we'd buy gifts for the two that weren't with us, then swap kids and repeat the process. Now that they're older, it works a little different -- in fact we just went yesterday. I took DS, DD and a couple of her friends to the mall. The girls took off on their own and I took DS, helping him chose gifts for DH and DD, and waited outside the stores when he went in to buy a gift for me.

When we get home, the two kids scurry upstairs with their gifts, wrapping paper, scissors, etc. and wrap gifts together, hiding the one for the other from being seen. I was outside DD's room yesterday sorting laundry and heard them chatting. They've always been very close, (DS REALLY misses DD now that she's in high school) and I overheard him telling her about how much he dislikes middle school, how he hates Coach B. for making them run an extra lap on Wednesday, how Mrs. S' class is stupid, etc., and DD being very encouraging and assuring him it will get better -- she promised! It just warmed my heart!

Let's see ... pulling tags off the Angel Tree at church and buying gifts for families and children less fortunate than we are. Stocking up on toiletries and 'girly' gift sets to donate to the women's shelter.

Decorating the house and baking. I make dozens of Christmas Cookies, spiced nuts and fudge. Mostly done by me, but if I didn't do it, Christmas just wouldn't be the same. At this point, I'm pretty sure I do it as much for ME as for anybody else!

Christmas movies! My favorite for years was the original "Home Alone", since replaced, however by the Tim Allen "Santa Claus" and "Santa Claus 2" movies. We just watched "Christmas with the Cranks" on Friday night. It's a silly movie, but a serious contender in the movie tradition and probably one to be added to the collection.

Christmas Eve dinner is ALWAYS spaghetti! Martinelli's sparkling cider in champagne flutes! Brownies and ice cream for dessert! The kids were tiny when I made this our 'official' Christmas Eve dinner, but it's a quick and easy dinner that everyone likes doesn't take much preparation on a busy day, and we can eat, clean-up and still make it to Christmas Eve services without feeling frazzled.

Christmas Eve service -- the best ever! Hearing the story of Jesus' birth and after singing "Silent Night" candlelight, we come home, open one tiny gift, have dessert then go to bed. Well, the kids do anyway. I have to finish up my Santa business before I actually get to bed. When the kids were little, I'd put them to bed, then return to church for the midnight service, but I'm just too tired for that anymore!

We've NEVER had any discussion about whether or not there is a Santa so he continues to bring a special gift on Christmas Eve -- yes, in separate wrapping paper and a cool homemade tag. (I have my dad print out the tags with his neat and tiny printing that is so perfect it looks like typewriting.

And finally ... Christmas Day! Opening presents in our jammies, hot cocoa and cinammon rolls and ... prime rib for Christmas Dinner.

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-18-2005
In reply to: shels2003
Tue, 12-06-2005 - 6:34am

We celebrate Hannukah, and have a few traditions that make the season special. Decorating the house is a fun one for me. I love pulling the homemade decorations from years ago and seeing how DD (now14) did her special decorations when she was little. We have three cooking traditions. We make potato latkes together - basically just grated potatos in oil - but messy and fun. We make applesauce (to eat with the latkes) with my GRandmother's recipe . She died a year ago, so this year will be bittersweet. We make cut-out Cookies in Hannukah shapes. They're always a little dry, and not as good as store-bought, but the fun is in the cooking together.

This year, since Hannukah starts on Christmas Day night, and we all have off of work/school, we'll be able to travel to my parents (my bro and sil and nephews too!) for the first night - a special treat!!

Sue

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-21-2005
In reply to: shels2003
Tue, 12-06-2005 - 8:02am

My sisters and I have a neat Christmas tradition. We celebrate Christmas Eve Eve. The tradition started when I was about 9 or 10. My parents had decided that my sisters should not have to drag their small children out on Christmas morning and, after one Christmas Eve when they (sisters) were up half the night assembling toys after having celebrated at our house, they hit upon the idea of a special celebration with just parents, sisters and brothers-in-law on the 23rd. My mom always made a fabulous dinner and we used the good china & crystal and we even got all dressed up (way back when). We would exchange gifts by the fire and I felt terribly grown up being able hang with my sisters without their kids (my oldest neice is only four years younger than me). My sisters were married with families of their own by the time I entered Kindergarten and, when their kids were young, this was just about the only time I had them to myself.

We've continued this tradtion despite the fact that our parents are gone and my neices and nephews are grown with children of their own.

After my mom passed away, we started rotating the "Eve Eve" celebration between our houses. We still have a fabulous dinner (although we no longer dress to the nines) and we have a silly white elephant gift exchange in addition to a real gift exchange. This is also the night we trade a few of mom's heirlooms. She had beautiful jewlery, which we divided between us but we could not figure out what to do with her rings. She had an Eastern Star ring, a wedding ring (but, sadly, not her original one which was lost) and a gorgeous 2ct diamond set in platinum. There was sentimental value attached to all, but nobody wanted to claim the big diamond as their own. Now, each year on the 23rd, we switch rings. I will be passing the platinum one to my oldest sister and receiving the Eastern Star ring. We also have a book we made from our parent's 50th wedding anniversary with letters and photos from friends and family that we "hand off" each year.

Other than that, we do the usual baking/shopping/visiting and overeating thing. I love Christmas!

jt

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-14-2000
In reply to: shels2003
Tue, 12-06-2005 - 8:39am
One of my favorite traditions is our nightly poem by the Christmas tree.
Pam