[QUOTE=Billi;7003831]Awe how fun I love it

As a child mom and dad bought us a few gifts wrapped and under the tree our main gift and stocking was from Santa never wrapped but set up under the lite tree to see first thing in the morning it was almost magical.....Stockings usually had a small inexpensive gift or two and was filled with an orange, an apple, nuts and Christmas hard candies.

This was my family's Christmas tradition :thumbup: ... was in local market recently and sister asked young clerk if they sold nuts still in the shell ... should have seen the bewildered look on his face !

At my Grandparents home who both had ancestors that came from England, we would have a turkey with all the works such as stuffing, mashed potatoes, stuff celery, cranberry sauce, pickles, beets, radish, green beans with fried onions and pie for dessert. NO paper hats thank goodness. We would open presents before dinner which was more of a late lunch. Those were the best of times... most family is deceased. Use to go see a movie on Thanksgiving, Xmas and Easter but too difficult now to get out in the crowds anymore.

Dad was German and he liked to put the tree up on Christmas Eve after the kids were in bed as well as put out all the toys. We kids were allowed to open one gift before Mass on Christmas Day and Mom would fix a big meal of roast beef (we had turkey on Thanksgiving) and vegetables after church and we would eat about 1:00 in the afternoon.

We usually have Christmas Eve but, getting to be too much work and expense. Our youngest Grandchild is 12. We are going to a Chinese Buffet this year. Some kids and Grand kids will join us. Time for them to start their own traditions. My Husband and I will have a Roast Beef dinner with potatoes, and frozen corn and warm rolls. Homemade cinnamon rolls for dessert.

When I was small my father put up the tree Christmas Eve and only put the lights on it as Santa decorated the tree. I was part of a big family and my Dad had us all line up by age with the youngest first to walk into the room the tree and gifts were in. Quite a production with music and all. It was really magical. Our stockings(plain regular socks- not fancy like these days) held small gifts, candy and in the toe, a tangerine. Dinner was usually Turkey and all the fixings.

First of all - congratulations on the new grandbaby! You were pretty low key about that!

I am not American but here goes anyways.

We have brunch with our kids and grandkids at our home. We put some candles in some muffins and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. We then open presents (stockings are opened at each home earlier in the morning). Kids play with their new toys (they are 2, 3, 4 and 5). I wash the tablecloth and reset the table for dinner. My Mom and my in-laws join us for supper. Kids go home with tired little ones right after supper and the old folks sit and reminisce about the good old days.

Supper is turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, assorted vegetables and salads. Dessert used to be mince pudding (a generation ago) but not too many of us like it, so we have something that I can make ahead and freeze (like mud pie or frozen strawberry delight).

We have party crackers (the ones you pull apart with your table mate and they make a big noise) - inside are little toys, a fortune and of course a paper party hat. Now I wanna go look at old pictures. Miss my dad and our first grandbaby so much at Christmas time. But they are celebrating in heaven! How fantastic is that!

Growing up we always put our tree up about a week before Christmas, we opened one present on Christmas eve and the rest on Christmas morning before breakfast. Breakfast was always scrambled eggs, with some sort of rolls and fruit juice. Then a big turkey dinner with dressing, mashed potatoes, a vegetable, black olives, tiny pickles (both sweet and dill) would be about 2-3 in the afternoon with friends that would be invited. (A lot of our friends celebrated on Christmas eve so would come to have dinner with us on Christmas.)

We had the tradition of an orange in our stocking too. When I told my daughters about that they thought it was funny, living in Southern CA they could not understand the thrill of having an orange at Christmas time.

The easiest way to describe Chinese Gift Exchange is .... google Chinese Gift Exchange and there are several sites that will explain it. We play it every year with our New Year's Eve group only we've always called it Yankee Swap. I can play it but if I tried to explain how I know I'd get it all confused. It's a fun game.

Christmas Eve centers around church services. Dinner is often Cornish game hens. They don't take very long to roast and are something special. I only make them for Christmas Eve.

Christmas day dinner is often prime rib at my sister's house. Everyone bakes special cookies and goodies to share. Spritz and snowball cookies, toffee bars, krum kaka, sandbakelse, lefse, water pail candy ( brown sugar fudge) and lots of chocolate and nuts. (Norwegian and German heritage).

My mother, sisters and I exchanged quilt blocks for Christmas for many years. (I have blocks for 3 quilts). Hand made gifts are always part of Christmas.

I am from Southern California. The traditional custom for Christmas Eve dinner comes from Mexico, but many here in the southwest follow it. A couple days before the 24th the women in family gather to make hundreds of tamales. Tamales are made with a wet corn meal called masa. We take dried corn husks and soften them by soaking in water. Many families use the bathtub. You lay two or three husks out flat and pat the masa on in a five inch square. You place a mound of filling in the square and then roll it all up in the corn husks. The ends are tied and they look a little like the crackers you have. The filling can be pork, beef, or chicken cooked in chili sauce or cheese and diced green chillies. Some people like sweet tamales which have apples and raisins. When you're ready to cook them, they are steamed in a large kettle steamer. Then after midnight mass on Christmas Eve the whole family gathers and eats tamales. Tamales are also given as gifts to co-workers and neighbors.