finch

I spray paint an english walnut shell gold and take it apart and put a little note inside of it telling my husband just how special he is to me,and glue it back together,then I glue a ribbion to it and hang it on the tree.That is the special thing that I like to do for just him.Then I make candy and give it to whoever drops by.

coachmatthewsvhs

Our presents were always placed under the tree on Christmas Eve after the kids fell asleep. (Only 1 was from Santa, the best one)After the kids moved out they wanted to "hide" in the bedroom while Hubby and I put gifts under tree... for the wow factor! Kids got married and my daughter begged me not to put the gifts out until they hid. Her husband is a High School Principle and she's a teacher. I said, "do you really expect your husband to hide in the bedroom?" Her response was priceless....... "Just this once Mom, it's tradition"!!!!! And he did!!!!!

coachmatthewsvhs

LOVE THIS!!!!!

nalc479

Our children are all grown, so we decided several years ago to make our holidays exciting we would do the 12 days of Christmas. Each day for 12 days, the 12th being Christmas day, we exchange a gift. I get excited looking forward to each day.

Mary T.

Growing up, Christmas was very simple due to finances,but my mother was great in making us believe in the spitit of Christmas.
For years when I was raising my famiy, Christmas started right after Thanksgiving. I have a Santa collection and that was the first to be put out,. Closer to Christmas, fresh greens were put over doorways and down stair railings. The tree was always fresh. Lots of baking and for years my children and I would make our gifts for neighbors etc. My girls still do this.
Now times have changed. We are only home for two weeks at Christmas so I'm not too sure how much we will do this year. Next year all our kids will be here so we will go back to some of the old traditions.

JeannieBobbin

My family is so big (my grandmothers one had 14 kid and the other 12). We have a family reunions in Pikeville Ky where we take over the Daniel Boone Motel for a weekend usually in July. It was decided long ago that we would draw names for one gift swaps. We came from many states around and at Thanksgiving most of us showed up at grannies and did our gift swap then. Those who couldn't make it would get theirs in the mail.
Most gifts were something we each could use for Christmas like a tablerunner and such.
The reasoning was that if we even tried to visit everyone on Chisrtmas day we'd be in the car more than visiting! So this way we get to stay home Christmas morning in our jammies, open gifts, eat, watch TV, eat, watch tv and eat.
My favorite gift to get from my daughter is Christmas *hand made coupons* with punch holes, yarn threaded through them and crayon colored. They read like this.
One free back rub. I will do the dishes every night for a week and not complain. I will do any odd job you ask. And so on. I never turned most of them in and still have them safe in a storage bin.

quilt queen

Thank you all for your memories, they are wonderful...so much fun to hear of all the special days at Christmas. Keep them coming!

scrappy2

When our sons were very young I would fix hot chocolate every Christmas morning. Two Christmas's ago I was fixing the hot chocolate and my youngest son(age 27) said he didn't want any. He said he didn't want to hurt my feeling but really didn't care for it but it seamed inportant to me all these yrs. so he drank it anyway. Thinking about it he would only drink 1 cup. I'm glad he told me. I'm so blessed to have two caring boys.

hikingquilter

My youngest son's birthday is the 18th, exactly one week before Christmas. My children are all grown and only 3 live with me now. But we all gather for the birthday celebration and after the cake we decorate the tree. It's more fun now with grandkids helping. They always exclaim over the fact that I still have decorations they all made in grade school. I have little brass angels for each one with their names engraved. The collection has grown with spouses and grandkids. Each wants to hang their own and there is always the friendly contest to put their's highest on the tree. Sometimes the married ones have other family to visit Christmas day, but I make a brunch of cheese blintzes with strawberries and sausages for whoever is here. Been doing that for 40yrs! We only have gifts for the grands now and do a yankee swap among the adults. Everyone brings food, so we visit and nosh all day. Just enjoy family.

lauriequilts

Our family has a marshmellow fight!