Christmas Eve Traditions :-)

we'llallhavetea

i cannot wait for xmas eve! new jammies and a roaring fire and takeaway, my daughter crapping herself with excitement about santy coming! this year my boyfriend will be with us so it will be extra special i cant wait for him to experience being santy for the first time!
we always put magic dust out to guide the reindeer to our house (oats and glitter! :P) just before she heads up to bed and we read twas the night before christmas, argh! so excited!!!!

Jude13

"we always put magic dust out to guide the reindeer to our house (oats and glitter! )"

Genius, Im robbing it.

OldNotWIse

My Dad makes the best mulled wine ever. That combined with ham sandwiches (real butter and just boiled ham) after "midnight" mass - better than any Christmas dinner I've ever had :P

jezzer

OldNotWIse wrote: »

My Dad makes the best mulled wine ever. That combined with ham sandwiches (real butter and just boiled ham) after "midnight" mass - better than any Christmas dinner I've ever had :P

Nice!

fussyonion

Do you have any Christmas traditions?

Do you and your family go to Mass or maybe you always meet up for a festive pint on Christmas Eve?
Would love to hear your traditions!

Mine is that I always visit my parents on Christmas Eve for a glass of wine and we have a ham (boiled!) sandwich and a mince pie while watching Home Alone.

I love it-the excitement of the next day and the whole family together....share yours amigos

NeonCookies

Always ham sandwiches on Christmas Eve night, and a big slice of madeira cake!

Since my brother and I became teenagers, the other tradition is my dad excitedly waking us up earlier than we want..and us groaning getting out of bed, until finally happily sitting in the warm sitting room and opening the first of the presents.

We also always watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Gene Wilder) after Christmas dinner. My dad loves it! And allows lots of quiet digesting time

Overflow

There a whole thread dedicated to this, it's a great http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056400666




Mod: Merged with existing thread

Hollister11

Why merge ? One is Christmas one is Christmas Eve !!!

Posy

And the traditions mentioned in the new thread were both Christmas eve ones. Christmas Day has less individual traditions- more 'open presents, eat turkey, flake out in front of the TV with a selection box...'


If you'd really like to share a Christmas Day tradition, stick it up in the chat thread.

AulBiddy

Laze around for the whole day, get ready for mass, come home into our new jammies and we all have a drink then we go to bed.

aunt aggie

I love reading this thread.. actually getting me more in christmas mood than any movie or song!!

By Christmas eve, everyones made their way home. We go to mass, come home complaining about the sermon and then everyone starts baking. Mums making cookies, tarts and putting the sherry trifle together. Someone prepares the turkey and stuffing. We don't leave the kitchen until after midnight. Its nice and its a lot less stressful than Christmas day.

RentDayBlues

Cooking and cleaning christmas eve morning, then a late lunch in the local hotel. Kids in pjs and all downstairs to read "the night before christmas" and leave out some snacks for santa and rudolf.

Have never been into going out on Christmas eve night, just love being at gone waiting for santa. Mass is Christmas morning

smeal

Our main christmas eve tradition which has continued through the years has always been ordering a huuuuuuge Chinese takeaway, watch a film and have a few drinks. I am usually a bit fragile on Christmas eve as the 23rd is always a great night out at home :P. When we were younger the tradition was always Chinese, watch Scrooge on Channel 4 then Dad would take us out to "try and see Santa". He did a great trick of hiding a red reflector light in a far away tree that would shine off the front porch light to give an illusion of what looked like Santa's sleigh !! Was always a highlight.. Will definitely use that trick with my own kids in the future!

Kevin the Kid

Soak the ham in cider for the night - Next day simmer in the same cider and then finish off for 45 min in oven with honey and cloves - Delish!

K.C

Home every christmas eve for the last 33 yrs,smell of ham cooking. Have my mates over for a few beers and a catch up.

OldNotWIse

Our tradition is to make a giant turkey pudding on Christmas eve and divide it out between all the animals. It started out relatively small with one pack of mince for our dog and two cats. But it has grown every year. Now we've 8 cats and a dog, plus partial custody of a neighbours dog, their half starved cats plus strays that are on a half board (breakfast no bed-but-bed-in-the-shed basis) so it's huge. We have to buy in the turkey mince in advance! It seems silly but for me it's one of the best traditions. I love the way they all queue up, sniffing the air and eyeing me excitedly. Dishing it out into about twenty portions for them :P

Christmas present for the neighbour's dog will be a leg of lamb, and this year instead of buying for all the cats, I am thinking of making a surprise box for them, and throwing in a couple of things each week - treats, desserts, little catnip toys, cat milk, blankets etc... and then opening it and sharing it out on Christmas day

MOD EDIT: I've moved this post just to bump one of the best threads on this site!

Jude13

You're mad as a box of frogs but I like it.

My dog died five years ago and the OH has made the good point that living the nomad life style of an expat is not good for a dog so I can't get one.

Do they still do chocolate buttons for dogs? My last one hated candles since she was a pup. We would put them on the hearth each Xmas and even after 14 years she would lie somewhere else and just growl under her breath at them.

leahyl

Delighted this thread is being revived

Loughc

leahyl wrote: »

Delighted this thread is being revived

It wouldn't be Christmas if we didn't

OldNotWIse

Thought I was going mad when my post was moved

Squeeonline

Last year I think I was travelling home or recovering from the lead up to Xmas. The hassle of rushing to finish things at work, shopping, and getting ready to go back to Ireland is always a drain.

I just want a quiet night in, with feet up in front of a fire and some crap xmas film on the tele. Nice glass of beer/wine/whiskey in that order. That's me.

onasis

I love Christmas Eve – it’s my favourite day of all. I get up early and cook the ham and spiced beef so that the house smells of spiced beef. I do all my prep on Christmas Eve – veg, stuffing, desserts etc. so that I have as little as possible to do on Christmas morning. In the afternoon we would head to town for an hour or two just to soak up the atmosphere and a quick visit to the local Cathedral for the carol service. Then it’s off to the pub for just an hour to have one drink and meet some of the neighbours. Usually home for 7.00 at the latest then it’s a ham sandwich and a glass of wine. Kids are in their new P.J’s by now (they are 21 and 16 but still have to have new P.J’s on Christmas Eve). Presents are put under the tree (including Santa sacks for the dogs) and everyone heads to bed about midnight.

OldNotWIse

I remember Christmas Eve a few years ago, our dog (sadly deceased) and cat knew there were presents under the tree for them. They were hanging around in the hallway, waiting for someone to open the door so they could get in and tear the wrappers off. They were like two bold children. You just couldn't be annoyed with them

onasis

OldNotWIse wrote: »

I remember Christmas Eve a few years ago, our dog (sadly deceased) and cat knew there were presents under the tree for them. They were hanging around in the hallway, waiting for someone to open the door so they could get in and tear the wrappers off. They were like two bold children. You just couldn't be annoyed with them

One of our dogs is only a year old and eats everything in sight - he's going to be a nightmare:eek:

Glitzgirl

Love this thread ! Could talk all day about christmas. We especially love christmas eve here in my house. We have 2 adults (myself and OH) 2 kids and 3 dogs. The night before christmas eve I have a mini mammy pampering session with mu glass of wine and a sneaky selection box :P so I'm all refreshed and ready to go next morning! Everyone is up early we have a lovely cooked breakfast sausages egg rashers toast full works. Only time of year we have it mind ! Even dogs get some we all get dressed up in our christmas eve outfits after we have found Jingles our elf to see what he has gotten up to. Then we all go for a nice walk dogs and all. When we get home we do some baking for santa. And after lunch we jus chill out watch christmas films with our santa mugs for the evening Get a takeaway for dinner... love it. Then when I give kids a bath daddy always finds a note from Jingles and a christmas box for everyone with new christmas pj's and a book or film or teddy and new toothbrush etc. So we put on new pj's see santa leave on the news kids get santa treats ready and I prep the food for tomorrow while the 3 dogs sit and give me the saddest eyes they can manage so I'll give them some. Buggers get me all the time ! I can't wait for christmas eve !!!

Jude13

^^ Sounds delightful. And you say you can talk all day about Christmas...go on

Glitzgirl

God yea ! I have a funny feeling most of us here could :P I was at hairdressers today and booked my christmas hair appointment and she looked at me like I was crazy lol. I'm sure I've left something out will add to it later as soon as I remembered. If my OH was reading this he'd laugh.. I'm here day dreaming of christmas while I put up fabric and decorations for a halloween party!

Glitzgirl

And yes they do still sell the chocolate buttons for dogs. They even had dog friendly easter eggs for sale earlier this year

Jude13

I just need a dog now. I just selected my seats for the London-Dublin leg of our trip home.

OldNotWIse

Glitzgirl wrote: »

And yes they do still sell the chocolate buttons for dogs. They even had dog friendly easter eggs for sale earlier this year

Oh yes! We got a catnip egg for our cats and Fat F*ck (the 7kilo lad) chewed through the box and ate the entire thing. Then he lay on the floor playing with the legs of the kitchen chair for about an hour. I actually think he was stoned. He may or may not have had the munchies after. It's hard to tell with Fat F*ck, he never stops eating...