Christmas Eve Traditions :-)

emmagination · 04-09-2022 11:24pm

I've just read through this thread, it was so lovely reading through all the various traditions throughout the years.

I'll be almost 8 months pregnant for Christmas this year so it's likely to be a chilled out and relaxed one, but I'm already looking forward to Christmas 2023 when our much longed for baba will be with us!

Jude13 · 05-09-2022 5:49am

It's the best thread on Boards!! Have you any Christmas eve traditions?

TRS30 · 05-09-2022 7:55am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119572590#Comment_119572590

Definitely, hits me in the feelers more than any other thread on here.

emmagination · 05-09-2022 8:25pm

I think the last time I posted on this thread was 2014, so a few things have changed but I'll still head over to my Dad's on Christmas Eve! My husband will visit his folks the week leading up to Christmas and will meet me in Dad's house.

Christmas Eve is my birthday and it's the big 40 this year so I'm thinking of having a little spread of m&s nibbles and inviting a small amount of people up, just for a little while!

Jude13 · 06-09-2022 5:21am

M&S nibbles are a big thing I miss from home. They used to do a great gluten free platter.

TRS30 · 06-09-2022 7:22am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119576189#Comment_119576189

Sounds lovely and with the pending arrival, you'll start to make new traditions.

Smell the glove · 06-09-2022 7:26am

This year mine will change dramatically. My wife is from a different county so normally we will exchange gifts Christmas Eve morning then get ready & do stuff around the house listening to Christmas music until we go for dinner with my parents and sister and her child. She will then drop me to the pub and I will meet friends for drinks while she goes to her mother's for Christmas and I don't see her until Christmas day after the dinners and stuff. After I've been in the pub I'll go home and watch carols from kings and a movie. I do love it but it's always a bit sad when all my mates and people I know go home to spend Christmas Eve night with their loved ones. I could go to my parents but they don't drink and watch different things than me so I don't want to show up smelling of beer and changing their routine! But this year we will have our first born fingers crossed which means my wife will be staying here until Christmas day. I'll still meet my friends for a few while her mother comes down here for a few hours but it will be fantastic going back to the house to a family and to watch carols from kings etc. Also actually exchanging gifts on Christmas day and going up to my parents Christmas morning with the child and getting pics. Sorry for the long message but there's even more I could have put in ha.

TRS30 · 06-09-2022 7:44am

Sound like a lovely new tradition that you will start.

All this talk of Christmas Eve is really getting me in the Christmas mood 😀

DvB · 06-09-2022 10:05am

I'll need a very quiet day or a day off to read this thread again from the start, but have promised myself I'll make time at some stage in the build up this year.

cuttingtimber22 · 06-09-2022 10:14am

Shopping, cleaning, prepping food, wrapping presents, dinner, a movie and a really expensive bottle of red wine to reward for the day and in anticipation of the most relaxing day of the year.

emmagination · 06-09-2022 10:30pm

Ah that's lovely! Hope you have the best first Christmas with the impending arrival!

Mam of 4 · 06-09-2022 10:33pm

@Smell the glove , aww , that sounds wonderful! Exciting times ahead and maybe new family Christmas Traditions 🙂

delricyo · 07-09-2022 12:58pm

This year I am getting married in between Christmas and New Years Eve.

I can imagine that my Christmas eve this year will be stressful with getting last minute things checked etc. Will probably end up doing something similar to last year - last minute trip to the local town, lunch in the cosy pub followed by a couple of present drop-offs to relatives on the way home

TRS30 · 07-09-2022 2:56pm

Con'grats @delricyo on the up coming nuptials.

tscul32 · 07-09-2022 9:25pm

My Christmas eve is usually spent getting everything ready to host a big family dinner the next day. Would love a year off to just chill and enjoy the day.

TRS30 · 08-09-2022 7:59am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119586993#Comment_119586993

My OH say that sometimes, lets just go away for Christmas to a hotel and let someone else worry about food etc. I know she is only joking, I think!!!

DvB · 08-09-2022 9:06am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119586993#Comment_119586993

I'll tell you how it went in January!! 😀

Smell the glove · 08-09-2022 11:52am

I've never cooked a Christmas dinner in my life. I would say the stress and pressure is immense. Especially if you have relatives over. I think it's one of the most loving things somebody can do is basically give away their Christmas Day and part of Christmas Eve to ensuring others have a great day.

tscul32 · 08-09-2022 12:02pm

We did it one year. Just did dinner for ourselves, my parents popped in on the way to my brother's for dinner and my in laws visited too to see the kids. It was nice and more relaxed than usual but it just wasn't the same and said we wouldn't do it again, was too quiet. Our Christmas dinners usually range from 10 people in the quiet years to 18 in the full house years. What I would love is to be invited to someone else's house so I don't have to cook dinner at all, not even just for ourselves. It's not even about stress or pressure as myself and OH are good cooks and enjoy entertaining, don't find it difficult at all, it's just that we're busy all day because of it. And a lot of Christmas eve, and the planning and shopping that has to go on beforehand. It's just not relaxing. But still the best day 😁.

If any of my family happens to be reading this, a great Christmas pressie would be an invitation to dinner...🎁

mumo3 · 08-09-2022 12:02pm

Was only having this conversation yesterday with my Dad, as my sister called me to say he's thinking of going away for christmas!!

Mine has changed so much since my kids are all teenagers now..... I used to spend the day cleaning, kids had an early bath, Christmas eve mass in their PJ's then home for a take away and to bake cookies for Santa before bed!!! (lord I miss them being small)

The last couple of years we've spent Christmas Eve in my Dads with the whole family, we are now onto Great Grandkids, to have a take away and exchange gifts (secret santa)..... its absolute carnage but we all love it!! Then home to watch a Christmas movie before bed.

pigtail33 · 08-09-2022 12:34pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119589080#Comment_119589080

That sounds similar to my Christmas Eve, I pretty much spend from 9am-9pm in the kitchen, getting everything ready for our family of 11. I make bread, soup, stuffing, cookies, pavlova etc. I usually crash at 9pm, have a mug or two of Mulled Wine and in bed by 11. As much as I think I'd like a year off, I'm not sure what I would do with myself! My other siblings have young believers, so I try to let them spend some magical time with the children on Christmas Eve, as those years don't last forever. For me, there is definitely nothing relaxing about Christmas Eve, but at the same time, I wouldn't change it

DvB · 08-09-2022 12:54pm

Funnily enough, having hosted on Christmas day a few times now we don't really mind doing it now. We learned a lot the first couple of times but pretty much have it streamlined now where we generally don't find ourselves too stressed out or panicked. One thing I will say is that its still a huge amount of work, but worth it for the reward of having family with you enjoying a nice meal on a special day. I actually dread the idea of it ever just being myself & the Mrs at christmas and hope it never happens TBH. I appreciate some may like the idea of a simpler, quieter day but that's not for me, not yet anyway.

TRS30 · 08-09-2022 1:53pm

Last Christmas, COVID forced to have just the 5 of us for Christmas dinner. My OH, to her credit, got up out of her sick bed and joined in and helped cook the dinner. It was nice and relaxed being just us and not having to cook for our usual 10/12 people. However looking back the minuses out weighted the negatives and hopefully this year we will be back to hosting and having a fun house. I missed the mad and stress and I think the OH did as well even if she wouldn't admit it!

Neyite · 13-09-2022 12:39pm

I love cooking but I haven't had a houseful yet to cater for, at most I've had about 4.

For bigger families what can work is a bring-a-dish. Someone do the ham, someone do the turkey, someone do starter /dessert/ sides. Anyone not doing food gets assigned a drink to bring and gets to do clean up. It takes the pressure off the host, spreads the cost burden and it means that everyone gets to socialise and there's not one person doing all the work while everyone else is having the craic.

This Christmas I'm starting up a new tradtion: Nollaig na mBán. We've set up a Revolut vault for it and everything! Cocktails and dinner this year, but next year I'll be better prepared and do a proper pamper day and a night out.

Smell the glove · 13-09-2022 5:50pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119611795#Comment_119611795

Great idea.

emmagination · 13-09-2022 8:17pm

@Neyite I love those ideas - both the "bring a dish" and the Nollaig na mBan tradition!

Mam of 4 · 13-09-2022 8:23pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119611795#Comment_119611795

This!

Son decided last year we were all having Christmas dinner at his , after miserable covid Christmas's. Eleven adults, four children, we all had our own parts to cook /contribute, and tbh , it was such a lovely day with everyone together 🎄🎄

Sunrise_Sunset · 13-09-2022 11:01pm

We visit my MIL in the afternoon as it's her birthday that day. We bring food, usually fast food and she really enjoys that. We then head home in the late afternoon/early evening and watch a Christmas movie, maybe play a board game, listen to Xmas FM. Kids are sent to bed early, in their lovely new Xmas jammies, but they can never sleep so it's usually well after midnight that Santa can get to work. That process takes an hour or two and then I'm exhausted. Love it all though.

We have quite a few traditions now spanning the month of December and I love each and every one of them.

Jude13 · 14-09-2022 7:28am

Our new thing (last 5 years, bar covid) is to have alternating sides of the family fly out to meet us. The flights are pressies. They usually arrive 22-23rd. On Christmas Eve we (I) cook a ham and order in/cook a turkey. This year we will be cooking both along with the usual. Roasites, mash, cheesy spuds, stuffing, veg etc.

Christmas day we go to a hotel for lunch and home later for leftover sambos.

TRS30 · 14-09-2022 8:00am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119615608#Comment_119615608

Is the Christmas Day lunch hotel popular for ex-pats?

Christmas Eve Traditions :-)

Comments

"I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year" - Charles Dickens

"I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year" - Charles Dickens

"I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year" - Charles Dickens