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[texasmermaid]

Does your family or 'family of friends' have any unique traditions? Always open one present Christmas Eve or all of them? Must have Aunt Ida's eggnog or it just wouldn't be the same? Share your traditions here!

I will start off with my kooky family tradition:

Every year the Mystery Gift appears under the tree. No one knows who will receive it until Christmas morning. When my sister and I were younger there was a great deal of excitement and anticipation about the Mystery Gift. There is no name on the gift and all the other presents are opened first. FINALLY the moment arrives and the giver of the Mystery Gift tells who the recipient is. The victim, er... recipient, opens the gift and shortly thereafter the laughter ensues.

The Mystery Gift is usually a gag gift related to something that happened that year or earlier. Here are some examples from years past:

One year my sis had an 'incident' with the stove and the front of her sweater caught on fire. (Take a wild guess where.) That year the Mystery Gift was an apron made out of the silvery material that is on ironing board covers.

Another year my ex received his very own 'pin-up' calendar as the Mystery Gift. Let's just say there is one very embarassing photo from my childhood entitled the 'Lady Godiva' picture involving one of those plastic horses strung up on the four springs and a freshly-bathed 3 yr old.

It's all done in fun and we never talk about who is going to be the Mystery Gift giver, someone just decides to do it and strangely we've never had a year where more than one person brings a Mystery Gift or where no one remembers to do it.

As for this year, I will not be the least bit surprised if the gift is for me and it is a stud finder. For all my home improvement projects, of course! :anna:

So, what are your traditions?

[Terri]

Great Thread!!!

We have several Christmas traditions in my family - I'll share a few here.

1. My birthday is on Christmas Eve so it used to drive my little brother crazy when I got to open Birthday presents on Christmas Eve when he saw all these presents under the tree for himself. So my parents gave in one year and let him open ONE Christmas present on Christmas Eve. That's cute for a little 7-year-old boy, but he's now 33 and STILL insists on getting to open a Christmas present on Christmas Eve.

2. I have given my mom an ornament for the tree every year that denotes the year in some way. Sometimes it's an ornament that actually has the year on it, but her favorites have been those ornaments that commemorate something. For example, I got her a celtic cross ornament the year we went to Ireland.

3. Somewhat related to #2 above, my mom has somehow managed to keep one ornament in good shape through the years. It's a picture of my brother and I sitting on Santa's lap when I was about 7 and my brother was 4. It's in a cardboard holder, so I'm not sure how it's managed to survive. But the 'tradition' is that mom will always put that ornament front and center on the tree. My brother and I will move the ornament to the back of the tree and see how long it takes mom to find it and move it back. She's pretty quick - never more than a day or so! This continues the entire time the tree is up!

Happy Memories!!! I hope others choose to share as well!

Terri

Edited by ioconsult, 14 December 2004 - 11:27 PM.