"Unique" Holiday Traditions

Everyone has their usual holiday traditions, get the family together, decorate the house, maybe watch "It's A Wonderful Life", but I'm wondering, what are some holiday traditions that you have that might not be so universal? For example:

My dad and I have made it a holiday tradition to watch "Bad Santa" on Christmas Eve the last few years because the film just flat-out makes us both laugh. It's not exactly the kind of tradition you'd expect to share with your father, but I enjoy it.

I always perform a holiday show, either with a friend or lately with the band I'm a part of. The last three years, we've played at my local elementary school to great results and before that we'd play local bars, churches, frankly any place that would give us thirty minutes to sing and entertain.


These traditions don't have to be Christmas traditions per se, but just traditions that you go through during the holiday season that you feel are more unique to you and less universal.

Take care all.

Hmm...well my family usually goes shopping for a new ornament for each person every year...We didn't do that this year, probably due to lack of free time on my dad's part :(

My family usually get always problems with each other... it's not a tradition but it's becoming one :(

We always watch national lampoon's christmas vacation. When I was younger we would sing happy birthday to Jesus and have a birthday cake for him now we just get drunk and fall over alot on the dance mat. All though this year we hope to add sing star and guitar hero to the tradition

:kaoyatta:

We throw money up in the air every night until New Years. It's supposed to bring good luck and good fortune. I think it's an old tradition from the Philippines.

I want to party with yumi on Christmas.

Nobody in the family celebrates anymore, so I usually get Chinese delivered, watch TV and drink eggnog.

We don't talk to each other.

At all.

Until mid-January.

It works.

SInce its really moist where I live we shoot fireworks. I always spend tons of money from the Fourth of July, and we fire off the extras:D I cant say what else we do.......:shifty:

The Family Roast

We don't exchange presents with the older people in our family so when you hit 16 you're invited to the Family Roast that's basically an dinner feast with a lot of drinking and then we pull out family albums and tell stories about each other and laugh at other's expense.


Christmas Eggs

It's a personal tradition to save me money: all kids under 12 get a paper mache balloon sized egg painted white green and red filled with candy.

Unusual for me this is, but probably not for everyone else.

I wear a santa hat from the day I break up from school till Boxing Day, all day.

I honestly though that EVERYBODY had a buffet tea/dinner on Christmas eve, It was only last year I realised that infact, its only us.

Another one is, usually, Christmas Day is strictly intimate family only. Though that only lasts the morning, as we usually have a relative over for lunch :p

On Boxing day we all go to someone's house for another buffet, and a party.

I suppose a Christmas tradition for my family, is to go up to my Grans' on Boxing Day. We've always done that, for as long as I can remember. The adults get drunk, and I play the playstation, promising my cousins a shot, but I never let them. :cool:

Besides the uber-marathon of "A Christmas Story" on TBS, I'm always at my great-grandma's house for breakfast with the entire family and presents on Christmas morning.

Every year for the past 3 years we have had major blowups of house appliances. This year it was the washer and drier and the dishwasher, last year it was my laptop and my desktop (toppy I miss you!!!) :( Needless to say with all the gifts and the repairs we have been pretty broke for the last 3 years.

Good thing we have had a family tradition of only buying one "big" gift for all the grownups (like a secret Santa), and one "medium" for each of the family's kids.

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Originally Posted by Shauna

I suppose a Christmas tradition for my family, is to go up to my Grans' on Boxing Day. We've always done that, for as long as I can remember. The adults get drunk, and I play the playstation, promising my cousins a shot, but I never let them. :cool:

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Thats exactly what our parties are like xD

We do not do much special, though usually on Christmas Eve, friends of the family come over and they drink and such, which is always a fun time. I like talking to them and listening to them. Also on Christmas Eve, I get to open one present! Oh and I have a stalking every year, it is the A&W Bear, had it since as long as I can remember. Christmas morning involves dad cooking breakfast usually, before when my mom and her mom got along, my grandma used to come over for breakfast. Maybe I can ask to see if she can this year, it would be nice. Finally we go to relative's for Christmas supper.

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Originally Posted by Strider

Besides the uber-marathon of "A Christmas Story" on TBS,

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I watch that religiously every year! :D
My family's traditions usually revolve around food. My Grandma makes a 20 lb. turkey and a 10 lb. ham. Her and my aunt always argue because my says its too much and Grammie thinks its not enough. Of course there's a ton of left overs and my aunt says "I told you so". Grammie replies with "Its better to have too much than not enough. Here, take a plate home."
Its actually kinda funny...

Every holiday I am either dragged out of bed, or someone takes a picture of me with a present.
The picture is usually of my blankets pulled over my head and a package in the general vicinity. This happens almost every holiday without fail.
Also, every Christmas for the past 5 years, I have had the flu. That is all.

We go over to my grandmother's house for dinner, conversation, and gift exchange. It's quite fun bar the lack of space and annoying baby cousin (he'll spit on you...over and over again...). :rolleyes2

This year however, we're holding it at my aunt's house, which is much bigger. Plus, I get to go jump into their freezing cold pool! /sarcasm

That night, my parents give me their presents from them (this year including FFXII! /obsess) and a new pair of pajamas which I'm too tired to change into by the time we get home, even though I still do.

Christmas morning, I'm woken up, I put on my bathrobe, then I crawl sleepily to the family room where I groggily open presents.

I also usually obsess over Christmas for the last few days, including tonight.

My buddy Dave and I get nice and wasted on shnapps every christmas and play video games all night.
Also I like to goth myself up for the holiday season, just because. Getting weird looks from family members at Christmas Dinner is fun.

Every year my family has a big get together at my house and my sister and I hop in my dads car and retreat.

even if many Asian New Year's is in or close to February, people give each other red envelopes during the American New Year. the recipient is usually younger. however, New Year's is just one of the occasions in which red envelopes are given.

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Originally Posted by yumi

We always watch national lampoon's christmas vacation.

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Yep, because of this, our antics at our house tend to be... insane. I have a rather large family and that entire movie is the epitome of us, so we watch it every christmas. My dad's suppose to be Eddie and we call my Uncle Clark.

I don't think I could ever go with out watching that movie on Christmas Eve, it'd be just wrong.

MANUS Sacrifice? :bigsmile:

We would go skiing for as long as I can remember.

I don't personally have an unusual Christmas tradition, but my mother and sister always watch White Christmas at least once during the holidays. Usually it's twice or more during the holidays (and possible more during the rest of the year), so between it being on TV and them constantly watching it, I'm just too bloody tired of that movie by now to enjoy it.

Who can not get angry first, I always win I am really good at annoying and making making my family very mad. I never get mad at them they do it for me. (it is my special holiday contribution)

On Christmas Eve I go to my father's house so that I can wake-up Christmas morning with my very young brother and sister, and my sister invariably wants me to sleep in her bed, and then she stays up all damn night asking me if I think Santa came yet, so I tell her I'm sleeping on the couch and she had better stay in her damn bed, and then right when I get comfortable she comes out and is all excited that there are presents everywhere and asks if she can open them, and I tell her if she so much as touches a bow I'm giving all her presents to poor children, so she goes to bed, and then I'm tired all the next day.

Does that count as tradition?

I go to sauna and have the hardest "löyly" of the whole year.
But that's what every finn does :rolleyes2