Christmas Opinions

emmylou78

In the spirit of Christmas, let’s replace Unpopular opinions for Christmas opinions!  

Any major feels on the holidays, traditions, etc.? 

What do you love most and what could you do without? 

emmylou78

Gingerbread is gross. 

I could poke my eyeballs out if I have to make a gingerbread house with LO. I have no patience for that! 

I’d love to make more Christmas family traditions but I don’t know what yet! 

mrspants0809

We have a Xmas Eve box we put out on the night of the 23rd and Mrs. Claus 🤶🏻 drops off Xmas jammies, a Xmas movie, and movie snack for us to enjoy on Xmas Eve. 

We don’t travel/go see anyone on Xmas. I hated trying to see all family members on Xmas our first year with DD and refused after that. Unfortunately that now means my in laws come up on Xmas Eve (also my birthday) and I no longer get to spend the day how I want. I need to figure out how to make the in-laws coming up here stop. 

claireloSC

We always watch The Santa Clause 1-3 with DD which is cheesy but cute and she is still loving it. So I always enjoy that. 

I like seeing my family but I always struggle with big feels around dumb stuff...like my sister insists on making certain things and not letting me pitch in with dishes I want. Or my brother and I fight. Or stuff like that. So although I will miss them, I am not sad about having a more chill holiday this year with just my girls. I know we won't fight. Lol. 

Thankful for our health and our growing family! 

dancingnarwhal

I’m really looking forward to not traveling every year for Christmas after the baby is here. We switch off which family we see every year because they don’t live near each other at all but honestly we just don’t enjoy visiting any of them that much during the holidays. We get terrible sleep, there’s not much too do, everyone has dogs so all the dogs together are chaos. We’ve already been saying for years that once we have kids we’re spending Christmas at home so we can start making our own traditions and just enjoying the holiday without so much stress.

pickle-chips

We do Christmas pyjamas on Christmas Eve. We live next door to my dad (our houses are actually attached), so that makes it really easy! Normally my sister comes out to spend Christmas with us, but obviously not this year. It actually breaks my heart that she’s alone for the holiday; it’s hard without our Mum and at least when we’re together we are all sad together.

I love homemade egg nog. My Dad makes a super boozy version. I had a taste tonight but mostly skimmed the whipped cream off the top. 

Since having kids we’ve also introduced getting a new book on Christmas Eve to read together. This year we got ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.

I guess my UO Christmas edition is that we don’t really push the idea of Santa. We’re not against ‘ol Saint Nick, but we are very low key about it. Their presents from Santa are something small, locally made that could have plausibly been made by an elf in a workshop. But there’s no elf on any shelf here and we don’t have a naughty or nice list (although I have been told that I am on the naughty list for things like saying it’s bath time, so they still pick stuff up at daycare). We do put out a cookie and a glass of milk and a carrot for the reindeer. 

doodlemom131

I'm generally not a Christmas person, but MH fam is huge and very close so they have a lot of Christmas traditions. I'm slowly being worn down, regularly trying to find different traditions to add in.

I've started making a beef Wellington on Christmas eve the past 2 years, which is soo good. Unfortunately I was only able to stomach about 3 bites this year. 

Looking forward to seeing some new ideas for traditions here!

changeroscoe

~Gifted to give. 
Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas, let your heart be light. May this Christmas season bring you closer to all those that you treasure in your heart. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year! I hope Santa is good to you this year because you only deserve the best. Merry Christmas from our family to yours.

the_most_happy

On mobile so it’s a pain to tag but I LOVE the idea of doing an early gift that includes pajamas and a Christmas Eve movie or book! Might be stealing that for when LO arrives.

Both my and H’s family are in town, which I love a ton but our (pre-pandemic) Christmas routine is definitely not feasible with a kid- in past years we would do Christmas Eve afternoon with my fam, Christmas Eve night with his, Christmas morning with mine, Christmas afternoon with his, and Christmas night with mine. Not doing all that back and forth with a baby, so I’m looking forward to centralizing all the festivities at our house next year!

My Christmas-related UO is that I don’t want to do Santa with my kids. I’ve mentioned this to both my family and H’s, and they all were horrified lol. H was originally Team Santa but has since come around to my way of thinking somewhat, so we’ll see what we actually end up doing. It’s not a hill I want to die on, but I just think it’s more stress (for parents and kids) than it’s worth.

gingermama29

So we do Santa with DD but he only brings practical gifts or something needed. The bigger things come from DH and I. I just hate the idea of kids comparing that Santa brought one kid something expensive like an iPad or a Switch and another kid clothes and books because their family can't afford something as extravagant. So in our house this year, Santa brought new Frozen sheets, coloring books, crayons, and some books. Everything else DD got from Santa was from us. 
It was something I'd never really thought about until I started teaching in a poor school district and witnessed between my students. 

Clobert

Christmas Eve is always my favorite because it’s so magical and full of the traditions that I really love and I like to have all the presents on Christmas morning, one because Of the big reveal that Santa came and also just to kind of hold off on the stuff and materialism.  We usually have dinner and make cookies and listen to music and do little Christmas activities. 

DHs family just opens gifts all evening on Christmas Eve and then Christmas morning is just a few things and there’s not really time for any of the other family traditions. 

The last few years we’ve just done Christmas at home and visited them after (not this year) and  it makes me so much happier.  If other families traditions are clashing with yours just do your own Christmas Eve and morning and then visit with them and it’s such a nice compromise.

Clobert

@mrspants0809 we might plan on a Christmas Eve box of pajamas and a book in the future as a compromise for the Xmas Eve vs. morning gift opening conflict. 

mrspants0809

@Clobert it’s one of our favorite things. We did Xmas books for a few years but I was a kindergarten teacher before we moved/I stayed home so I have a LOT of books. The movie has been fun last year and this because I can tailor it to my DDs likes/interests. 

surrenderdorothy

I love reading about everyone’s traditions! 

During normal years we alternate between flying to my parents or my in laws. At my house we have a Christmas Eve open house. It has been the same families coming over since my parent’s moved to my hometown 40 years ago. It is really special. At my in laws, I was lucky and married into a family of chefs and restaurant owners so the food and wine selection is fantastic and I don’t have to cook a thing. We always stay up late playing trivia games. Only downside is their house is REALLY small- we were crowded in there when it was just my son (like the bedroom we stay in couldn’t fit our suitcase in it so we had to put it in the hall closet) but now there are two more kids born this year (three, by next Christmas when this little bean arrives) so I have no clue how we are all going to fit. They live in a very rural town so Air BnBs aren’t an option... problems for next year I suppose!