Christmas Eve Traditions

[Uncle Bob]

This is fun....

Gotta due the mimosa thing this Christmas morning..... VeraBlue!!

And carrots for the reindeer...never did that...MicheleMarie

Don't have any little ones anymore...but hey...am going to put some out anyway!!!

Wonder if they like the Mini carrots or the ones with tops from the grocery best.?

[Buck]

When I was a kid I always wanted to leave cookies and milk for Santa. My father (older and wiser) told me that Santa would MUCH prefer pretzels and beer.
It turns out Dad was right. Every Christmas morning when we came downstairs we saw that Santa had enjoyed his treat and had left a thank you note! (which looked suspiciously like Dad's handwriting).

[Half Baked]

We used to write all the notes from Santa, Tooth Fairy...anybody, in Elmer's glue and then sprinkle them with sparkles. That made it super special.

[sattie]

I can't say that I have any now to speak of. But when I was little, the one thing I looked forward to was opening that ONE gift. That one gift that you had been buggin your mom and dad about all year..... the one you knew you had figured out and just knew it was in the package with the green stripes and red ribbon....... DARN!!! I picked the wrong box!!!!!!! Can't wait till Christmas morning!!!!!!

The only thing now is hoping that I am not oncall for work!

[VeraBlue]

Originally Posted by Uncle Bob

This is fun....

Gotta due the mimosa thing this Christmas morning..... VeraBlue!!

And carrots for the reindeer...never did that...MicheleMarie

Don't have any little ones anymore...but hey...am going to put some out anyway!!!

Wonder if they like the Mini carrots or the ones with tops from the grocery best.?

The reindeer only eat organic vegetables, hahahha!

[buckytom]

extra special organic flying carrots, i would think.

i loved reading all of these responses. keep 'em coming.

yt and hb, my maternal uncles, who always played santa since they were big, blue eyed scandinavian guys, would have loved your traditions. i've never heard of anyone leaving alcohol out for santa. umm, or is that how the reindeer fly?
i can see it now. after a few stops, they just think they're flying, all the while sparks are roostering out behind the sled with the police in hot pursuit, santa chuckling at how spike strips don't work on a sled.
bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do...

umm, sorry, getting back to tradition. we left out milk, cookies (always "chips ahoy" chocolate chip cookies) and carrots, which my dad ate as he and mom wrapped the presents and shoo'd us back to bed at 3am. dad always left one cookie with a big bite in it on the plate, and the carrots partially eaten on the floor with some hay and muddy reindeer tracks, of which mom potested.

the year i got wise to santa, i marked the underside of the cookies so i could try to track them. i was finally sure that santa was actually uncle arthur when i found the marked cookies back in the bag. i didn't even get the enjoyment older siblings have of ruining that fact for anyone, since i was the youngest of 6, and all of my cousins were older too.

i remember one year, while i still believed, hearing mom and dad go to bed just before sunrise. i snuck to the top of the stairs with dad's camera all ready, then proceeded to fall asleep. i awoke with a special note in my hand from santa, asking if he could have a copy of the pictures if i got any good shots. i ended up doing that for a few years because my parents thought it was so cute, and i figured that i'd get better presents if i hammed it up for whomever was leaving the gifts for us.

i don't remember what we ate on christmas eve; probably something quick that mom made, because christmas day was the big feast.

[lyndalou]

We will have Canadien Meat Pie, my famous potato salad,and clam chowder. Dessert is usually cookies, or something homemade.

Before the feast, we go to the childrens service at our daughter's church. It's usually held at 5pm on Christmas Eve.

[Uncle Bob]

Well I might have to break tradtion somewhat this Christmas Eve...Instead of the usual fried oysters my youngest son called and requested smoked duck and andouille gumbo...I said ok....Later I tell myself..."Self we can have both"
Small bowl of gumbo...then the fried oysters!

[BreezyCooking]

To be honest (hangs head in shame - lol), the night before major holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, etc., have always been take-out pizza nights for us. We started doing this because it enabled me to start cooking our traditional fancy-schmancy meal for the next day without having to worry about dealing with cooking & dishes from the night before.

Since it's just been my husband & I for many years now, it works out great for us. I do, however, enjoy reading about the other traditions here, & fondly remember Italian friends of mine (back in my NY days) making literally TONS of seafood dishes for Xmas eve (far more then the traditional 7 - lol).

[goboenomo]

On christmas eve my family and I usually have our christmas dinner together because we have it with my grandparents on christmas day. We also get to open one gift before we go to bed.

We wont be doing that this year though. I'm working from noon to close.
They'll probably just do it without me.