Favorite Holiday Traditions (Open Thread)

[Chris Palmer 25889]

   Over in this thread, @ladystorm suggested one way for all of us to give back to Reaper would be to participate in a thread where everybody shares their favorite Holiday Traditions.  (See: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/84085-thanks-again-reaper/&do=findComment&comment=1780534 )  So I thought I'd start a thread where everyone could do that.

 

I'll get the bowl rolling.  One of my favorite traditions is making cookies at Christmas time, and I particularly like making cut-out sugar cookies with a set of turn-of-the-century German cookie cutters I have, that I found in an estate sale, depicting a shepherd, angel, and sheep.  They are so delicate in their shape, it is a real challenge to ge the little legs etc to come out just right and not burn while cooking.  I love thinking about all he decades that these cutters have been doing continual Christmas service!  

 

These are some photos i took on a previous Christmas.  Today we will be doing our baking for this Christmas.

 

All ages of cutters used for this batch!

 

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays, Reaper!

Edited December 15, 2018 by Chris Palmer

[redambrosia 79230]

I love holidays!!! 

 

 

Halloween is a holiday  

 

hehehe

 

 

Now that I've gotten that out of the way... every year since we've been together, I've gotten Hubby a nutcracker. When we first got together, he just had one small cook nutcracker (in the first picture). Here is most of his collection to date:

 

The little cook nutcracker was given to him by his mom.

these one each count as two, since they're holding little nutcrackers.

Yes, that is Devestator and Trypticon lurking behind them, they're too big to move.

The M&M nutcracker is a candy dispenser, the one of the far left is a music box, and the one on the far right is a rocking horse. 

 

Not pictured are the tiny green and silver king nutcracker I painted up our 2nd year together, the small Viking warrior (chibi Thor), the assortment of nutcracker tree ornaments, and the 2 1/2 foot tall one my mom got us.

[Celianailo 233]

Growing up our tradition was to make bubble bread (aka monkey bread) and cheese rolls for Christmas. We'd make the dough then go for Christmas Eve service, come back and roll it, then bake it in the morning while opening presents.

 

This year I plan to make the monkey bread and share it with my bf.

[Gadgetman! 20029]

No pictures, but...   

At about 8pm on the 'night before the night' we watch this movie in Norway;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVd_VLO9xcc

the rest of Europe they usually watch it on new years eve...   

 

We give each other the presents in the evening of the 24th. 

I usually say that this is so that any batteries in toys will be spent in the evening so that there's nothing to wake the adults early on the 25th. 

 

Another common tradition is to wait with dinner until after 'the Silver boys have sung Christmas in'...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3flHenI8S3c

(The Silver boys is the Norwegian Broadcasting's boys choir, and no, the name is not becaue of the very clear vocals, but from their first uniforms that was made of a silvery material) 

This was their 1996 performance. 

 

[Crowley 105927]

Making sourdough twists. They're a cookie that my mum made. It takes 3 days to make them because you have to let the dough rest in the fridge for a couple of days. Enjoying eggnog, and carols are also a big part of it. Also watching the George C Scott version of A Christmas Carol. 

[Warlady 4350]

Growing up, we always had turkey for dinner on Christmas Eve, because my grandmother (who raised my brother and me) liked cold turkey sandwiches during the holidays (better than she liked the roast bird), and then we'd make turkey soup from the carcass.  Christmas Day, it was Christmas stockings in the morning, then roast beef for dinner early in the afternoon.  When I got married, I tried to keep that going, and I make a mean leftover turkey soup.  One year, I didn't do the roast turkey in favor of a Honeybaked ham, and my children all stared at me in horror.  "No turkey soup?" they cried, aghast.  "But you always make turkey soup!"  Needless to say, I didn't make that mistake again while they were still living at home. 8-P

 

I, too, love the George C. Scott version of A Christmas Carol, and watch it when I can.  For years, it was hard to come by, until one year I found a DVD of it in the bargain bin someplace and snatched it up for $5. Nowadays, best friend Chaoswarlord and I must watch A Muppet Christmas Carol and Hogfather at some point in December, or it just isn't Christmas.  A few years ago, we were introduced to Prep & Landing - very cute and now part of our mandatory Christmas viewing.

 

A few years ago, I started making Christmas ornaments for my grandchildren, with my initials and the year on the back.  I figure at some point they will all have Christmas trees of their own and have a little collection of ornaments to decorate them. 

[Beagle 15407]

I've always loved Christmas but increasingly for me,  it's becoming an event based on nostalgia. My wife suffered miscarriages on two consecutive Christmases, both in relatively advanced stages of the pregnancy and consequently Christmas has become about something else. We're not religious so there's no religious element of the festivities for us.

I'm very much a people person, I want to be part of a crowd at Christmas and enjoy being around children, but since going freelance I'm finding that the 'working at home' appeal is wearing thin, especially at this time of year.

 

But I do have some traditions I will continue to honour.

 

Every year I watch this 6-part series, first shown in the 1980s and packed full of Christmas nostalgia 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO61a-8K2Kc

 

We make honey cakes on the 24th with honey from our hives, as well as mince pies and poached pears.

Christmas movies I have to watch at least once - Muppets Christmas Carol, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Jingle All the Way

 

This Thursday I'm meeting friends for our annual 'sausage slurping yuletide feast', at the German Christmas market in Kingston-Upon-Thames. 3 knockwursts followed by beer and finishing with a glass of mulled wine.

 

Edited December 23, 2018 by Beagle

[Chris Palmer 25889]

I love the George C Scott Christmas Carol as well; and believe Micheal Caine was an excellent Scrooge, and sometimes wish he had the opportunity to play the character in a "serious" version of the tale.  (Not that I don't love the Muppet version n its own merits. :)

 

Patrick Stewart's version is another one of our favorites.  I think his coughing up is first laugh, on the morning after this life-changing night, after having gone decades without even cracking a smile, is a delight of acting.  

 

I also enjoyed Henry Winklers' "American Christmas Carol".  While it is a TV-movie level of production,   it has some neat ideas in it;  and I think does a good job of transferring the story to Depression-era America.    Unfortunately, I've never found it on DVD.  

 

Two other must sees for us each year are "A Christmas Story", and "Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas".  

[Keianna 8020]

We don't have a lot of traditions that we still do, but my Mom, aunt Darla and I like to go see Christmas tree displays. There is a Festival of trees downtown that is a benefit for a children's shelter that we try to go to. I missed it this year due to life craziness and being sick. And there is a history museum over in Lecompton that has a collection of antique trees and ornaments. We did make it to that last weekend. 

 

We also have had a seafood dinner on Christmas (or Christmas Eve) the last couple of years that we really enjoyed and will continue this year. 

[Inarah 42837]

Growing up it was one present on Christmas eve and the rest in the morning.  DH's family opened them all on Christmas eve, but I think it's sad to wake up with nothing to open, so we do it my way.  Christmas morning was the only time of year mom would make cinnamon rolls, and they came from a can. So we have those, too, breakfast before presents.  My family didn't really do christmas dinner, but DH's mom used to get a ham, biscuits, fixings, and a chocolate cake for everyone to nosh on.  Now I try to get a Honeybaked Ham and we enjoy it all week long. 

 

Our New Year's tradition used to be to sit up late playing an online game with friends, but that has gone by the wayside over the years due to distance and increasing technical issues. Our favorite MMO shut down last year. 

 

One thing we have been doing more often is getting together with friends from out of state this time of year and doing a weekend together. I think it's been going on ten years or more.  We alternate hosting.  We have gone down to their house,  some years we have gone to Branson for the weekend. This year they are visiting us for 3 days.  

[Rob Dean 15156]

Christmas is baking time at our house.  This year, with the recent move and crazy stuff at work, things have been a little light, but we did do six styles of cookies this weekend, with the Empire Biscuits, Russian Tea Cakes, and faux-marzipan strawberries shown below.  Next step is to get it all safely given away.  For the past couple of years my older son and his girlfriend have pitched in, but their schedules were pretty crazy this year too, so it looks like ~2 gross of cookies is going be the limit this year.  He did a few styles last weekend, when he had a window of opportunity.

 

[Doug's Workshop 2485]

My family's baking traditions are modest.

Banket (pronounced bun-KET) is a Dutch pastry filled with almond paste.

We also do baklava, from a recipe given to us by my 4th-grade teacher, Chafiq Khaled.  I need to tell you his name because he was the absolutely nicest and humblest man I've ever known.

We also make what are variably called Mexican Wedding Cakes, Danish Almond Cookies, or Russian/Swedish Tea Cakes.

 

These days, as I am several hours away from my family, we participate in my wife's family's activities, which is Christmas Eve spent with Dad's extended family, and Christmas Day spent with Mom's family.  As Mom doesn't have any other family, I see pretty much the same people as I did the night before, minus some cousins.

 

The weekend after Thanksgiving my wife will decorate the Christmas tree while watching "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation."  My own suggestion of "Bad Santa" is vetoed year-in and year-out, especially now that we have children. 

 

Dinner-wise, we used to do turkey with her family, and hope there were enough leftovers so we wouldn't have to make anything that night.  However, after trying a prime rib roast at Thanksgiving, I've decided that a rib roast is just about the best option for us, and if I'm exceedingly brave I'm going to try and do a Yorkshire pudding for us as well.  We'll see if I'm able to start a new tradition this year or not . . . .

 

[Inarah 42837]

Empire Biscuits, nom!  I used to make those every year, but so much work.  

[WhiteWulfe 41300]

I don't really have any actual traditions, but some would argue after a few years of it happening, they could be considered such... 

 

- the annual finding of the holiday cards I kept that meant something to me, and how I don't quite want to get rid of them.... 

- the annual cooking of the turkey work gives me, because it sure won't fit in the freeze if I want something else in there! 

 

Three years ago I had to cook up two turkeys and a ham, since a friend got a giant package of doom from work, and was going to be away for a month, and so gave them to us.  Man, we were soooo tired of turkey by new years, and I spaced the turkeys out too.   Sure made things easy for meals though! 

[NebulousMissy 31345]

I need a new holiday tradition.

 

I'm used to making cookies instead of buying gifts because I've been broke for a lot of years. Now I can't do that anymore. Shipping cookies across country to people who also bake isn't gonna work. Cookies should not be gifted to uncontrolled diabetics. Cookies are not appreciated by people on keto diets.