I watched Bernard and the Genie on Sunday as I have done most years since 1994.

My brother
And
I used to get a stocking on our bed it always contained a beano annual for
Me and a dandy for him an orange a
Selection box
And a tube of sweets.

We weren’t allowed to wake mum
And dad until seven then we had
An arm chair each with our presents on.

Always had to go to church. Always had lunch at half one. Queens speech and then tree presents (small presents dotted round the tree like decorations)

Always had pate and toast for tea and then bed.

My Mum's favourite christmas movie has become Elf over the years, and for the last few years she always messages with a picture of it on the TV the first time it's on every year. Legend. 

I was also assigned an armchair for presents when I was a kid as well. Breakfast was always scrambled egg with smoked salmon on toast. Always go for a walk in the afternoon after lunch - obviously any new hats/scarves/whatever garments are mandatory if received. Turkey sarnies with a big mug of tea in the evening, then bed. 

Best day.

I’ve been through so many different family Christmas traditions over the years, I can’t really remember my own. I don’t mean that as a bad or sad thing. I’ve been lucky. Every girlfriend I ever had meant a whole new way of doing Christmas. Because my parents split up when I was a kid, I was never pushed into any one way or another. So when I met a girl, I let her run Christmas.

It’s still that way for me. Christmas is spent with my wife’s family. And they’re awesome. Her eldest sister orders every single item in the Marks & Spencer Christmas food catalogue. We all turn up and eat it. This is a fine plan.

Only ever missed one Christmas in my mother's home. I still get a selection box every year. 

We like to try a new board game every Christmas, sometimes they work well (Carcassone), sometimes they don't (War on Terror). I have Junta lined up for this year. We can always fall back on Trivial Pursuit, though. Especially as I inevitably win.

My parents used to always have a bottle of prosecco and open their presents at midnight so Christmas was for me and my sister, which think is really sweet. They also got a bottle of prosecco while we were sleeping. Stockings on our beds in the morning, and then shouts of santa santa.

There would always be a jigsaw puzzle from santa and that was the job for boxing day (guess if my parents were too "tired and emotional" it's a good quiet activity.)
Most of my Christmases are recorded coz dad had a camcorder. I'm an excitable brat. Nothing much changed then.

Our Christmas day since the girls have grown up has involved a board game OR a Wii Party Boardgame Island session.

Sequence and Christmas themed Monopoly. Sequence is good though because it has a short game time so we can get a series in.  I've got Crabs was bought last year but we ended up with Christmas Monopoly instead.

Someone is getting Harry Potter Trivial Pursuit this year so I can't see us dodging that one.  I'll have to sub in classic cards for Wifey and I.

I have only the faintest memories of christmases with both my parents together before they spilt.
After that the next few years were a mess at Christmas, both parents divorced in a very angry and messy way and my brother and I were caught in the middle and Christmas was always awkward and difficult because my dad hated my mums boyfriend and refused to let us be around him which meant that we couldn’t go to my mums at all.
My mum hated the fact that we wanted to live at my dads so that was awkward.

In the end we pretty much did a low key Christmas at my dads and then would meet my mum at a friends house or at a nice restaurant.
It was a real shit show. Probably why I don’t really look forward to Christmas every year and why it feels me with such anxiety and dread. Also probably why I’m such an introvert who hates spending time surrounded my lots of people.

Now I’ve married a wonderful woman who adores this time of year and loves spending time with her family (that has no stupid family arguments and politics) so I pretty much hand over the Christmas period to her and just go where I’m told.

My in laws do Christmas in a huge way, it’s like a week long event in which everyone arrives and stays at their big house in Jersey, they all have huge meals every night and everyone’s kids run riot.
They have the worlds largest Christmas tree and it’s always filled with millions of presents underneath plus a massive stocking each filled with individually and beautifully wrapped tat.
It’s lovely. And stresses me out so much as it’s impossible to find 2 minutes of peace and quiet when you have close to 20 people living together. But my wife loves it, the kids are spoilt rotten and have the best time and it’s nice to be in a family home where everyone loves each other and loves your company.

It’s so weird for me.

But I’m getting used to it.

I know what you mean Wookie. Not bringing the thread down, but shitty parents divorce (and pre that lots of arguments and violent fighting) meant that Christmas as kids wasn't that great.

But I think that's why I love it now. From times with my daughter when she was little she'd be super excited, but then as a teen she was the typical lazy sod, and it was me and her mom who were excited. We'd go into her room at 6am on Christmas Day to drag her out of her bed. Then we'd typically have smoked salmon and scrambled egg bagels with mimosas. I'd be the one to prep and cook dinner. And it would typically just be the three of us. Then Boxing Day would be a family party (on the missus' side) where all her family got together. They were really the typical 80's/90's middle class family party with vol au vents, prawn cocktail etc. Very dry affairs.

More recently, I've grown to love Christmas even more and watch lots of Christmas films over the period (good and bad ones) going to visit family and friends, and eating far too much. 

Anyway, Merry Christmas one and all!

Current tradition is wake up hungover, cooked breakfast of sausage, egg, bacon etc, glass of prosecco from mum if she's not working, feel a bit better after that I'll have another one thanks, open presents once my brother emerges, down to the village pub about midday for a few swift ones, back home after that for lunch, then booze until sleep.

When my dad was alive post-lunch and into the evening would be lining up empty cans on the hedge at the back of the garden and taking turns with the air rifle to pop them off. My dad and brother could rarely, if ever, hit them whilst ol' nmd here could pop them off at a good 90% hit ratio or so. My mum got rid of the air rifle when my dad died and it's genuinely one of the things I miss most about christmas.

If me mum's working then all of the above except presents occur on her return in the afternoon.

I'm enjoying the modern tradition of falling out over Star Wars films also.

We're trying to figure out where chewie does his shits.

No real good Christmas memories here, my parents both got made redundant when I was 8 (within a week of each other) so there was never really any money around. Which because I hadn't lived with money, was no real difference to me. So I have never been one to look forward to Christmas.

Now the wife and I do our version. We go and buy really nice cheese from the awesome cheese shop in Melbourne CBD, and have that with wine on Christmas Eve.
Christmas Day is bubbles for brekkie, then a lazy day of something interesting food wise (usually whatever takes our fancy, this year is going to be a 4 hour slow cooked leg of lamb with salads) with more wine, and the afternoon is usually a massive boardgame fest.

Yeah, we don't have kids....!

Wookienopants wrote:

Sorry, that was a bit bleaker than expected for such a lovely thread.

Mate no apologies required sounds awful

This makes me realise the only tradition we have is at some point during the festive period we used to get the Pub Skittle board out at my grandparents. Other than that, nothing is fixed. Bit lame really.