My Christmas

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Bunnylump
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My Christmas

#1 Post by Bunnylump » Mon Dec 27, 2010 9:34 am

I was thinking to myself, "What is it that I consider to be a "normal" Christmas?" Which then led me to wonder what everyone else actually gets up to! Let me know (yes, nosy!!) :lol: This might be just the same as everyone else, and be very boring to read. But who knows? :lol:

Christmas morning:
I usually get woken up (yes, even now, and despite the fact one of them is 6 feet 4) by my children burrowing into the bottom of our bed to wake me up. :lol: Needless to say, they are both so big now that this actually pushes my husband and me out onto the floor... :lol:

We then go downstairs and set up the fire, and USUALLY the kids open their stockings. There are then the usual ooos and aaahs about such thrilling things as new toothbrushes and pairs of socks. This year, however, my daughter made a stocking for my husband and I so we could do the same. :D

Next breakfast of orange juice and croissants...
...opening real presents
...playing with said presents WHOSE idea was it to get my son a STYLOPHONE???? :roll: :o
...then attempting to get the Christmas dinner whilst simultaneously answering hundreds of phone calls
...eating too much
...playing idiotic board games (K got a good one this year, called LOGOS it's all about logos, branding, advertising etc. She is TERRIFYINGLY good at it because she seems to have a photographic memory - would YOU have known what the colour of a jar of Sunpat peanut butter has / what the picture is on HP sauce bottles?)

In the afternoon
Walking through the still deep snow about a mile to my brother's. Well, I think you all know by now he's a bit unusual. This time he had a ladder / working platform set up in his living room, covered in fairy lights, which he was sitting on, like a throne! :lol: :lol:

Boxing Day
Round to my sister in laws, where all the other family were too, to eat AGAIN. Amused by various fun type activities like watching my mad B-i-l setting up pottassium permanganate and glycerine in an egg cup experiment... :shock: :lol: Last year he was attaching Mickey Mouse to a home made rocket, and sending him into space... :lol:
You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it.

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Laura
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Re: My Christmas

#2 Post by Laura » Mon Dec 27, 2010 9:55 am

I'd have guessed at Sunpat being yellow, but I've never bought that, or HP sauce for that matter, so I'm not sure.

My traditional Christmas would usually be everyone assembling in the living room to open presents (which cannot be started until everyone's there), then a mad scramble to find something for breakfast before going to church, where we would give my grandad his birthday presents.

Then home again to start getting ready for the arrivals of grandparents for Christmas dinner, followed by requests for carols which my sisters and I would very grudgingly play for everyone to sing along to. Then in the late afternoon - christmas cake and cheese or mince pies and cheese. Then watching the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special (more traditional than the Queen's speech in our house!)


This year however, everything after church was transplanted up to my little sis's house, cos GMaal has to work Christmas morning. So we did two lots of present opening, then spent most of the day playing with Bun, who was as adorable as ever. It took him about an hour to get the wrapping off one present, but he did it all by himself! We gave him a bit of assistance with the others. And lilsis cooked a fabulous Christmas dinner - meat and 7 veg!!! (And stuffing and pigs in blankets). And Christmas pudding with 4 varieties of cream!!! Pretty impressive for a first attempt at Christmas dinner!

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Re: My Christmas

#3 Post by tricia » Mon Dec 27, 2010 10:34 am

My traditional Christmas is the very quiet....just my sister and I and of course Olly cat

breakfast is Bucks fiz and croisents then we open our presents.....first the jokey presents , then the main presents. We have to do this while Olly is desperately trying to rip open the parcels by pulling on nthe bows and ribbons. Then we open the presents from friends and family. The morning is spent phoning round the family in Sussex and herefordshire and our friends in Kent and Holland.

Christmas dinner this year was a starter of goats chese salad, followed by slow roast pork with all the trimmings.

On Boxing day braving the ice and visiting friends and wathing a fearless 2 year old jumping off the setee shouting into infinity and beyond....then as he is opening his presents he is saying what's in the parcel :lol:

all in all a very pleasant couple of days.

Tricia

PS escaping to Holland on new Years Eve
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Re: My Christmas

#4 Post by Redfraggle » Mon Dec 27, 2010 10:52 am

My Christmas changed this year. We got up about 8am because Leah rang to say that Carmen was up and playing with her toys. Then they came over to us because Santa has left presents for Carmen in our living room. Leah, Stuarty, Carmen and Frazer all had breakfast with us. Carmen wouldn't eat because she was playing with her little phone.

Ivan then started preparing the dinner while I got myself ready (yes Ivan does all the cooking). Then we opened our presents. We then went into my mum's house and had some tea there. After our dinner we drove to Coleraine to visit Ivan's parents.

Since then we've been in bed with flu :( The presents are still sitting in the living room and Im losing the will to live. Ive had to tell Leah not to bring the children to the house. I dont want them to catch this.

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Re: My Christmas

#5 Post by dramaticat » Mon Dec 27, 2010 1:55 pm

It's just the two of us. We love the fact it's the one day of the year when no one's trying to get hold of us to do anything!

Breakfast in bed - always involves smoked salmon. This year we had smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwiches, but other times we have scrambled egg and smoked salmon.

Then we open the presents - in bed. It is traditional to give each other something sweet. Ian loves Thornton's chocolate gingers, so that's what he had. I got Turkish Delight, because he doesn't like it and I can scoff it all myself. It is also traditional to eat at least one piece of these while in bed.

We get up at some point. We used to go for a quick drink in the pub at lunchtime, but since it was taken over by new managers, not many of our friends go there. So we probably won't bother in the future.

Then Ian cooks dinner, which we usually have around 4pm. Duck is always our Christmas lunch (we'd never get through a whole turkey!) Then we're so stuffed we often fall asleep in front of the TV. We have Christmas Pudding and custard for tea as we never have room after dinner.

So not much changed this year, even though I'm in plaster.
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Re: My Christmas

#6 Post by Bunnylump » Mon Dec 27, 2010 4:50 pm

Isn't it surprising how different each person's day has been? :D Thank you for sharing!

Oh, and Fraggle, I do so hope you get well soon! (I gather Scurra also is feeling poorly... :( )
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Re: My Christmas

#7 Post by katsmom » Mon Dec 27, 2010 5:17 pm

I've posted this in another forum and am just too worn out from the holidays to type it again. :lol: :lol:

Our "Christmas" starts after Thanksgiving dinner. Once the table is cleared and the dishes are washed, we bring the tree in off the balcony (I have a live pine out there and every 5 years when it is too big to bring in the house, we plant it in the podium garden) and watch "White Christmas" with Bing Crosby, or "Frosty the snowman" or any other Cartoon the bug has her mind set on. I make a video Calender the next day and put pictures of the DVD covers on it. Two-sometimes three per night until Christmas day. Matt and the bug play the annual hide "It's a Wonderful life" game. (I've only seen it 40+ years running and cry every time)

Usually the next day the bug gets her first letter from Santa Claus-these run twice a week until Christmas Eve and really keep her on her best behaviour for a month and a bit!

On December 6th, St. Nikolas comes to the house and leaves a small present in the bugs shoes. The baking and candy making starts around the same time because believe it or not, I'm a fantastic baker. (No, I didn't say cook) We take them to work and the guards downstairs ask for them every year.

Christmas Eve I have the family and a few close friends who aren't spending the holidays with family over for dinner. We start cooking around noon, and that's when I make my first cup of mulled wine. The husband's family starts to arrive between 6 and 7 and by then I am feeling no pain and give everyone who comes through the door a kiss under the mistletoe (any one want to guess how hard that is to get in HK?)

Around 8:30, I read The Night Before Christmas and the Parody I've written for the year. Sometimes the family understands them, other times they humour me. (The bug and Matt always understand my point of writing for that year so who cares if the rest do!) Presents are opened and the Gingerbread house that takes 3 days to put together is destroyed within seconds after it is taken from the top of the cabinet.

Norad Tracks Santa is opened on the computer and at 10pm the bug is chasing everyone out of the house and hiding under the covers. After she falls asleep, the hot coco is drunk, the cookies are eaten and Miss Hari and I do reindeer duty and leave drunken teeth marks in the carrots!

Christmas day the bug gets up before the sun and rushes to see what Santa brought her. I crawl out of bed-hangover and all-to take photos. After a nice big breakfast of mom's pancakes, it's back to bed for me and Matt and the bug watch more movies, eat way too much candy, and play with her new toys.

Christmas ends on Epiphany for us. We go to mass, and when we get home, there is always a small gift from the Three Wisemen and La Befana waiting for the little one. After dinner, it's a sad day for us because the lights are taken down and tree must be returned for another year to the balcony.

This year I was so busy that we didn't do the big family dinner. But did all the rest. 3 days of mulled wine and Eire liquor this year and I was forgetting about all that work i need to do. :lol: :lol:

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Re: My Christmas

#8 Post by giraffe » Mon Dec 27, 2010 5:29 pm

Christmas starts on Christmas Eve, when we walk round to the church in the village (slither round this year).

Christmas morning the children open their stockings, then we start lunch preparations. Mum arrives and we open family presents. Lunch, spent the afternoon this year puzzling and handing puzzles to mum to keep her quiet. (Thank you pb) Boxing day we often go to the theatre, but to a proper show, not a panto. It's an old tradition in the family that started before I was born because my great uncle's birthday was on boxing day. This year we went to the Birmingham Rep to see a musical version of The Secret Garden.

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Re: My Christmas

#9 Post by Laura » Mon Dec 27, 2010 5:42 pm

giraffe wrote: This year we went to the Birmingham Rep to see a musical version of The Secret Garden.
Was it good? I like the sound of it, but I imagine that it could be difficult to get the same sense of the garden that they did in the film.

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Re: My Christmas

#10 Post by giraffe » Mon Dec 27, 2010 6:03 pm

Yes it was good. Kingsley and I went down to talk to the orchestra in the pit during the interval :mrgreen: They have a revolving stage at the Rep,( Central part that was slightly sloped, like a cone, and then an outer ring that rotates independently) and so with minimal set they get some really good effects. They had raised flowerbeds in various locations around the stage and the raised part of the stage had a couple of cut out areas that were used as flower beds (or rooms )and as the seasons passed they had taller plants in them, and sort of dangly things in various colours (looked like different length tubes) hanging from above that they put up and down and they gave an effect of creepers.

They made very imaginative use of a bed too, as a bed in India, a boat as they sailed home, a train and a carriage to reach the house. eg in the carriage they were sat side by side on the head of the bed, with the driver in front of them on the end of the bed, but on the train they were sat opposite each other and on the boat they were swaying with the waves!

You do have to use your imagination with a play more than a film, but I find it fascinating how they go about bringing it to life. Quite a lot of it was narrated, which was done by a group of gardener/ footmen / housemaids saying a few words each.

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Re: My Christmas

#11 Post by tricia » Mon Dec 27, 2010 8:02 pm

Giraffe wrote:
This year we went to the Birmingham Rep to see a musical version of The Secret Garden
That's weird ! My aunt my cousin and husband and 2 children went to see the same production on boxing day. :lol:

Tricia

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Re: My Christmas

#12 Post by giraffe » Mon Dec 27, 2010 8:04 pm

tricia wrote:
Giraffe wrote:
This year we went to the Birmingham Rep to see a musical version of The Secret Garden
That's weird ! My aunt my cousin and husband and 2 children went to see the same production on boxing day. :lol:

Tricia

It is a small world!
They were probably right next to us! :lol:

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Re: My Christmas

#13 Post by Redfraggle » Mon Dec 27, 2010 9:28 pm

Thanks Bunny! Get well soon Scurra. We are both completely ill. There's not any part of me that isn't painful. :(

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Re: My Christmas

#14 Post by strep98 » Mon Dec 27, 2010 9:57 pm

I hope i'm,not too late with this.
My Christmas starts about 12 on Christmas Eve when I move into the kitchen to start cooking, I prrpare all the veg, cook the turkey and ham, and make pate, sticky toffee puddings, chocolate mousse and syllabub (noone will eat Christmas pud) Then off to church by 10.45 so i can set up the altar and light all the candles for Midnight mass. Home by 1.00 am OH and I swap a present and go to bed.

Up by 8.00 start the first lot of dough off for breadrolls and put out all the sacks and stockings (this year we were joined by Oh's parents). Finally got No 2 son up by 10.00, then No 1 son arrived with his girlfriend. We open all pressies and stockings breaking at odd times for sherry and shortbread, to put on veg and make more dough for rolls. We ate about 1.45 and finished at about 3.00 when No 1 son ran off up the road to join his girtlfriend and her parents for more Christmas lunch!!!.

This year it was too cold to walk and so we played with various pressies and read, watched Dr Who and Strictly then I put out nibbles, which nobody wanted!!

Boxing Day up and out of the house by 11.00 walked the coast path for 2 hours, then home for a quick lunch. Then the fun started when I tried to get the clothes out of the washing machine to find it was frozen in there and the pipe inside the washing machine had frozen and split. So we had to tumble everything to defrost it and take the washing machine apart to get the part out.
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Re: My Christmas

#15 Post by Bunnylump » Mon Dec 27, 2010 10:22 pm

I hope i'm,not too late with this.
No, of course you're not. I know this sounds weird, but I'm finding it really fascinating hearing what people's "routines" for Christmas are. You sort of assume everyone's doing exactly the same thing, but looking at this, there's nothing further from the truth!! :)
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Re: My Christmas

#16 Post by Cenwulf » Tue Dec 28, 2010 8:31 pm

Not exactly a routine, but here's what happened this year:

Christmas Day
First, a light breakfast, followed by opening of presents. These are usually what has been asked or, but there is always something as a surprise.
Shower and get dressed. Preparation of the spuds and sprouts, and the chicken goes in the oven. (We never have turkey, it's just too big.)
Out for a walk, down to the harbour. Every Christmas day there is a charity swim across the harbour. Missed the first two batches, but see the last of the fun-swimmers and the elite swimmers. (Boys, Girls and Women together, then Men after.)
Back home. Finishing of cooking, then time for Christmas dinner: chicken, bacon, sprouts, boiled and roast spuds, roast parsnips, gravy. After, Christmas pud with custard.
Wash up and then a long sit-down to digest the meal.
Go for a walk: down the side of the harbour and round the Nothe headland. (Saw a kingfisher in the harbour - probably 'cause the Lake is frozen.) Back home just as the sun sets.
Time for own thing: I did some puzzles in the New Year issue of Take A Puzzle.
Evening snack - cheese and crackers, and slice of the Cake.
Watch Strictly: give own comments on dancers.
Play two games of Scrabble, then a few rounds of Rummy.
Sit down with night-time drink, and soon after go to bed.

Boxing Day
Usual Sunday morning to begin with - bacon sandwich for breakfast, then go and get Sunday paper. Only difference is that I didn't shower, as I had done so the day before.
Arrival of Brother, Sister-in-law and Nephew, down from South Glos.
Main meal - jacket potato, salad, meat (choice of ham, chicken or salmon), pork pie, mini sausage rolls, nibbly bits, bread: after, a piece of Cake and a mince pie.
Tree presents: Nephew distributes them, then opening takes place. These are always surprises.
Bro, S-i-l and Nephew go home: it's a long drive and they want to get home before it gets too dark.
Period of Own Thing time.
Evening snack as previous day.
Wind down before bedtime.

I must explain about the Tree presents. For many years (from long before I was born) it has been our family's custom to place presents under the Christmas tree, to be opened on Boxing Day. It helps to exend the Christmas period, and gives that little extra anticipation of what's still to be opened.
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Re: My Christmas

#17 Post by Bunnylump » Tue Dec 28, 2010 8:41 pm

That's quite a nice idea, actually! Although our tree now looks quite amusing. The fairy on the top looks like she's about to do a Tom Daly dive off the top of the tree...
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Re: My Christmas

#18 Post by Redfraggle » Tue Dec 28, 2010 8:48 pm

My fairy looks totally drunk and sloppy and she has a dented halo but I wouldn't swop her for the world.

Actually, my Granny used to give us presents from the Christmas tree :D

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Re: My Christmas

#19 Post by giraffe » Tue Dec 28, 2010 8:49 pm

The angel on ours had a tree chocolate round her neck :? , but someone seems to have eaten it now. :roll:

When I was a child we always had two angels on the top of the tree, back to back. One was mine and one was my sister's, I still have her, but she is in retirement, as she got too tatty and fragile to climb trees.

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Re: My Christmas

#20 Post by Bunnylump » Tue Dec 28, 2010 8:55 pm

We have horrendous old tat on our Christmas tree, which we've accumulated over the years. The fairy, for instance, was bought by D and I in about 1980 from John Lewis. It makes me laugh when people try to have a "tasteful" Christmas tree. How can a dead tree covered in tinsel and lights EVER be tasteful? :lol:
You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it.

“Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it yet.”

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