Family Christmas traditions - the weird and the wonderful
I haven’t been able to find out the origin of this quote: “These people are my kind of nutty” but whoever said it, I really like to imagine they they were referring to the things families do at Christmas time that have become treasured traditions, but which to anyone else seem, at the very least curious, and possibly, let’s be honest, more than a bit bonkers.
I’ve always had a fair few of those - the curious and the bonkers - in my family and as I was setting about writing about them for this blog, I wondered what went on in other families. So I did a straw poll amongst my lovely mates, and was delighted to discover that pretty much every one of them had at least one long-held, unusual family tradition that is a non-negotiable part of their Christmas celebrations. And to find that for all of them they are just as an important and cherished part of the festive festivities as they are for me and my family.
They were kind enough to allow me to share them with you, so here, for your Yueltide delight - and possibly inspiration - are their, and my, favourite Christmas family traditions.
Tree traditions
We throw glitter in the tree as we make Christmas wishes and in silence hear the wishes as the glitter falls through the tree.
We’re still using the fairy on top of the tree that was made when one of our sons was 5 (he’s now in his 20s). And we have a whole ceremony of finding then hanging the baubles that were presents to each of them when they were tiny.
Chocolate line up
Every year, before we eat the chocolates in our box of Quality Street, we line them all up to see what we have and how they compare to previous years. We’ve been doing it for about six years. Orange and strawberry creams often dominate!
Quality Street count in 2021 (left) and 2022 (right)
Carols and costumes
On Christmas Eve we sing carols round the crib and youngest has to hold baby Jesus and put him in the crib. Even when the ‘youngest’ is 26 years old! We also have a fancy dress tea on Boxing Day and spend most of the day making the costumes for it.
Meet Mr Snowman
Mr Snowman is cardboard, hollow snowman covered in some sort of (no doubt highly inflammable) fake snow. He was first bought out in 1950, when my mum was 3, by her grandparents. We still have Mr Snowman and he comes out at supper time on Christmas Day, with one final small, fun gift inside him for each person. The youngest member of the family opens him up and gives out the gifts. Fortunately there have never been more than 5 recipients, so he hasn’t had to grown in size! He looks a little jaded now, but we all carry on the tradition.
Mr Snowman Slightly jaded - and fuzzy - but still going strong.
More tree traditions
Every Christmas since my kids were one, they received a tree ornament in their stocking from Santa with their name and the year on it. They still do, even though they are both in their 20s now. This way, when they have their own tree they will already have their collection of special ornaments to adorn it. (Hopefully their significant others will think the ornaments are as cute as we do!) In the meantime, when we decorate the tree each year, each ‘child’ picks one ornament to talk about why it means so much to them.
And talking of traditions involving grown up children, I’m pretty sure this one will be familiar to many of you
Stockings on the bed
Our 28 and 29 year old ‘children’ still come in and open their stockings in our bed on Christmas morning.
This next trio are traditions from my family Christmasses, past and present.
Find the present
When I was growing up with my three siblings, our dad used to hide all our presents around the house. He was incredibly inventive and clever with the hiding places (a particular triumph was one wedged inside the toilet cistern) which made looking for them a long and fabulously enjoyable experience. However, after two disappeared altogether one year, mum learnt to follow him round making a note of where each hiding place was and how many presents were concealed in any given room to make sure none went missing again.
Cheap and cheerful
A more recent tradition is one that we’ve been doing for the past five years or so. As our family grew, we stopped buying presents for everyone, and just give one Secret Santa gift to our randomly allocated recipient. Instead, to boost the present giving and receiving fun, we buy a selection of fun/silly/clever things, each of which must cost less than £1 and be bought from a charity shop, which we wrap up and share around the table in a sack between the courses of the Christmas meal.
Boxing Day games
A family tradition that has survived through my entire life is the party that my parents hosted, and which my amazing mum, now aged 91, continues to host, every Boxing Day. The guest list is a little smaller these days, but up until a couple of years ago it was anything between 30 and 40 strong. The entertainment for the afternoon consists of a variety of games, each one prepared by a different member of the family (in my youth it would often also consist of a song that we had written which we all performed with varying degrees of set and costumes). These days the games always include a brilliantly compiled and challenging music quiz compiled and hosted by my nephews, a fun contemporary and cultural challenge put together by my youngest sister, and some kind of creative, activity game which I’m responsible for.
What Christmas traditions do you have in your family? And are you tempted to add any of those ones to your Christmas festivities?
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Games for your family to enjoy over Christmas
