When I was growing up, we usually opened the gifts on Christmas Eve, after church services. These were understood to be from other people, like friends and family. Then on Christmas morning we would find little stocking stuffers in our stockings which were 'from Santa.' This was a good compromise to the whole Santa question, I think, because we understood the main point was to give to others rather than just to receive. And I don't recall when I found out Santa wasn't real; I don't think it was a big deal because of the way we observed Christmas.

In those days (some 50 years ago now), even stores didn't have much Christmas stock before Thanksgiving, so putting things up after that date didn't seem as late as it might now. In fact, my dad's birthday was December 18 (so close to Christmas his parents gave him the middle name "Noel"), and that was the date we set up the tree and other decorations at home. It was a fun ending to his birthday celebration.

Fast forward to about 20 years ago...my parents began going to south Texas for the winter, as many senior citizens here do, and due to weather considerations they always left right after Thanksgiving. So we began observing Christmas that same weekend. It sounds kind of odd, but soon we got used to it, as spending time together was the big thing. It also moved the gift shopping up a bit, but allowed for a much more relaxed December knowing the shopping was all done. This gave us time to enjoy other treats of the month: looking at light displays, attending kids' Nativity plays or concerts, etc.

There are some fond memories in the last decade or so, of 20 or more family members gathering at my brother's home in northeast Minnesota (and getting snowed in more than once!), and great times with everyone having Nerf gun fights or playing in the snow.

snowed in, here you are more likely to be burnt out. Though oddly this December has been perth's coolest in a long time. I mean it was 20 today and it is usually 30 this time of year.

Interesting post, stargazer. And thanks for opening this, Summer!

Is there anything you make every year around Christmas time?

When the kids were growing up, we would regularly make gingerbread Christmas trees, which were a lot of work, but so much fun! And graham wafer candy houses. And decorate gingerbread men and women. I would usually do homemade caramel popcorn, along with oven-baked nuts 'n bolts. And I would always make a Christmas (mocha) log, which was tricky, but delicious and very attractive.

I just realized that all ^ related to food (versus crafts or whatever), but, well, I simply love food!

Do you have family visit every year or perhaps you go and visit them?

Yes! We always have the 5 of us on Christmas Day, plus my parents and my sister in the afternoon. When my husband's mom was healthier, she would also join us. In past years, on Dec. 27th, we would have Christmas with my husband's family and another day (sometimes tricky to come up with), we would have it with my side of the family. We used to draw names on both sides, but that was becoming too much, so thankfully we cut that out. Now, we just enjoy each other's company (and food!).

Do you put up your decorations way back in November or a few days before Christmas?

I like putting decorations out no later than the end of November. They're up for such a relatively short time, so it's nice to enjoy them as long as possible (within reason ). And we leave them up until usually the 2nd weekend in January.

Any special decorations you put up every year?

Yes, the majority of our decorations we have had for decades; others are more recently acquired. My favourite is my Nativity set from Nigeria (see the Decorations topic).

We usually try to go for a small hike between main course and dessert on Christmas Day. Otherwise we'd all doze off in various chairs and couches around the house, I have no doubt.

We like to get out to a Christmas Eve service, which is always special and helps us keep the focus where it belongs. This year we are starting to sing carols around the piano again on Christmas day. We had done this sporadically over the years, but want to make this an integral part of the gathering from now on. Love that Christmas music! And my family enjoys singing in harmony, so it can actually sound half-decent.

I was raised on going to a performance of The Messiah every year, so that is almost in my blood now. While we don't go every year anymore, it is always a treat to hear that magnificent oratorio. I sang in a few performances of it when I was at university, and would love to again someday.

This post will likely sound a bit bah humbuggy so feel free to call me Scrooge or Grinch. I'm used to it.

Many of the traditions I like have gone by the wayside over the years. The Advent wreath (we didn't even do one at church this year), reading The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas one day at a time, putting up the decorations slowly (a few a day).

We still bake a lot of cookies and the past two years we have invited people over to help us. This is a lot of fun and makes the load lighter (and we have people on hand to give the cookies to so we don't have to eat them all.) Hopefully, we continue to do this. We had really pretty painted cookies this year because we had 3 artistic people over.

Usually Christmas is just a family day - my parents, my sister, and me. Now that my sister and I live together we go to our parents' house. We go to church on Christmas Eve and then come home and have lasagne for dinner. Then we watch a movie together. Before bed we take turns playing "Santa" (stuffing stockings).

On Christmas morning we have a big breakfast as a family and then open presents. We start with presents from family members and then end with the stocking presents. Our stocking presents have taken on a life of their own. We match the giver to the the gift (for example Christmas socks with cats on them might be from Santa's Cats). We have a lot of fun with that. We have a few gifts that usually make their way into stockings - Christmas socks, calendars, Christmas ornaments, candy, and a small stuffed animal or beanie baby.

We always watch A Charlie Brown Christmas on Christmas day and usually I want a Dog for Christmas Charlie Brown.

This was my first year working at a preschool around Christmas. It brought home how much I disagree with the tradition of Santa. I don't mind Santa as a character in stories and movies. I do object to lying to children and using Santa and Christmas as a way to try to manipulate them into behaving. I cringed (inwardly I hope) every time I heard a teacher say something like, "I'm going to call Santa" or I'm going to tell (insert name of elf on the shelf*) to tell Santa what you have been doing" or "Maybe I should call your dad and tell him to take back your presents." I have to play along with things like the teachers saying every time something on the ceiling flashes Santa is taking a picture. My mom told us when we were young that Santa wasn't real but we were never to spoil it for others. I feel that that rule still applies. The lying part of the tradition bothers me but this year I realized that isn't the only problem with Santa. A coworker was talking to the kids and she said "At our house Santa gives presents to everyone whether they are good or not because we believe Christmas is about getting a gift you don't deserve" (or something like that). Of course I knew that was an important part of Christmas but when she said that it snapped into focus. I was glad she said that. Christmas isn't about being good to get presents - it is about the gift of Jesus which we did not deserve. We went to All is Calm - a kind of concert / show about the Christmas Truce of 1914 (100 years ago this year). It wasn't because of Santa that the solider put down their weapons. Only God could have worked a miracle like that. I bought the CD and I plan to make listening to it every year a tradition.

*Elf on the shelf: an "elf" that spies on kids and reports back to Santa how they have been behaving. The parents move the elf toy to a new location each night so it looks like he/she has been to the North Pole to report. I find it creepy.

I like to celebrate Christmas for the full 12 days (until Epiphany on Jan 6th). I've tried to convince my family to go along with that but haven't been very successful. I have a friend who likes to do that as well and for a couple of years I texted my friend Merry x day of Christmas. I didn't do that this year though so I guess it isn't really a tradition. I like doing it / think it is fun but I can see that other might think it silly.

We also watch a lot of Christmas movies and Christmas episodes of TV shows.

Merry 11th Day of Christmas

I've never heard of the Elf on the shelf. That's certainly an interesting way to do it. I, personally, was never told about Santa as a child. In one sense, it can seem harmless, but on the other, it's not actually, so I do have objections to it now.
Ah, that is a better lesson than 'be good and you'll get presents', since no one will ever be good enough.

Matching the giver to the gift sounds really fun. Do you have a specific way to sort out who gets which 'giver' or do you just each pick one?

I remember when my younger two siblings still believed in santa, my actually made a fake call to him, when they were being naughty...... haha good old days of my mother threatening to call santa.

I do enjoy christmas special's, but I do not like christmas song's playing in shops, espically before december 1st.

I live in a small city, where the Christmas events tend to be similar year after year. We have an annual parade that was once run by a department store, who 'installed' Father Christmas in its children's play area after the parade, and put up a huge lit-up Father Christmas figure (with a beckoning finger) above the verandah. It is now run by a Trust, and is still a huge event with over 100 floats and many walking items.
This has been the real 'start' to Christmas for generations, but there is also a Christmas In The Park show that is held firstly in our city and then in Auckland and Wellington on following weekends. I seldom go as it often forgets to mention Jesus' birth, and our city gets it in the last weekend of November! For the last 15 years or so that has been the start of the season. The city council puts up decorations along the streets, and there has always been a large tree in a central place.
Family traditions always included decorating a tree and the room it was in, buying gifts for each other, wrapping at the last minute and having them all under the tree for the morning. My dad continued to fill Christmas stockings for us until we got into our teens, as it was fun and gave us something to do while waiting for sleeping parents to wake up! We were always given the hardcover annual edition of the British children's magazines we subscribed to, which kept us occupied too.

Do you have a specific way to sort out who gets which 'giver' or do you just each pick one?

Usually, my mom does most of the shopping for my sister and me so she gets to pick the givers for us. This year my sister and I did our parents together so we came up with some of the givers together. Usually the person doing the wrapping decides on the giver unless we need to consult. I hope that makes sense.

'Tis interesting reading about the various traditions.

A few years ago, we decided that in our family of 5 we would choose names. Of course, when the kids were young/growing up, we bought each of them gifts, but with everybody's hearty approval, we changed this up, and it has worked really well. That way, everyone concentrates on just one other person, but we all still buy each other simple stocking stuffers (usually food-treat items ). Keeping Christmas simple: that's our motto. It tends to become complicated and stressful far too easily and, well, what's the point of that?

That Christmas Truce performance sounds so interesting and moving, Twig's!