how do you spend your holidays?

[Angie Cakes]

this is a bit early, I know but in five days, it will be a month until Christmas so whatever

plus some holidays start before christmas, I'm pretty sure.

how do you spend your holidays? do you celebrate something other than Christmas? do you have any strange traditions?

I'm really looking forward to hearing what's on everybody's wish list along with your lists of things you guys received X3

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my wish list for this year:

ponies

materials for customizing ponies

manga

chocolate

3DS

somebody who will buy Animal Crossing 3DS for me when it comes out (hopefully) next January

more chocolate

hugs

Chapters gift cards

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I celebrate Christmas. we use a fake tree, but I can't imagine ever using a real one. it's tradition to put together the tree.

when I was little, I used to make Christmas ornaments to put on the tree, but most of them are broken now. now my dad decorates the tree with his Star Wars ornaments (he has so many that he can barely fit them all on). we also have one ornament called the Christmas pickle. my dad hides it somewhere on the tree somewhere and when me and my sister get up, we have to find it. I think this is actually a real thing though, and it's not just our family who does it

my mom always bakes cookies. she makes german biscuits (cookie topped with jam topped with another cookie with icing and a cherry on top), chocolate snow balls (chocolate ball covered with powdered sugar) and candy canes (a strip of white and an strip of red sugar cookie dough twisted into a candy cane shape. it also has a bit of mint flavouring). she also makes some other types, but those are our main three that we make every year.

usually by Christmas we'll have about a foot or two of snow and -20ºC weather. the last two years we didn't get any snow until a few days before, but we still had a good foot.

[SorrielSparrow]

A foot of snow for Christmas?! You lucky duck-or should I say pony

I don't have a lot of stuff on my wish list this year..save for some DVDs, iTunes money, and a SodaStream. Getting Photoshop back would be nice but i'm not expecting that.

My christmas dinner is some butternut squash soup with some chocolate cookies. nom noms.

When I was younger I would also take all of the Christmas ornaments and imagine them as their own living beings, and they'd run around and have adventures around the tree. Weird? Yes...

[Angie Cakes]

When I was younger I would also take all of the Christmas ornaments and imagine them as their own living beings, and they'd run around and have adventures around the tree. Weird? Yes...

that's the most amazing thing ever XD

when we (me, my sister and my cousin) were little, we used to play eye spy with the ornaments

[flutterscotch]

First, I do most of my mom's christmas shopping, at least stockings-wise (I am the BEST stocking filler ever)

I go to my mom's house 500 miles away and eat until I pass out, finish up the rest of her christmas shopping and wrapping, and put my special ornaments that nobody else is allowed to touch on the tree (they are 1982 Schmid Beatrix Potter ornaments, and so help the person who breaks them who is not me.)

Then on Christmas eve we do this weird "drive by" Christmas from hell where her grandkids come over and we eat, then they go outside and look at lights and when they come back we pretend that Santa has been there. This stupid tradition is ENTIRELY my fault, I might add, courtesy of Christmas of 1986. Then my brother's family goes away and my mom and I proceed to drink several bottles of wine and stay up way past our bedtimes watching classic movies.

I grant the time that I am not home for my husband to do all the gross guy stuff he wants to do (in his case this really just means eating cookies for dinner every day, and watching football in his underwear, and then sleeping diagonally on the bed).

It's cynical, but it works.

[MyLittlePonyTales]

we also have one ornament called the Christmas pickle. my dad hides it somewhere on the tree somewhere and when me and my sister get up, we have to find it. I think this is actually a real thing though, and it's not just our family who does it

http://german.about.com/library/blgermyth11.htm

Hmm, well....

Thanksgiving is technically a holiday too! So, on the Sunday before Thanksgiving (which was yesterday) my church has this thing where everybody brings food and we have a giant Thanksgiving potluck thing called the Family and Friends Feast. It was around before we moved here, which was ten years ago... so ya, long standing thing. Basically it's Thanksgiving before Thanksgiving.

Then on Thanksgiving, we're going to my sister's guyfiend's house. Or like, his step-grandma. Whatever, my mom tried to explain it to me. Sometimes we'll invite some family we know to our house, or we'll just have the dinner by ourselves (there's already seven in the fam). Then I have to work from 5:30pm-10:30pm, glorious. Well, I volunteered, get paid extra...

For Christmas, sometimes we take a trip to Washington to be with family. (All of them. They all live there. Eh, a lot of them, anyway, both mom and step-dad's side.) Anyway, this year we'll probably get a tree (the ones that come from Oregon, because step-dad like grew up in Oregon and likes those ones. : P ) We'll set it up and decorate it, while mom takes pictures. I've kinda been skipping out the last year or two, eh. Just not as fun for me anymore, and I am not too fond of pictures. Although mom will probably insist on me posing for one, and I generally put up the ones that have been gifted to me and/or that have my name on them. Also, we sell bacon ornaments at work.

Me: If I buy a bacon ornament, can we put it on the tree?

Mom: Why would you waste your money on that?

Me: It's not a waste of money, it's bacon.

This basically happened earlier. ^

So anyway, I don't bother waking up early on Christmas. We have to have this special big breakfast first that my step-dad cooks (I don't mind, but I don't like waiting). Then we have to wait and each kid has to have a gift in hand before we can start opening. Equality and that jazz. And we have to make sure we're altogether or not opening all at once so mom can take pictures. So, generally I shower and maybe get dressed before this whole ordeal starts. Oh, and I forgot, we open stockings first. Same thing with the presents, make sure mom gets her pics.

I mean, heck, I'll probably take tons of pics with my kids. But I like 'in the moment' type stuff. Sure, posing is good every once in awhile, but I like my pics natural, y'know? : P

Oh yes, we also attend the Christmas Eve service at church. Then afterwards, we get hot chocolate, tea, what have you, change into PJs, get some blankets/jackets, and go around looking at Christmas lights around town. But before that, we have to get a family picture in front of the big Christmas tree at church in all our holiday dress clothes, which is usually just an ordeal when you have 5 kids.

So then after we finally get the gifts open, everybody erm... sits around and does whatever. We don't usually have snow on Christmas (or even around that time, for that matter), so we just kinda sit around the house and check out our new stuff. Ah ya, and another tradition, mom and step-dad buy a new game and all the kids open it at once (except I kind of just sit back now. Three or four people around one gift is already a lot).

Then on New Years, hmmm... well, it depends, there might be a lock-in (sleepover) for the youth group kids, which I will likely attend to help chaperone. Nothing cool like drinking myself silly with some pals. Well, not that I know of. 'Cause I'm 21 this year. >_> JK, I try to be a responsible drinker. So far, so good! (Hey, been 21 since March, it's been several months.)

[Xiee]

Well, for a while now I've spent the holidays at work. The reason is because I'm in tech support, and its a 24/7 thing. For the past 5 years, I've been spending Christmas and New Years at work (and this is pretty much the same for any local holiday). So, I spend my holidays at work with my office mates and try to make the best out of it. You'll be surprised how many people would actually call us during Christmas Eve or New Years because their computer was busted and they needed to go online to greet their relatives in other places.

We never get snow here (I'm in South East Asia) since it's a tropical country. It's actually a dream of mine to be able to experience snow at least in my lifetime. It's a dream I want to fulfill because it was my Mom's dream before she passed away, so I kinda took it upon myself to fulfill it in her stead. I live alone in this house with my brother so if I do get some free time, he's the only family member I get to share my experiences with and we share a lot of dreams and things together.

As for gifts and stuff. I usually don't get gifts. I do more of the giving. I manage to get a few gifts from co-workers and that alone fills up my heart a lot. Giving in itself is a gift so I couldn't ask more. Other than that, if I do manage to spend a holiday at home (which is a rare occurrence) I'm mostly just by myself. Blogging, going online or playing a video game or two. Sometimes I read a book or do a movie marathon for the most part.

The term "forever alone" seems to imply here but meh, stuff happened and I actually prefer to be this way for the time being, but that doesn't really bother me. So yeah... in short, its either I spend the holiday alone, or with the company of my co-workers when I do have work scheduled that day.

[Acynder]

Nothing much really. I get new games and such on Christmas and i play them.

Speaking of which, I need to compose my Christmas list by Black Friday.

[AznAxis]

Hahaha...I work. Crime doesn't stop for the holidays.

[Northern Lights]

Working as well. Even better, I'll be in nice and EARLY Christmas morning. Cooking doesn't stop either, in fact it gets more busy. I just hope the hotel is quiet and maybe I can go home early.

[kal413]

It looks like I'll be working these holidays, like most of them.

It sucks that there is little means with which to visit friends. If it were easier, I'd probably hang out with them the entire time.

[notdeathsongx3]

Where I live, There's no snow

How do I spend my holidays? I don't. I just stay at home and slack all day long.

Sitting in front of the computer.

Parents wont let me go out with my friends.

I live too far away from them.

[Rocky]

As for Christmas day.. We are home. (Not sure if it is before Christmas day or not) We are going to my grand parents house for a Christmas party. As for other holidays... It changes.

[BrassSong]

I used to go all out decorating my yard by the 1st (even if it's storming, I've had my fair share of electrocutions lol) but I've moved into a tiny apartment. I thought about decorating the stairs leading up to the door, but we have very unfriendly (and drunk) neighbors and I don't want them to ruin my precious lights and animals. So I don't really have the holiday spirit this year... As for family time, there is none. On Christmas morning we'd just open our presents then go back to what we were doing previously. Now that my dad's gone, maybe Christmas will be a little happier and more connected. I wish my friends didn't have to spend time with their families so I could celebrate with them.

But I am babysitting my friend's house while her family goes to Las Vegas, so I'll be living there for two weeks. I guess a Christmas with two old basset hounds and fat cats is better than no Christmas at all.

[featherquill]

I'm going out to California to be with my family.

We used to do this every Christmas, the big family thing, but then my aunt moved out to Nevada and my parents and I moved out to Massachusetts. So it's harder to get all together.

[kal413]

This year I'm probably going to spend it either close with family and friends around a table eating a freshly-made ham leg or perhaps some sort of ethnic dish that I can't ever begin to describe. Or I will spend it alone in my room counting the seconds until I move away and things will be better. sigh.

[Ancre]

Christmas is a big family thing for us. Usually, all the uncles and aunts I have on my mother's side (or at least all of those who can come) come to Paris. It's the one time of the year where all of our family is reunited. Then, since we're so many (we can be as much as forty), we tend to have huge parties.

It starts with the midnight mass, then it's christmas morning, my parents have finished packing up the presents somewhere in the middle of the night and we open them all xD Then during the afternoon, we go to our grandparent's house, where there's all my extended family on my mother's side. We stay until late in the night, and since they live close, we usually see people the following days (the kids in particular are very happy about this). A few days after we usually celebrate christmas with my family on my father's side (where we're usually under twenty) and a few days later it's New Year's Eve and we celebrate again.

Christmas vacations are pretty fun and pretty tiring too (especially if I work at the same time). I always have the feeling that we celebrate non stop for a week.

And my wish list ! I've asked for ukuleles, a flea one, and another one with an amusing shape. I'm highly unlikely to have them (since they're costly) but I put them in anyways. I've asked for books, a lot of books, mostly about history. I want books on various african civilizations, on the ottoman empire, and on the history of the americas. I want reproductions of prints from Gustave Doré as well, and Yoko Tsuno comic books. I've also asked for a genealogical tree xD and there's no ponies, I don't see myself asking for ponies.

[Coyotez]

I spend my Christmas with my dad. Our family tree is HUGE. Up to 50 people can come to the Christmas party. Longest. Present deliveries. EVER.

That aside there's a giant table of Christmas food.

MOIST AND DELICIOUS

Loud noises and people cheering. Christmas is the best time of the year for me though. :3

Then after dinner there's Donald Duck's Christmas. A very traditional thing for us Swedes since a long way back. We watch a segment of Disney movies broadcasted on TV. In the end they show a few trailers for upcoming movies. It's all good old movies like Cinderella, Snowwhite, Chip and Dale, Mickey Mouse, Santa's Workshop.

Then we deliver presents. They barely fit under the tree

[Tenkan]

In any holiday, we usually go out around the country or down town together as a family, or we travel abroad to meet our relatives in Syria. Not this year, though, since Syria's on a security lock down.

We don't celebrate Christmas, but my general wish list for the holidays, or the entire year, would be this.

- Bicycle

- New video editor

- SKYRIM

That's it!

[BrassSong]

Just set up the lights around my apartment stairs/door. My stoner neighbors are outside enthraled with the blinking lights. Baha.

[Dusty]

drunk. Need ah say more?

[Doc Hoof MD]

I always spend Christmas with my immediate family and a few others. I usually cook about half of the food. My brother's in-laws cook the other half of the food. They always make the easy dishes and bring the appetizers. It is still pretty fun though because I love to cook. Plus my family usually buys a ton of ingredients so I get to go all out with my recipes.

We usually have dinner in the evening. The guys all eat in the living room where we can watch the prime time NFL game. The girls do their own thing(I have no idea what that is.) Then we all get together later on and open presents and stuff.

Then there is always New Year's Eve........

[BrassSong]

New Year's isn't something that's celebrated in my family, as we consider early August to be the 'new year' because that's when school starts (I'm in college and my mom works as an elementary school cafeteria worker)

I've actually become more accustomed to celebrating Vietnamese New Year with my boyfriend and his family.

[Therainbowtroll]

Well for one I LEAVE my collage residence. I am planning to leave next week Thursday....I CANNOT WAITE

I useally go shopping for my family and wrap gifts. I love trying to choose the best gift. Then after that I go shopping with my parents for chirtsmas dinner. While waiteing for Christmas I try to beat as many games as I can. I also usually get the newest edition of my favrite manga Negima to read while I Waite for Christmas. I also try to spend as much time with friends as possible. This year my boyfriend/best friend is staying over! IM SO EXIGHTED! Were planning to stuff a stocking for him! Im so happy!

For my wish list I want:

My little pony crap >v<

Pokemon plush (Adino)

3DS Games

And so on...cant think right now.

For new years I HOPE to get a pinkie pie custom plush....for a graduation gift X3

[ZeroHero]

The holidays have changed for me over my lifetime, unfortunately for the worst. When I was real young, my entire family would get together for the holidays (cousins, aunts, uncles, great aunts and uncles, grandparents, great grandparents, you name it - EVERYONE) - some of my favorite childhood memories ever - I had a cousin who was always big on NES games (damn, not only do I feel old now but I haven't seen this guy in forever D: ) and one of my uncles had this huge playful dog that I absolute loved. That tradition blew over when my grandma started suffering Alzheimer's (she was always the one who organized this) and now I haven't seen a lot of my family in over a decade I bet. In fact, I probably wouldn't even recognize them now, sadly. I was so young when I last saw some of them - probably 7 or 8 at best.

Another tradition that is long dead now was when my grandparents from my father's side came to visit, we would go out and see Christmas decorations in one of our bigger neighboring cities. Sadly, some of the best decorators of that time have slowly quit going over the top because money is tight now and people just don't want to use up gas (my family included) to come from all over the place to see them anymore. Stupid money. T_T

As of late, we've typically just stuck with putting up the tree on Thanksgiving weekend and baking cookies a few times. Although our most recent pastors at church are awesome and put on the greatest Christmas services I have ever seen - so at least that's one good memory in my more recent Christmases for lack of the ones I've lost from long ago.

This year's going to be a bit different for me since I'm not taking leave to go home this year (I took an unexpected trip in September that I'm going to have to make up for during the holidays so I can afford a family vacation this summer) so I'm on my own in California while the rest of my family is up in Minnesota. Hopefully some of my new friends won't be too busy or at least be willing to take me in so I don't feel too lonely this year. Got to keep my head high and discover new traditions!