Christmas Traditions

My family aren’t big on Birthday’s but one thing we do celebrate with full fervor is Christmas! Things have changed now that we’re a bit older but we still have some Christmas traditions that have played their part every year. Seeing as it’s Christmas Eve, I thought I’d share a few with you.

For a lot of people, the start of Christmas is marked by seeing the Coca Cola advert, or opening the first door on their advent calendar. For me it is when we pick up the tree. We always have a real tree from an independent grower that lives in the back of beyond (Ulpha). I love the drive up there, it reminds me just how beautiful the Lakes are, especially in Winter. You get to wander through the forest to pick your own tree and he will come along with his axe and chop it down for you. Then you can pick a tree for next year, put a tag with your family’s name on it and watch it grow!

Fast forward to Christmas Eve (tonight) and we’ll all be staying over at my Parents. My Sister will wake Matt and I up ridiculously early but Dad will save us with a bacon sarnie and some fresh coffee.

Then we start to open our stockings, normally with a glass of champagne in hand. They’re full of lots of little surprises but they always include a huge red apple and an orange. That might sound strange to you but it comes from when my Mum was little and her Aunt in Canada would send over a box of huge apples at Christmas.

Next we get started on opening the presents in our sacks. Most are surprises, but there’s a few things we’ll get every year: my Dad will get Walnut Whips, I’ll get Turkish delight. It takes us ages to get through the gifts because everyone wants to know what each other has got. By the time we’ve finished, the living room floor will be covered in wrapping paper and we won’t know where to start with the tidy up.

My Mum tends to pick my Nanna up as soon as it is a reasonable hour, normally about 10am. Dad pours her a little tipple and we watch her open all her gifts and open the ones from her.

Christmas Dinner is turkey with all the trimmings around 1pm. My Aunty and Uncle have a farm so the turkey normally comes as a gift from them along with some of my Auntie’s home made goodies.

Dad will massively over cater and something will probably be forgotten but it’s always delicious. We’ll stuff our selves silly and retire to the living room to try out our presents and no doubt slip in to a food induced snooze.

Once we’ve recovered, Matt and I will head to his Mum’s for Christmas dinner number 2 and to exchange presents with his family. I love the fact we get to do it all twice! This is our first year in my parent’s new house. I’ve had 23 years of celebrating Christmas in our old house so this is the start of a new era I guess! How will you be spending tomorrow?