i start decorating mid November (cos it takes weeks to get it all up) - tree gets decorated Dec 1 (will be interesting this year - we're going to a concert that night!)
ummm, we have a Christmas bbq with half our town (well, not that many, but it feels like it) the weekend before Christmas - we all get together on the one day, rather than trying to catch up with 15 different families over a couple of weeks.
Christmas eve we usually spend with my brother/SIL playing board games - yup, sounds boring, but we tuck the kids into bed, sit my aunt (with intellectual disability) in front of the carols to sing REALLY badly, then we duck off to the other room and play games and just catch up. we do the last minute wrapping of presents and everything, then wait for midnight to hit
at midnight, we wish each other Merry Christmas, go and put the presents under the tree that need to be put out (we don't do a lot of Santa stuff - so mostly it's there well before Christmas day), then off to bed.
we get up about 6 in the morning, and put the roasts on to cook. lamb in the oven, pork and beef on the bbq outside. the boys crack the first beer for the day! the kids (my bro's three) usually get up about 8, brekki, the first presents, then the waiting for the grandparents starts. when they arrive, more presents and, once it's all done, we rearrange the furninture and set up the tables for lunch. everything goes out at once, and everyone digs in. after lunch we all chill til my we are ready to go our seperate ways.
Christmas rotates between our place, mum's and my bro's. if it's at mums, we leave the parents and go to my bro's for a while to just catch up a bit without grandparents hassling the kiddies (they buy them noisy toys but won't let them play with them - wt??), then we come home. if it's here or at my bro's, my folks leave earlier than the rest of us
Christmas night we head up to DH's best friends place just to catch up with them for a while. not a lot happens, just a few drinks on the deck...
this year Christmas is here and it's the first one where we've had a kidlet, so will be interesting....
ooh, decoration wise - we always add something new each year - we put a decoration for DH and I that is relevant to us for that year - and we'll get "my first Christmas" deco for E for this year, and something spesh for her each year from now on. mum said something about seeing some 2009 deco's out already, so we'll head into town and have a squiz later in the week
I took my ds to leave a present under a wishing tree last year, he was 7 months old but I thought it was important to start these things with him. We also went to our local Carols by Candlelight and the Christmas Parade that goes through the city streets. I made his Christmas stocking by appliquing his name and a Santa and a Christmas tree onto a pillow case. I was very proud of the end product and my Mum suggested that I sew something new onto it each year. We hope to continue all of these things with him this year although I don't know how long we will be able to stay at the carols because all he wants to do is runaround these days!!
I read about a few that we are going to start doing.
The kids get to open a pressie on Christmas Eve and it's always a new pair of pyjamas. That way they always look nice on Christmas morning for photos!
Kids get a letter from Santa (made by mummy) that contains a little packet of magic Reindeer Dust (glitter!) so they can sprinkle it outside the door on Christmas Eve before bed so that the reindeer see the sparkle and know where to stop.
Make a Christmas book that everyone writes in on christmas day. You have your age, fav pressie, fav bit of the day. Lots of memories .
On Christmas Eve read the story of Jesus's Birth together.
Wow, some great ideas there girls! I share many of them (I am a Christmas tragic LOL) but one thing I can add is my scrapbook album. I only scrap Christmas photos ad do about 2-6 pages a year, depending on the number and qaulity of photos. Because the whole album is chrissy-only, I tend to stay away from the traditional red and green and mix it up a little. The idea will be that the album only comes out when the tree does and is a way for the kids to remember each Christmas and see how must they have changed over the years.
loving the new jim jams on Christmas eve - cute idea! might have to look at doing that one!
DH used to always wear a pair of blue and white striped shorts and a santa hat with mrs claus plaits - but they got lost when we got together. so that one is out the window - might have to find something for him to wear now that is spesh for Christmas
We always do the drive around looking at the christmas lights every year, the kids absolutely love it! We try to do santa photos but last year were only successful at getting the two older kids in the photo, and that was only because they found out that if you get your photo taken with Santa, you got a little show bag with colouring in pages and chocolate in it! Gotta love bribery lol. Every year we all get a new outfit to wear on christmas day, which is wrapped and put under the tree. Because DD's birthday is 28th of November (and marks the last of our birthdays for the year), the tree does not go up any earlier than December 1, but usually later (because little hands can't help destroy...errr "rearranging" the decorations).
We usually go to PILs for christmas lunch, and MIL serves the same thing every year - pumpkin soup or prawn ****tail for entree, at least 3 different roast meats, plus ham and vegies for main, and traditional christmas pudding for dessert. She is very territorial about her christmas too - doesn't like anyone else contributing, and one year when I offered to make the pudding she decided that she would rather do what she always does and serve the tinned pudding. Yep, tinned pudding over home made. Oh well, no accounting for taste.
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