First off we have 'Tree Night' - exactly what it sounds, we all gather at my parents, drink champagne, eat massive amounts of dips and crackers, put on the Christmas Carols and decorate the tree!
Then there is 'Ham Night' - this is actually one of my parents traditions. There are 7 of them, and every year since I've been born (I'm now 33) they get together the week before Christmas to catch up, drink champagne, wear silly hats and make ham sandwiches with fresh ham from the bone. One person brings the fresh bread, dad organises the ham, someone brings the nibbles, someone else brings flowers for the table. God knows how or why it started but it's absolutely sacred and NOTHING comes in the way of Ham Night!
On Christmas morning we have 'Letterbox' (gee, we're not very good at coming up with original names for things! ). At 7:30am on Christmas morning it's front and centre for all ex neighbours to the one remaining couples house who still lives on our old street to drink champagne and wish everyone a Merry Christmas before going off to our own families for the day. I started this one when I was about 3, living next door to this couple, I always used to go in there on Chrissy morning, they were like a second set of parents to me, then mum and dad came too but didn't want to intrude so stood at the letterbox, then other nosy neighbours wandered out to find out what's going on. Now, there is anywhere up to 20ppl all hanging out at the doily covered letterbox, some in jammies, some dressed but ALL with a glass of champagne in hand!!!
Oh, can't forget the house lights! That's always a good night! A very simple tradition to start if you have a car! Get in it and drive! haha! Some of the lights look amazing and some go all out and have 'santa' saying hello to all the kids. There's a great website which tells you which ones are best in your area, can't remember it though!
We also have 'Pub Night Christmas', 2 of my best friends and I have 'pub night' once a week, we used to go to the pub before we all got married and had kids, stay till closing and get kicked out, now we go for dinner and are home at a reasonable hour! BUT pub night is sacred to us and NOTHING comes before it (unless you are out of the country or at an immediate family members birthday), we've been doing this for 11yrs. Christmas Pub Night means we all dress festive, bring gifts, and go somewhere a little nicer for dinner. Not much, but it's one of my cues that Christmas is coming!
I LOVE your traditions doodlebug!!
For us, we do the Christmas tree night like doodlebug. That's tonight at my mum's as our tree is already up
We do the drive around town looking at the Christmas lights. One of the radio stations put it on, there's a north cavalcade and a south one. We live on the south of Cairns, so we do the south one.
Christmas day we do a Christmas lunch. This year DH and I are putting it on. Still deciding what we're doing with it.
Boxing day we always do a bbq lunch with friends and cricket. Gotta have cricket on Boxing Day!
). At 7:30am on Christmas morning it's front and centre for all ex neighbours to the one remaining couples house who still lives on our old street to drink champagne and wish everyone a Merry Christmas before going off to our own families for the day. I started this one when I was about 3, living next door to this couple, I always used to go in there on Chrissy morning, they were like a second set of parents to me, then mum and dad came too but didn't want to intrude so stood at the letterbox, then other nosy neighbours wandered out to find out what's going on. Now, there is anywhere up to 20ppl all hanging out at the doily covered letterbox, some in jammies, some dressed but ALL with a glass of champagne in hand!!!
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