Dollieh Sanctuary

So, I'm pretty sure all of us have some sort of tradition (sometimes wierd) that they do every year at holiday time. I thought it might be nice this year to share ours.

Mine is to watch every version of A Christmas Carol that I possibly can before Christmas day. So far I've managed the version with George C. Scott, the Disney animated one with Jim Carrey, the musical Scrooge (by far my favorite), and the Patrick Stewart version. I still have a few black and whites and the Muppet version to go to fulfill my yearly marathon. The only ones I don't do are the really cartoony ones and the lame modern commercial ones. I like my Christmas Carol to be nice and traditional (although I did add the movie Scrooged to my collection last year).

And why do I marathon Scrooge? Well, because when I was very young I watched the musical version, and I remembered how wonderful it was at the end when Scrooge brought all those wonderful gifts to Bob Cratchit's family. It was so awesome that I wanted to be able to do that myself when I grew up. Every year I donate gifts to things like Toys for Tots or Angel Trees. I think the most painful part of having lost my job is the fact that this is the first year in a long time when I will not be able to do that

I'll just make up for it next year!

So, what is your wierd tradition?

That is an awesome tradition.

Since I joined my church, I participate in our "Gift Tree." The mission committee selects one family that isn't as well off financially, and the members of the church buy them toys, clothes, and what ever else they need.

I also like to go down to the village where our one park is and look at our tacky Christmas lights. It's way too much for such a little park.

Yankee Swap! We started it years ago as a small get together and it's grown to about 20 or so people and it's really fun! My family hosts it every year, and we have a reoccurring swap gift in a bed pan my mother was given as a joke one of the times she had pneumonia or bronchitis that made its reappearance this year after a two year absence. It's been everything from a bird bath to a skating rink scene to being put on wheels. This year it's a candle holder. The party's kind of our kick-off to the Christmas season and it's just nice to see family friends for the first time in a few months.

We go Christmas caroling at the local homeless shelter with out church every year and sing Christmas carols while the residents are having dinner. They also do presents but we generally just go for the caroling. XD Missed out this year due to illness. -_-

Other Christmas traditions for our family is the never ending amount of baking and candy making that goes on before-hand as we give out chocolates and in my case bread for Christmas presents to friends and family. I finally started feeling well enough that I was able to get a few loaves baked in time to give away. ^_^ I was just extremely careful about keeping my hands clean and not coughing anywhere near the kitchen. xD My dad is going to start the cookie baking tomorrow. Should be fun. So many cookies to bake, so little time. XD

When we were younger we would all pile in the van with my great grandma and my parents would drive us all over town to see the Christmas displays. There is a family that has a very nice nativity set up, and another with a whole bunch of Disney characters in their front yard. Then some just have really amazing lights set up. More recently there are the fun animated light displays where you turn your radio into the music and the lights go along with it. It's a lot of fun though we haven't specifically gone out to see the Christmas lights for quite some time.

Other than that. We open our presents on Christmas eve after the Christmas eve service at church. Then we get our stocking gifts from Santa on Christmas morning. ^_^

Our traditions include:
Soup supper for Advent at church before evening vespers. My husband, son and I are all members of the church choir at Christmas.
Every year we spend one day at a mall and take in a movie. This year it was The Hobbit in IMAX 3D.
We attend an early evening Christmas Eve Service. After service, we stop for coccoa and then go Christmas light searching. When we return home, we watch Scrooge and then open one package each at midnight before going to bed.
Since my husband and I had mothers who bought underwear and socks for Christmas, we only buy things that family members actually want. Each person must make a wish list and their main gifts will come from that list. My son's fiancee found it a very different approach to gift shopping.
The day after Christmas, we always buy one new ornament for our Christmas box to save for the next year.

I don't have any holiday traditions at all...

Nutcracker, I watch two particular versions:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nutcracker_Prince

and

http://www.amazon.com/The-Nutcracker-Ba ... B0002S6428

and I usually make cookies but I didn't this year because we have had problems with our oven and I don't want to use it anymore. I don't quite trust it since the bad self cleaning episode filled up my entire living area with smoke. We use the top burners but the oven not anymore. We have a new convection counter top oven now though I haven't used it as yet. My Dad bought us that and a new vacuum recently which was nice of him. Actually the one bought the latter partly because when he bought the vac it had a gift card that came with it.

I always watch "Little Lord Fauntleroy" at some point before xmas ^^ But that's just me, not my family. I'm not much of a cookie person so it's unusual for me to have made so many this year ... I love making gifts for my loved 'uns, I prefer making stuff to buying it anyway and especially this year seeing as I've got plenty of time and next to no money what with being unemployed.
This is the first year without a yule party. For the past 5 years my best friend and I had a yule feast with all our friends, but since I moved pretty far away from them we didn't this year

In Germany the gift part comes on the 24th in the evening. Since both my sis and I have significant others, we spend the 24th at their families' places and head over to our parents' on the 25th. We usually arrive in time for dinner (raclette ... yum!). Then there's carols, lots and lots and lots of carols. I like that most. My family has become pretty musical in the past years so there's lots of singing at my parents' (always was) before we get to the prezzie part.
On the 26th we meet with all the family on my mom's side for lunch. That will be weird this year without Grandpa - it was always his thing. After that we head over to my aunt's place for tea and there's more music ^^ that's new, my cousin's daughter and I started that three years ago. By now there are 8 people who play instruments ^^ We usually chase off a cousin or two with all the playing

Alastair Sim as Scrooge in a Christmas Carole in black & white !!!
and Panettone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panettone
I have two toys for "toys for tots" that I never donated
so I will carry them around with me and see if I can find a kid

I hate to admit that most of the family traditions I grew up with have died a slow painful death after having been married for 18 years to someone who had never celebrated Christmas .... And ever since my daughter became a teenager she's been less and less inclined to do the few we did enjoy when she was little (like driving around looking at "kismas" lights, candlelight services and watching favorite Christmas movies). I still enjoy watching my favorite holiday movies: "It's a Wonderful Life", "White Christmas" and "Nightmare Before Christmas".

One thing we do, though that has made it though the years, is we open one present on Christmas eve. Apparently it's something handed down from my German ancestors.