Christmas rules

[Pyrrho Epoche]

One good thing about the holidays is....sales.
15% off strings, etc:

Link Removed

 

[fretlessbass]

I don't have to worry about that being Jewish. I put up an LED battery powered menorah on the first day of Hanukkah just for looks, and put it away after the eighth day, very specific. Even with that, I love all the Christmas movies, number one being It's A Wonderful Life, then Miracle on 34th Street (colorized), White Christmas, Holiday Inn, with The Apartment close behind. I also prefer the 1938 Reginald Owen, Gene Lockhart version of A Christmas Carol, Bill Murray Scrooged, the two Die Hards, Home Alone, with Elf down the line and The Santa Claus.

Same here, although our mishpacha only uses a plug-in-hanukkiah: we’re all about….sing with me: “Tradition”!

 

[slobake]

EXACTLY THIS for me, too. And I don't ever confess my foo-foo indulgence to my family. They'd hassle me for the rest of my life.
As for when Christmas decorations go up.... well, they used to go up after Dec 5th (youngest son's birthday) and down before Dec 31st (daughter's birthday).

When I grew up my family's tradition was to take all the Christmas stuff after the new year. The first year I was with mrs. slo I came home from work and all the Christmas stuff was gone, including the tree I was shocked. She told me Christmas is over and said told me what I learned is one of her favorite sayings, "We're moving on." We joke about writing "I've moved on" on here grave stone when she has died.

 

[lowplaces]

Wrote this in 2004

The Christmas They Need

How many children have been cheated
Out of the real Christmases they've needed
Those ones that some of us recall
With two Grandpas and two Grandmas

Mommy and Daddy both were there too
All the women fixing all of that food
Aunts and Uncles filled every room
So much love filled an afternoon

And after dinner we got so excited
Presents under the tree Grandma lighted !
Wee folks got toys and the teens got cash
Smiles were not lost as the cameras flashed

We never noticed what the old folks got
Much too busy with Our presents they brought
Most are gone and their recipes perished
They made the Christmases I've cherished

I guess all I want this Christmas day
Is a family somewhere to find a way
To give a Christmas like mine used to be
To a child or two... the Christmas they need

 

[slobake]

Wrote this in 2004

The Christmas They Need

How many children have been cheated
Out of the real Christmases they've needed
Those ones that some of us recall
With two Grandpas and two Grandmas

Mommy and Daddy both were there too
All the women fixing all of that food
Aunts and Uncles filled every room
So much love filled an afternoon

And after dinner we got so excited
Presents under the tree Grandma lighted !
Wee folks got toys and the teens got cash
Smiles were not lost as the cameras flashed

We never noticed what the old folks got
Much too busy with Our presents they brought
Most are gone and their recipes perished
They made the Christmases I've cherished

I guess all I want this Christmas day
Is a family somewhere to find a way
To give a Christmas like mine used to be
To a child or two... the Christmas they need

Sounds great, never experienced that as a child. Long story.

 

[Pilgrim]

Humbug.

No lights, no movies. Tree goes up Christmas eve and comes down on twelfth night. That's it.

Humbug.

Aw, shucks. At least you ought to have a half-dozen Husky ornaments for the tree (we have at least twice that many Coug hangings). If nothing else, put it in front of a window to cheer up the neighborhood.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

We swapped our fall decorations with Christmas ones this morning and will likely do the outside lights tomorrow. It’s dark by 5pm now. Personally, I need something light and cheery to fight off the seasonal depression.

 

[covermego]

When I grew up my family's tradition was to take all the Christmas stuff after the new year. The first year I was with mrs. slo I came home from work and all the Christmas stuff was gone, including the tree I was shocked. She told me Christmas is over and said told me what I learned is one of her favorite sayings, "We're moving on." We joke about writing "I've moved on" on here grave stone when she has died.

Yep, both my parents and my wife's parents waited 'till after Jan 1 sometime. We did this, too, until our kids decided their birthdays needed to be all about them and no Christmas competition, lol.
I had a neighbor from 1986 - 2005 when we lived in Sacramento, CA. When the Christmas presents were opened and the food was eaten, everything came down and their tree was out in the gutter, for the green waste to pickup. I harassed him for doing that, but guess what he said? "It's OUR tradition!"

 

[Pilgrim]

I see no rush to pull down the tree and especially the lights. It's a dark and cold time of year, and I enjoy hanging onto the spirit and lights of a happy time. The exterior lights add a nice touch to the house in the dark months of winter, so we usually leave them up to the end of Feb.

 

[Mike N]

Zero interest in any holiday other than Thanksgiving.

 

[Stewie26]

I am not a big fan of Christmas as I have lost too many love ones on or close to Christmas day. On the the hand, my wife loves Christmas and decorates the inside of the house with Christmas stuff so there is no escape from it. Just sayin.

 

[Killing Floor]

There are more than a handful of family-only traditions my kids would murder me in my sleep if I tried to end.

One of which is streaming every Home Alone and Elf and all the claymation Christmas classics.

We get our tree the Saturday after thanksgiving so it can be crispy dried all month and we decorate a roadside tree on a highway near us that will have hundreds of decorated trees. Then we’ll watch at least one or 3 Christmas movies before the kids leave for school on Sunday or Monday.

 

[Mike N]

I am not a big fan of Christmas as I have lost too many love ones on or close to Christmas day. On the the hand, my wife loves Christmas and decorates the inside of the house with Christmas stuff so there is no escape from it. Just sayin.

My dislike of Christmas (and nearly every other holiday besides Thanksgiving) is the retail greed of it all...... plus I effing hate Christmas music.

They've all turned into Hallmark holidays.

 

[Beagle Bass]

I did stop by to say hi to Ralphie a couple weeks ago, but he wasn't around.....

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-Mike

This is always my first decoration up.

 

[hbarcat]

My family plays a few classic Christmas albums on the stereo on Thanksgiving Day. Usually, we'll watch a few Riff Traxx or MST3K Santa Claus features on video as well.

That's our "official" start of the holiday season.

However, this year I privately broke the tradition. It snowed 2" on Sunday night, so I listened to some Christmas songs on my 45 minute commute to work on Monday morning.