Family xmas traditions

[GRACELAND]

Mrs G s family ,
     Has a thing that they never wash clothes on new years day .

      As there is a saying that " wash on new years day wash a member of family away ""           

   Her Nan did wash one year ,and in that year five family members died !!!           

[legs11]

My brother in law is English, what part he is from I don't know, but can someone tell me if this is a true traditon of the English or where this may come from.

The xmas presents aren't open until after a hot xmas lunch and the men do the washing up afterwards.

My brother in law does this every year that it is their turn to do xmas and has always said that it was a traditon from where his family came from in England.

legs11

[Susie1]

I was brought up that the stockings on the end of the bed were for when Iwoke up, but the main presents were had after we were washed, dressed and had breakfast.  I originally came from London.
Sue

[JillJ]

can someone tell me if this is a true traditon of the English or where this may come from.

The xmas presents aren't open until after a hot xmas lunch and the men do the washing up afterwards.

In my family the men always do the washing up and always have done - which is only fair when the women have slaved over a hot stove to cook the turkey and all its trimmings.

Children open the gifts in their Christmas stockings as soon as they wake up (usually in the middle of the night!) but in my family the main presents are opened, very often accompanied by a glass or two of Bucks Fizz, as soon as everyone has 'surfaced'.   Some families have different times for present opening but it is always when all the family are gathered together.

Jill

[bel_jon68]

My husband's from Birmingham (UK) and his parents still carry on the Christmas tree present tradition.

What does everyone tell their kids about Santa?   I was brought up believing that Santa brought stocking presents in the middle of the night, delivered to the end of your bed after you'd gone to sleep (which we then opened about 4.00am!) and that all the other presents were from family and friends.

However, my husband was brought up to believe that ALL the presents were sent by magic to Santa and he delivered them to under the tree on Christmas Eve. 

Unfortunately, he got to our eldest son first and I have real difficulty remembering to back up his version of the Santa story!!!

Bel

[bel_jon68]

...and I wish we had the tradition of the men doing the washing up!!!!! (to be fair, I'm not actually allowed to cook Christmas dinner because I would incinerate it!!)

Bel

[casalguidi]

Until I married, I never saw a Christmas present at home until we woke Christmas morning.

My kids are 24, 17, 13 and this is the first year that they have actually seen presents in the house (wrapped of course!).  The trouble is we're getting too tired to wait for them to all go to sleep Christmas Eve before smuggling the presents in - from a neighbour and the car!

One year my husband was in hospital over Christmas - to cut a long story short, our middle child (then made me get up in the middle of the night because he could see santa flying over the rooftops!  Everytime I got to the window he disappeared and so it went on ................. .  He's 17 now and I'm sure he still believes that he really did see him!

They've always had pillowcases (like I did until I married) or stockings on the bed and the main presents downstairs as soon as they get up.

Merry Christmas everyone and happy hunting in 2005

Casalguidi

[RJ_Paton]

Have you ever wondered just how many of our "Xmas traditions" are actually modern contrivances ?

How different are our xmas days to thos of our ancestors ?

Happy holiday season to all