then put the ones I receive on a string going across the wall

I always work Christmas Eve and Christmas day.

I wouldn't really care as long as I had some time off. Nobody in my industry works during Christmas week so we all take it off anyway.

Last edited Sat Dec 16, 2017, 07:53 PM - Edit history (1)

my work environment is 24X7

it doesn't bother me; I don't have family anywhere near me and the few times I've attended Christmas dinners (boyfriend's family) I think really would rather have been anywhere else.....I guess that environment just feels strange to me

heh, I guess I am just not that into it but I love Christmas cards and Christmas lights

Its the spirit of the season and everyone is a tad drunk and very merry and determined ti sing. Even after all the years, no one knows all the words to any of the songs, but we improvise as needed. There's a lot of laughter and good natured ribbing as everyone belts out as much of the chorus lyrics as they can remember, as if volume and enthusiasm will substitute for our lack of singing skills. Its short lived because after a few lines we all fade away into a lot of competitive humming. It goes something like:

Deck the halls with boughs of holly, Fa la la la la la la la!
'Tis the season to be jolly, Fa la la la la la la la!
Hummmm... Hummmm... ancient Yuletide carol... Hummmm...
Fa la la la la la la la!
Fa la la la la la la la!

In between trips to refill the eggnog or dip into the Wassail Bowl, we repeat this effort with every carol we can think of until we are diverted by more food. That's our family tradition.

There is the tradition of the "seven fishes" so we will usually have some seafood too, but not seven different types. Usually king crab, lobster and/or steamed clams and shrimp to start with. Then we will have lasagna or eggplant parmigiana.

On Christmas day we will have a brunch after presents and then for dinner some kind of beef, either a tenderloin or prime rib w/ mashed potatoes, a green vegetable and all the rest of the fixings.

as to food, it used to be either a fancy seafood or pizza or lazagna Xmas eve dinner, and prime rib and all the fixings for Xmas dinner
however the last couple of years, we have taken to going out on the land somewhere and cooking jumbo shrimp and ribeyes over a fire. I REALLY love the reduction in work for ME!

Cranberry maple muffins on Xmas morning.

I always loved to do that since I was a kid. It is fun to see what they do each year.

We'd buy our tree as soon as they showed up in the local park (Boy Scouts? VFW?) and then stick it in a bucket of water outside the back door.

The day before Christmas was a stay-at-home day and Dad would string up the outside lights and set up the tree (pet-proofed by tethering with fish wire to nearby book shelves) and then all the various decorations... miniature village on the mantel piece, electric candles in the windows... assorted real and fake greens around the house. Tree was decorated in order. Lights. Garlands. Ornaments. Tinsel. One strand at a time. As we got older, Mom would buy McDonald's gift certificates and hang them on the tree with all our friends names on them. We always had a card table set up with a jigsaw puzzle.

And everything came down on New Years Day.

Mom was never really into cooking, but she would always step up for Christmas (and T-Day of course) with a nice roast beef, green beans, mashed potatoes and wonderful homemade rolls (the kind you roll the dough into a little log and then tie in a knot.) She made pies too... I don't remember what kind. But I remember the cinnamon sugar pinwheels she would make with the leftover pie crust.