# Your Christmas Past - and Now?



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I was about to post on ArtMusic's Christmas Shopper thread when I realised that to explain why I don't needed some history.

Then I thought it would be lovely to hear what your Christmas used to be like when you were a child, and what it is like now. And how do they compare, in your estimation?

If you are from a non-Christian tradition, it would still be interesting to hear how you cope with the overwhelming Christmas Pressures all about you.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Christmas is 'minimalist' in our house. But it used not to be like that.

My Scottish grandparents were Wee Frees (very Protestant) & didn't do Christmas. My father turned against their faith when he grew up. 

I grew up in a non-religious house where Christmases were lovely, because my English & Anglican grandparents would come over; they went to York Minster on Christmas morning with my oldest brother, and we remaining kids had a lovely time opening presents before the Big Lunch. We'd also play lots of parlour games with my grandparents, such as Twenty Questions and Stations, and card games such as Newmarket, where we'd be allowed to keep the pennies and halfpennies that we won.

Granny & Granddad would arrive on Christmas Eve, and go home on the day after Boxing Day. Putting them up involved a bit of reorganisation, with kids sleeping top to toe, or beds pushed into another room. There was a little tension among the grown-ups as my father didn't get on with his wife's mother, as they were both strong personalities and she didn't like his overbearing & sometimes violent way of parenting; he also got bored with my grandfather's tales of life as a Public Health Inspector in a midlands town. (We loved them.) 

I remember one Christmas morning when he encouraged us children to go upstairs and sing 'My Granny is a boozer' outside the attic where they were sleeping. Regrettably, I cannot remember the tune! Granny was not amused. All she ever did was enjoy a Christmas sherry in the morning, and have a nightcap at night, and it seemed to do her good - she lived until nearly 97. 

My father moved house - he and my grandfather fell ill, and then they died, when I was eighteen and about to go to university. This was the chance that my cautious/parsimonious mother had been waiting for. She made a family agreement that nobody was to give any presents, only cards. She didn't drink, and the games stopped. Christmas became pretty joyless.

I became a Catholic & married John when I was 22, and we had to alternate Christmases between the two sets of parents. John's lot were rather into eating and drinking and I'd make my bloated train journey home from Scotland obsessed with my desire to become a Hermit. 

These days the only thing I like about Christmas is the churchgoing - also the card-giving & decorations. We have Mum over for the Big Meals, but it's a very low-key affair.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

As a kid: growing up in a non-religious family, no presents (we did that at Sinterklaas, 5 Dec). We always had a Christmas tree though, and the main thing about Christmas itself was big meals with food more luxurious than usual.

As a grown-up: no religious aspects (agnostic married to a Buddhist), no tree, no presents. Still special meals (usually hare, venison or something like that). Typically we "celebrate" together with my brother's family - but we see eachother every few weeks anyway.

The typical Christmas music you hear everywhere bores me. I made a USB stick for the gallery with better Christmas songs.

All in all, not my favourite time of year.


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Christmas in Scotland in the middle of the last century was decidedly odd. It was a minority (Catholic) interest and there was little fuss made in the shops. It wasn't a public holiday. The main public celebration was New Year.

We enjoyed it in a low key way. We had Midnight Mass with an excellent choir and lots of carols. Then we had my maiden aunt round for a slap up lunch. She was officially strictly teetotal so we had to try and get non-alcoholic cider. We didn't always succeed  but we didn't tell her that! After lunch everybody went to sleep - which I found very boring. Later on, we had a television which did help.

Nowadays, we seem to progress from shopping event to shopping event. Christmas has about as much significance or meaning to many people as Halloween. It's just an excuse to shop and to have a party.


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## Kivimees (Feb 16, 2013)

Christmas was rather clandestine - and now it's not.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Christmas hasn't changed much. The same Scandinavian traditions year after year, the traditional music, the lovely decorating. I'd say that Christmas is what really gets me in touch with my Scandinavian heritage more than any other time of year. It's traditional to celebrate on Christmas Eve Dec. 24, not the 25th. Gifts have always changed though: less toys, more clothes, more small-sized-but-expensive adult gifts. I feel less materialistic and more experiential these days, but if there was a certain wish I had (like this year is to get like 3 or 4 more Dostoevsky short stories) and it was fulfilled, that made me really happy.

Christmas has always been Christian. I didn't learn about Santa Claus except through the media. My dad's not even Christian and he told me who Santa Claus was, but even he never tried to convince me he was real. It was more of a joke instead. I remember when I was 3 or 4, he gave me a cute tape recorder where he left a funny message from Santa and a mouse on the unused tape left inside it. I hope I never threw that tape away because it was so cute. Recordings of how high my voice was back then!

Advent is a big deal in Scandinavia, as it also is in my particular Christian denomination (though it's not a denomination of Scandinavian origin) so fortunately those 2 parts of my heritage have grown alongside each other. 

December is the time of year I say, "Yes! I'm Finnish! I'm Swedish! Hauskaa Joulua! God Jul!" 


When I move away, get married, how much will this pass on? I'll probably do what my brother has done: have Christmas Eve celebration with my side of the family, and then go to the in-laws for Christmas Day if they live nearby.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

When I was a kid, Christmas in our family was pretty frugal. I got some nice gifts, but also more practical things like underwear (always disappointing). Our family opened presents on Christmas Eve, enjoyed them mostly the next day.

We always saved the tinsel on our trees and replaced it in the original packages for use next year. Some of our tinsel had been used and repackaged since my grandparents' time. I don't think people do that any more.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

The same, except less people.


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## Antiquarian (Apr 29, 2014)

Being Presbyterian, growing up Christmas was a very sober affair. We had a tree and exchanged presents, but we also went to church. Handel's Messiah ( The 1959 Beecham version ) was played, as well as an album called_On Christmas Night_ by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge. (Argo ZRG 5333) that I inherited and still have in my collection. At present, Christmas is much more festive, with friends and family joining in the celebration, alcohol flows freely, and there is a lot of good food. We hardly fight at all, and the house has a standing rule that all grudges are left at the doorstep.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

This year I'm going to be selling my family the christmas tree, maybe.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

KenOC said:


> .....
> 
> We always saved the tinsel on our trees and replaced it in the original packages for use next year. Some of our tinsel had been used and repackaged since my grandparents' time. I don't think people do that any more.


I remember in the 1950s that my mother packed the tinsel away every year - I think it was quite expensive stuff then - and that one year when she got it out, it had tarnished. Could it have had a coating of silver or what?

PS - Apparently yes, originally. But my mother's tinsel may have been aluminium, or even a toxic mixture of tin and lead! 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinsel


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## Jos (Oct 14, 2013)

A few recognizable Christmas events.
Getting two pairs of socks, instead of the toy racecar is disappointing indeed. We also, as my parents, rewrap all the treedecorations including the silvery flakes.
Furthermore it's basically eating, drinking and boredom. I quite enjoy it

A classic , wayback at my parents and now at my own household, is the annual drama of disentangling the string of lights. Sometimes leading to mild outbursts of rage.......and an early drink afterwards.


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

Ingélou said:


> I remember in the 1950s that my mother packed the tinsel away every year - I think it was quite expensive stuff then - and that one year when she got it out, it had tarnished. Could it have had a coating of silver or what?
> 
> PS - Apparently yes, originally. But my mother's tinsel may have been aluminium, or even a toxic mixture of tin and lead!
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinsel


I still have the family Xmas decorations.

My mother even used to save the Xmas wrapping paper and labels. Wartime austerity had encouraged thrift.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

I have my plans ready, something like this:








Lots of good friends and food :cheers:


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## Jos (Oct 14, 2013)

^^
Wonderful Pugg,
the "all out" approach is also favoured by my daughters. But they leave the vacuming of all those needles afterwards to mommy and daddy, we sometimes still find them in June !


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## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

Christmas time always had the entire family together at either our house or at my Dads brothers. At least the first 12 years anyway. Dads brother passed away in the early 60's and that part of the family moved away to another state. 

Dad would not know what to get for Mom ... so they had a running joke for many years. He would buy something for himself, wrap it up and give it to Mom, and she having absolutely no use for it would say "Here, Earl, I think you would rather have this ... Merry Christmas!". Mom would do the same thing. 

Gifts for us kids was the usual fair of toys related to our specific ages. One year I got a Chemistry Set, and another a photo development kit with all the nasty chemicals, trays, and photo printer.

For me, from age 13 forward each Christmas Eve was spent at church playing the pipe organ for services. I haven't spent one single Christmas Eve at home since then, so I probably missed out on a lot, but have absolutely no regrets about it. I have enjoyed all my years as a church organist that I still maintain a church in the present day, 54 years later. 

We sometimes do a traditional Christmas Day dinner at our place - usually just the immediate family, Mary and myself, my son, and the wife's sister and her husband. At other times we dine out and let somebody else do the dishes. 

As my annual Christmas present to the church staff, I treat them to dinner on Christmas Eve between services, a tradition I started a bunch of years ago.


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

Pugg said:


> I have my plans ready, something like this:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Wow!! I'm looking for my invitation!!


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

Krummhorn said:


> For me, from age 13 forward each Christmas Eve was spent at church playing the pipe organ for services. I haven't spent one single Christmas Eve at home since then, so I probably missed out on a lot, but have absolutely no regrets about it. I have enjoyed all my years as a church organist that I still maintain a church in the present day, 54 years later.


You didn't miss anything. Instead you brought the Christmas spirit to your congregation. That's really something


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Still much the same. A big family gathering, presents go around from those with a family and children. Youngsters like me may choose to buy certain presents for whoever they wish - usually my most immediate family and elderly relatives.

But I prefer the Christmas leg ham over the turkey though.


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## clara s (Jan 6, 2014)

Scene one

A school girl around 15…
She organizes, directs and even plays at school Christmas plays.
Moments that will never leave the memory.
Songs played at the piano and sung by the small students chorus
“Christmas tree” “silent night” “little drummer boy”.
And Christmas carols, early in the morning, on Christmas eve,
And reading a specific Christmas story, very favourite

Scene two

Last year
A place from where the stars seem to be so near to earth.
Christmas eve at a remote mountainous village,
Snow, and the small church full of people, ready to welcome the newborn baby.
There, the soul breathed at the Allegro, Presto or Largo of Christmas chants.
Perfection...
Still reading the same specific Christmas story as every year


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## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

My family was religious growing up and we had a lot of family nearby; holidays meant seeing all the grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. There were big meals, presents, and snow.

---

We moved away to Arizona. I started playing trombone in school band, and we'd start preparing our holiday music concert when football season ended in mid-November. This had some fun but it meant I had had enough of holiday music by early December. Christmas was a little more simple when it was just our immediate family.

---

I stopped being religious, and the season started to be far more complicated. I wanted to spend time with family (including new nieces and nephews!) but I also wanted to avoid religious discussions, services, and such. It was really awful. I began dreading December.

---

Things slowly got better, and I moved away and got married. New York City was quite something in December; much more like the Michigan of my childhood than the Arizona of my young adult life. I feel much better about Christmas now. I'll even play Christmas music, though tending towards modern versions/originals than old classics. I'll also play winter and holiday themed classical music.

Other than silly music there isn't much of a settled tradition. We have flown off for a short visit with family, coming home for/on Christmas. We've spent the day with friends, which has been a lot of fun.

---

The best holiday experience of the past few years was visiting Newgrange last year, a few days before the winter solstice. It made me feel very connected, being somewhere that people celebrated a midwinter over 5000 years ago. This is how I learned to cope with the religious pressures around me, realizing what was important. At midwinter 1700 years ago my ancestors gathered around fires and had feasts to celebrate with family. These were religious occasions, but not Christian ones.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Vasks said:


> Wow!! I'm looking for my invitation!!


Sending them out early next week


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

mountmccabe said:


> The best holiday experience of the past few years was visiting Newgrange last year, a few days before the winter solstice. It made me feel very connected, being somewhere that people celebrated a midwinter over 5000 years ago. This is how I learned to cope with the religious pressures around me, realizing what was important. At midwinter 1700 years ago my ancestors gathered around fires and had feasts to celebrate with family. These were religious occasions, but not Christian ones.


Thanks for an interesting post - your Midwinter visit sounds fabulous.

We've been to Newgrange too, though in our case, it was in the summer. For once something actually merited the epithet *'awesome'*. Part of the experience for me, though, was conquering my claustrophobia (when they switched the lights off) through the power of prayer. In the 1970s we'd visited Speedwell Cavern in Derbyshire  & I'd vowed that if I got out alive, I would never go underground again - Newgrange isn't, exactly, but it feels like it! We're all different - but we're all Jock Tamson's bairns. 

PS One of the sad things was that a fat tourist turned back rather than negotiate that narrow bit in the entrance tunnel. Our guide was sorry - she said she could have helped him.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

Here in Belarus Christmas is not the biggest holiday - New Year is the big one (heritage of the atheist Soviet Union), and besides the Orthodox church celebrates Christmas on January 7th, per old-style calendar. As a child, it was the decorated tree, presents, a late-night dinner - all the usual things, just on a different day than the rest of the world. One of the things I loved most was the opportunity to go to bed long after midnight instead of the usual 10 pm. 

Later when I became a dedicated Protestant, Christmas was the big church service on the 24th or the 25th with a potluck dinner afterwards. I did not bother with the tree, presents etc., since Christmas was to be celebrated within one's heart anyway, and the usual trappings were merely so much useless materialism. 

For the last couple of years I've been putting up a Christmas tree, making a holiday meal, preparing presents for family and friends, spending much time out in nature and generally enjoying the winter cheer. The corporate New-Year party at wherever I'm working also happens around Christmas time (I actually enjoy those). Particularly the tree, as a heathen symbol of life and hope in the middle of the year's coldest, darkest time, is now in the center of my celebrating. I wish I could do it like the ancient Teutonic tribesmen did - go out into the forest, decorate a tree and celebrate there around the fire instead of buying a cut down tree and having to throw it out, but at least for now that's not very feasible. I'd do it if I could find like-minded company that is not afraid of the cold.


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## Ilarion (May 22, 2015)

Pugg said:


> I have my plans ready, something like this:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Ooooooohhh - Soooooooo cozy, Pugg - Melikes your idea very much.............


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## Ilarion (May 22, 2015)

Christmas past - lots of dancing throughout the house during Christmas and tons of food - Now I visit my mother in Scandinavia together with my wife and daughter on the 23rd of December until the 5th January 2016 and then back to Moscow for Russian Christmas on the 7th of January, so I feel quite privileged...


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

Typical Christmas for my family:

Just after Thanksgiving, we take down the fall decorations and put up the Christmas ones. It takes the entire day to set up lights outside, little statues inside, tinsel wrapped around the banister, stockings over fireplace, and of course the tree. The tree is full of ornaments from an ever growing collection. Theres the traditional looking ones, then crafts and pictures by my sister and I growing up, and then ornaments from around the world. The tree is topped with an angel or a star, alternating every year [I think this year is supposed to be the star]

My family is Catholic so on Christmas Eve we go to church. I love it if not only for the carols that are fun to sing. Afterward we go to my abuela's house and we have pork and rice and other Puerto Rican deliciousness.

Christmas morning we wake up early, have coffee and open presents. Then we go over to my abuela's house and open more presents from our immediate cousins [my mom's brother and sister and their kids]. Also my abuela makes enough pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage to feed the army. So we gorge on breakfast.

Then we go home, sit around for a bit, before going to my great aunt's house at around 1, where we will stay the rest of the day with the rest of my large family. We have dinner, more presents, and then we play a few games that my aunt insists on. The typical one is the 12 Days of Christmas, where everyone breaks up into small groups of duos, trios, or quartets, and each group has a different verse of the 12 Days of Christmas song that we have to sing, which is hilarious because each group manages to sing their verse in a completely different key. We always give abuela "5 golden rings" because she has a heavy accent and she loves to ham it up.

For the kids, one of my uncles dresses up as Santa, and two of the younger cousins dress up as elves, and we give out presents to the children. That's always funny to watch.

January 6th is Three Kings Day, so my sister and I leave shoeboxes outside our bedroom doors and my parents leave us a gift.

...

My feelings about Christmas? I love it the same as I did when I was younger. Only difference is when I was a kid I cared much more about presents, where as now I care much more about spending time with family, and food and drink. Which is predictable.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Ingélou said:


> If you are from a non-Christian tradition, it would still be interesting to hear how you cope with the overwhelming Christmas Pressures all about you.


I'm jewish and have never felt any kind of Christmas pressure. When growing up, I received presents at Christmas time and during Hanukah; that was pretty good. I did the same concerning my own children.


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## jurianbai (Nov 23, 2008)

Christmas is busy time also for me. Every Christmas, I need to play music for church, I only absence in 2012 due to step-down to give newer generation a chance. Then the next year I "comeback" up to now. Not much different in home when Christmas time arrived. Some years ago we installed the Christmas lightnings, then we left it all the way to February so it can be used for Chinese New Year. The light not lasted long and spoiled, then we were just too lazy to do it again. The city got more decoration in shopping mall and it is a good time for businesses to encourage people to spend more. 

I like Christmas songs, whether it is traditional Christian or secular holiday tunes. I have a big collection of Christmas albums in all music genres. My favorite so far range from Kitaro's Peace on Earth to Spyro Gyra's A Night Before Christmas (2008). Recently as I learn flute, I listen to Jethro Tull's Christmas album and it is very good.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

clara s said:


> Scene one
> 
> A school girl around 15…
> She organizes, directs and even plays at school Christmas plays.
> ...


I just threw water on my crackling Yule logs. Enough warmth provided by this fine post.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

clara s said:


> Scene two
> 
> Last year
> *A place from where the stars seem to be so near to earth.
> ...


Where is that place? I was at a place like this a few days after last year's Christmas, and I wonder if it's the same one... but probably it is not.


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

For me it's a magical time because it takes me back to childhood with full force, to all the mysteries and strange happiness of that age. Going to sauna, taking a lone walk in the still, snowy forest. Santa was being played by a lonely alcoholic man who lived all alone in the middle of the forest. He was an excellent Santa, both scary and kind. Mother being stressed out and jumpy. Father being strangely silent. He was reading aloud from the Gospel of Luke, and sometimes from Aleksis Kivi's _Seven Brothers._ Dim lights, magical atmosphere. My brothers also silent, their eyes twinkling like little starts with expectation. Feeling like being hermetically cut off from the rest of the world. And then with the opened presents, the rest of the world re-appears, and it's a friendly world, a world worthy of growing up in. First a great silence, a meditation... then a great sound, a great joy. Staying up late, sneaking back to the table with the brothers when parents were asleep. Midnight snack with the boys. Feeling of life being so perfect that it cannot get better (it was right).


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## Abraham Lincoln (Oct 3, 2015)

CHRISTMAS IS JUST A CHEAP TACTIC TO MAKE WEAK SALES STRONGER

Where I live, we don't really do anything for Christmas besides put up decorations and listen to Christmas music. And shopping, too, but I'm not exactly a shopping kind of guy. It's always been roughly the same since I was a tiny hooman.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Xaltotun said:


> For me it's a magical time because it takes me back to childhood with full force, to all the mysteries and strange happiness of that age. Going to sauna, taking a lone walk in the still, snowy forest. Santa was being played by a lonely alcoholic man who lived all alone in the middle of the forest. He was an excellent Santa, both scary and kind. Mother being stressed out and jumpy. Father being strangely silent. He was reading aloud from the Gospel of Luke, and sometimes from Aleksis Kivi's _Seven Brothers._ Dim lights, magical atmosphere. My brothers also silent, their eyes twinkling like little starts with expectation. Feeling like being hermetically cut off from the rest of the world. And then with the opened presents, the rest of the world re-appears, and it's a friendly world, a world worthy of growing up in. First a great silence, a meditation... then a great sound, a great joy. Staying up late, sneaking back to the table with the brothers when parents were asleep. Midnight snack with the boys. Feeling of life being so perfect that it cannot get better (it was right).


John & I thought this was a magical post. Thank you, Xaltotun! :tiphat:


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Ingélou said:


> ...In the 1970s we'd visited Speedwell Cavern in Derbyshire  & I'd vowed that if I got out alive, I would never go underground again.


I remember visiting Speedwell Cavern with my parents and rather frail grandmother before the days when there were warnings about it being unsuitable for disabled people.

Grandmother successfully negotiated the steps going down and absolutely loved the boat trip but couldn't get back up. Our guide carried her all the way to the top.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

I grew up in Uganda so my childhood Christmas meant long school holidays, sunshine and parents explaining that Santa had a magic key to our house so he could enter and leave our presents and the lack of a chimney wasn't a problem. 

I have no close relatives living anywhere near me so (as I mentioned elsewhere) I spend Christmas Day working at a homeless shelter.


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

Christmas hasn't changed all that much for me over the years, and that's probably what I like about it the first--it's a tradition I've been able to hang onto.

The decorations still come out on December 1st, we still go to midnight mass the night before, we still get our Christmas tree around the 6th-8th, we still go to San Francisco a few days before Christmas to experience Union Square, Macy's, and the mall, we still watch Christmas Vacation and A Christmas Story (the movies change form year to year, but it's the same group of movies with new ones added every now and then and I don't mind that), we still drive around on Christmas Eve to look at Christmas light displays, and to top it all off, we still often see the Nutcracker (not every year, but with some regularity). I'm not someone who must hold steadfast to traditions, but I'm glad that most of these traditions have not faded, despite me being off at college now. 

Obviously, some things have changed. As a kid, my parents told me that Santa filled the stockings, so I think my sister and I found that more believable than to think he brought all the presents (plus my parents liked to put the presents out earlier so we could see them under the tree for a few days), and we used to go caroling in the early days, but haven't done that in a while. Nonetheless, most of the stuff that's most important to me has remained the same. 

Christmas has always been my favorite time of year--as much as I love the sun and the summer, there's always been something special about the month of December for me.


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## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

Christmas past? Family was Catholic so we did go to church that day (this was before the eve midnight mass) but for me and my three siblings, think: "A Christmas Story" movie. It was all about who would get the most presents. Used to love paging through the Sears catalog and marking off toys that I wanted. Turns out, some years I made out OK but mostly we would not get what we expected( not ever a BB gun). Still was a fun time with almost two weeks off from school.

Now, we usually have Christmas dinner with my sister and a couple of my wife's friends often at a Chinese restaurant, but this year I think my sister has volunteered to cook. We'll go over her house for desert either way and watch TV for a few hours, usually a movie or TV show geared towards Christmas such as the Rockettes TV special, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Bishop's Wife, It's a Wonderful Life, White Christmas and of course, A Christmas Carol. Last year we watched "The Nanny" Season 1 Christmas Episode. We do put up a tree (see photo) and some lights outside. The Nutcracker is a show we usually catch too, as well as the Comcast building Christmas video. My wife buys a present for herself and wraps it up with a card that says it's from me. As for me, she got me a new set of golf clubs last year, so I still make out pretty good occasionally . Great time of year.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Just saw a lovely & touching joke about the Christmas Story - I've posted the link in a social group, and this is the link to the link: http://www.talkclassical.com/groups...672-bible-stories-recommended-retellings.html

Noel!


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## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

What a great thread. Thanks for all the posts.

Mine has changed less than some but have always been family centered. Chrirstmas one year was dreadful with a huge row and rift just prior. The fact that we we able to to negotiate a peace and spend the next Christmas together was 'tremenjuously' helpful. 

It probably comes as no surprise that I married into another large family. I have this week off and there are 22 of us in a hired house. My mother in law is 92 and her youngest great grandchild is currently 12 days old. Yes some bits are boring but when I reflect on Christmas it is at the core of who I am. 

Three thoughts. 

I hate getting presents because I'm in a position that if I want something I really want I will buy exactly that. My wife is in the same position so I have to overcome that selfish reaction and think hard about what she would really appreciate. I can't square those feelings, but having to think about what she might really like from me, reminds me that I really could do a better job of this the other 11 months of the year. 

One of the ways I pay the bills is to put Christmas Trees into offices. This is hard intense work and one year I did 22 consecutive days averaging 14 hrs a day at work. On the last day I got home early only to be reminded my wife was going to her works Christmas do, and my daughter was looking forward to actually seeing me. As an exercise in rebonding my wife had bought a Christmas tree and that evening my job was to errect it with my daughter! As we've grown we've been able to spread the load but I am reminded the commercial side of Christmas makes it hard for many workers to have enough energy left to ENJOY what is supposed to be a holiday. 

I have 'lost' my religion and although I abhor most Christmas music as decidedly second rate, I do miss communal singing at Carol Concerts. I will make an effort this week.
Looking forward to eating and drinking too much and hoping no one gives me something I have to put on a fake smile for.

My daughter loves family Christmases.


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## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

Mum picks up her son from school and he’s unnaturally quiet during the journey home.

She asks “Is anything wrong Jonny?”

“No”

Puzzled she looks over at him and asks
“Jonny your eyes seem a little red, have you been upset?”
“A bit Mum”
“Will you tell me about it, maybe I can help?”
“Well Mum promise you won’t get mad…but I got told off”
“Why?”
“Mum promise you wont get mad”
“OK I promise, what happened”

“I got in a little fight and had to see the class teacher Mrs McCaverty”
“Did anyone else have to see her?”
“No Mum”
“Jonny will you tell me what happened”
“Well Jimmy Smith and Billy Jones were saying Santa doesn’t exist, and I told them they were wrong and they laughed at me. The wouldn’t stop laughing so I hit them”
“What did Mrs McCaverty say?”
“Well she agrees with you that it’s wrong to hit people and I did say sorry”
“Good Jonny although I’m sad you hit them I’m pleased you realise it was wrong.”

Silence

“Jonny you’re 11 years old and in the final year of your school, I wonder how many people in your class believe Santa Claus is real?”
“Two Mum.”
“Right. Can I ask, who’s the other one?”
“Mrs McCaverty mum.”


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

Tonight I am decorating the Christmas tree. Tomorrow I am going for a hike in the woods on the lakeside for a few hours in the morning. There is no snow and no ice on the lake, so it isn't a perfect winter landscape, but it is still nice to be in the great outdoors after being shut in at the office. Then I am going to the local German restaurant. I have just reserved a table next to the fireplace. I'll get me a mug of beer, have candles lit on my table, get out my laptop, my new headphones and put on a playlist of Bach's organ music. I will spend an afternoon sipping the beer, watching candlelight dance on Christmas decorations, reading a good book and listening to the sublime harmonies of the old Johann Sebastian...


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, we always went for Christmas to my grandparents's. We were just 10 people, and we were eating at the big dining hall that was usually closed, so I felt a little bit intimidated as a child. Though we were supposed to be Catholics, like everyone else living in Spain at that time, we were not really. Only my grandmother was, and I have fond memories of going with her to the "Misa del Gallo", a traditional Mass celebrated at midnight of Christmas Eve.

No presents, though. In Spain, this is done by Epiphany, in January, 6th.

Tonight, we will be again 10 people, and we will still dine at my grandparents's, though is now the home of my cousins. And we are the older generation alive: my grandparents, my parents, my uncle, my aunt... all passed away. But my little nephew, seven years old, told me the other day that he was a little bit intimidated eating at the big dining hall, too.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Midnight Mass, 1972. Father Mike delivers the following sermon to a large Catholic congregation:

"Some of you already know the subject of my sermon this morning. I will wait a minute before I start. If any of you prefer not to hear what I have to say, please, feel free to step out for a few minutes … and to return when I am done."

My friend Laura, a Presbyterian, whispers to me: "This is pretty wild, is this normal?"
I shake my head discretely. (Meanwhile, a small but substantial number of parishioners rise and remove themselves, at least beyond the inner doors.) The sermon continues something like this. I tried to reconstruct the first part later with Laura's help:

"If I could wish you a merry Christmas this morning, I would. But I can't in good conscience. As I speak, America's B52 bombers are carpet bombing Hanoi, the capitol of North Vietnam." [As it happens, this wasn't strictly true. Such mass bombing raids were conducted every night on either side of Christmas, but were suspended for Christmas day itself. Father Mike couldn't have known this.] "This kind of bombing isn't directed at military targets, but is conducted indiscriminately and in residential areas with the intention of killing innocent civilians. On this holy day of our savior's birth, in our names; In your name and in my name, blameless women and children, people who had never given us a thought, friendly or hostile, before we sent thousands of troops to their country in an undeclared war, are being blown apart, their homes flattened and burned, crushed by a plague of misery we have rained upon them like some cruel and vengeful Old Testament God. But we are not Gods, only men, members of that fallen race Jesus strove to raise from savagery with the wisdom of his love, saying 'love thy enemy as thyself,' and 'What you do unto the least of my brethren, you do it to me.' And who are the least of our brethren if not that terrified naked Vietnamese girl running from her village, her clothes burned from her back by napalm, a flaming gasoline gel? You've all seen the picture in Life Magazine. We cast her and her sisters into a lake of fire, like the ruler of heaven and hell …"

A moving and memorable occasion … By this time I was an atheist but still enjoyed the music, a 50 voice male choir accompanied by a million-dollar pipe organ.

Tomorrow I will walk over the mountain to a friend's home where a few members of our far-flung community are gathering for a feast and musical revelry. It would be nicer if I could walk through the snow, but, alas, not this year …


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## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

Didnt celebrate much because we lived in communism, now we celebrate 2 xmases. on 25th first the Catholic one, because my mum being a one and second time on 25th...I think 25th is more proper being the day of Holy Sol Invicts too...


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## geralmar (Feb 15, 2013)

My brother and I would each get a "big present" (maybe $5 cost) and a "little present" ($2). My mother would wrap empty boxes to place under the tree so chance visitors wouldn't think we were poor. My brother and I were perfectly happy.

Now, my wife complains that her family ignores us at Christmas-- not even a Christmas card. She doesn't understand that for some families Christmas is just warfare by other means.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

*I am going to start Christmas now in the Real World - as opposed to the Magical World of Talk Classical. With luck - if my willpower holds - I won't be back till Sunday.
*









*So please - I insist - :tiphat: every Magical Person on Talk Classical:tiphat: - have a wonderful Christmas & Boxing Day, y'all! 
*









*Wassail! - Mollie & John xx* :cheers:


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

Enjoy yourselves!

:cheers:


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## Abraham Lincoln (Oct 3, 2015)

Christmas past: Merry Christmas!

Christmas now: Marry Christians!


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## kartikeys (Mar 16, 2013)

Non-christian tradition. 
Go to a church / meet friends / long walk

In the past, it has been minimalist like Philip Glass.
I hope to infuse the folk of Dvorak or the passion of Beethoven this time or the next.


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## OldFashionedGirl (Jul 21, 2013)

My christmas tradition has always consistent in decoring the tree and the house in the beggining of december and a dinner with my parents at Christmas Eve.


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