Favorite Holiday Tradition

nudeyorker

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OK let's hear your favorite tradition(s) for the holidays! The things you remember or the new ones you created.

Growing up we always spent the holidays in Hawaii and I always remember the local food and traditions. I always loved going to the Outrigger Canoe Club for dinner on X-mas eve. And going to friends for New Years Day!

Now I love the smell of all the Holiday goods baking, most of the month and I am excited to come home and open the mail. When I put my tree up, I listen to holiday music and have egg nog. When the tree is up I go to Central Park to ice skate and have hot chocolate.

X-mas eve I've been going to the same friends open house for almost 20 years and off to another friends house on the 25th...always the same people and yet each year is a fresh new party.

New Years Eve is with a hand full of good friends music food and champagne.

New Years day a few people come over for Chocolate and Cheese fondue and champagne.

I love the holidays....
 

D_Jared Padalicki

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My favourite was skiing in Switzerland for years and years, but after my mum got an accident there, we never went skiing again :frown1: I miss that. Now we sit together in our livingroom, eating yummystuff I made and giving each others gifts from underneath the christmastree...
 

midlifebear

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When I lived in the USA I made it a policy to always ski -- all day -- at Alta on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Sundays were also good times, because mormons and members of other churches tended to go to church in the mornings leaving the slopes rather open and serene.

However, there's really only one (maybe two, but the second one doesn't count) high holy holidays for gay men and women and those are Hallowe'en and Carnival. I LOVE Hallowe'en. I'm not so much into dressing up in costume as I was into loading up the neighbor's kids bags with so much candy that they would develop diabetes the next day. In addiiton, the gay bars always had the most entertaining events. Absolutely loved and still love Hallowe'en. But in Argentina and Spain it barely rates a blip on the calendar. One old family tradition at Hallowe'en was to clear the cupboards of canned goods and packages of J-ELLO, unopened jars of jam --- what have you -- when we ran out of candy.

Second most favorite is Carnival; however, it's a remnant of a catholic tradition that, well . . .let's face it. Catholics have a hard time really enjoying themselves without feeling guilty, hence the idea of Fat Tuesday in New Orleans and Carnival (sometimes with a final e) in Sitges, Sao Paolo, Rio, Havana, Tobago, and in the province of Santa Fe where the largest bunch of gays gather in one place and tear the city apart for more than two days. Great stuff.

But this Santa/Christ/Immaculate birth ruse? Can't deal with it. I'd be more willing to buy and Edsel than buy into the whole christian thing.

Now that I think of it, gays deserve more high holidays. If African Americans can have Kwanza we should have a summer or spring event called something like Out of the Closet Palooza. Think about it.
 
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D_Ivana Dickenside

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i love doing secret santas! every year i try to get a group of friends or my extended family to participate. this year is different though... we (extended family) are doing a white elephant gift exchange instead. it's a new thing an aunt wanted to try out so we're giving it a shot.
 

vince

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My Mum's Christmas cake.
Decorating the tree on Christmas eve.
Spending the week between Xmas and New Years at Whistler.

During the week before Christmas, until my little brother was about seven, my Dad use to go up on the roof and be Santa, asking us what we wanted and if we had been good. Of course we lied about that! The older kids went along with it until us little ones were old enough to figure out that Santa didn't exist. He did that every year for about 15 years. Even when we lived in Wisconsin! It was always so disappointing that Dad missed Santa's visit!
 

iain_ware

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I lost my parents when I was two years old so Christmas has always felt strange but I always put a candle at the window and on Christmas day I drive to London (around an hour) and hand some cigarettes out to the homeless people who live on the street as a gift for them, come home and have dinner and friends come round.

The candy canes on the tree I remember from when I was young and still put them on now!
 

larocca

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Christmas was always great in my family. We all went out to the midnight mass and then returned home where we'd toast, followed by the opening of the gifts and of course, there were always 10 different kinds of cookies for us to eat. A perfect family holiday.

I get lost in Christmas. The magic of the holiday means a lot to me, it's a couple of days in a year where I can just be at peace and enjoy my time.

However, since my mom died earlier this year (and she really made Christmas what it was), I guess this Christmas won't be what is used to be. That emptiness will never leave.
 

Not_Punny

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Xmas Eve is a blast at my house. We have a white elephant gift exchange, and then I orchestrate a bunch of Xmas games.

On Xmas day, we have a big brunch and open presents. Everybody's last present is found at the end of a treasure hunt.

Then a big, big dinner.

Then, after the dishes are done, we chill with dessert and a good movie.
 

Principessa

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A few people have mentioned doing a secret santa, and someone else mentioned a white elephant. My extended family does a Pollyana. Are these all the same or different?

When we meet at Thanksgiving we wait until after dinner and write everyones name down on slips of paper. All the names go in a bag and you pick a name. You buy a gift for the name you pick. There is no dollar limit. However, most gifts are in the $25-$50 range. Everyone buys for the children. This is what my family calls a Pollyanna. Is this the same or different than a white elephant and a secret santa?
 

D_Marazion Analdouche

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Since my divorce, driving by ex inlaws every season and popping the 12 foot tall inflatable snowman that sits in their yard with a bb gun. The thing has so many patches on it now it's changing colors. They think it's the neighbors kid.

Before you judge, I bought it for them 8 years ago :tongue:
 

Drifterwood

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I do love the spirit of goodwill. But as a non christian, I have to say I love the fact that people get drunk and tell their bosses what they really think and fuck inappropriately. I think we need a saturnalia.