WCG Xtreme Xmas Traditions

[Kryja]

Seeing as we have a wide variety of people here from all over the globe I'm curious to know what traditions / games we all get up to with our families during this time of year.

While I was in Japan last month I learned the Mafia 'card game' which I thought would be good to try this Christmas.

Traditionally my family plays scrabble, cranium and Christmas wouldn't be complete unless we all failed miserable at charades

We've got both of my sisters, one of their boyfriends, one uncle, two aunties, a cousin and my grandma coming to stay. It'll be the first without my granddad so I thought it'd be a good idea to try to rustle up some fun from my online family

Merry Christmas

[Rise]

My family is all Irish. We like to drink and I don't think this holiday season will be any different

but we'll play things like cranium, apples to apples, and some other similar type of games. never sober though

[Movieman]

Christmas is now a time of peace and quiet.
I had those years of assembling the kids toys till 4am, crapping out on the sofa and being awakened by a 40lb kid flying thru the air and "bouncing" Dad.
Ever been bounced while you were dead asleep by a 40lb kid traveling thru the air at Mach 1?
Your chest collapses 6 inches, all the air goes out of you and you wonder if you'll ever be able to breathe again.

[Kryja]

Not yet MM, I'm only 21 Though my parents did used to throw me at the sofa when I was small... Maybe getting their own back for said situation

Rise; what's apples to apples?

[D_A]

Christmas is now a time of peace and quiet.
I had those years of assembling the kids toys till 4am, crapping out on the sofa and being awakened by a 40lb kid flying thru the air and "bouncing" Dad.
Ever been bounced while you were dead asleep by a 40lb kid travelling thru the air at Mach 1?
Your chest collapses 6 inches, all the air goes out of you and you wonder if you'll ever be able to breathe again.

Mine are all teenagers now, but it was worse when said child missile didn't quite land on your chest

[[XC] Hicks121]

Mine are all teenagers now, but it was worse when said child missile didn't quite land on your chest

That happened to me last year...ugh. This year I will have my cup on.

[Kingcarcas]

My family is all Irish. We like to drink and I don't think this holiday season will be any different

This, just switch it with Mexican. We eat, then just hang out, watch TV/video games/movies on Christmas Eve. At midnight we exchange a few gifts and that's pretty much it, we stash some fireworks for NYE

[Johnmark]

Christmas is now a time of peace and quiet.
I had those years of assembling the kids toys till 4am, crapping out on the sofa and being awakened by a 40lb kid flying thru the air and "bouncing" Dad.
Ever been bounced while you were dead asleep by a 40lb kid traveling thru the air at Mach 1?
Your chest collapses 6 inches, all the air goes out of you and you wonder if you'll ever be able to breathe again.

Oh Lord those where the days! With six siblings and their children it was a mad house.

Now that everyone has grown up one of the more interesting and fun things we always do is the "Chinese Christmas Exchange" (don't ask me why it's called that). Everyone buys a present for $20 and wraps it up. Then everyone draws a name out of the hat and you get to pick the present you want in order. When it comes your turn you can pick a wrapped gift or take anyone else's gift, each gift can exchange hands only three times.

Well it's priceless watching everyone try to get what they want, families ganging up on other families, strategies played so you ensure you get the gift you want on the third pick. It is HILARIOUS, with our family ! You'd think the presents are all made of gold.

[Dave's Mom]

Christmas is now a time of peace and quiet.
I had those years of assembling the kids toys till 4am, crapping out on the sofa and being awakened by a 40lb kid flying thru the air and "bouncing" Dad.
Ever been bounced while you were dead asleep by a 40lb kid traveling thru the air at Mach 1?
Your chest collapses 6 inches, all the air goes out of you and you wonder if you'll ever be able to breathe again.

When MM was growing up with 5 siblings, Christmas was chaos. The eight of us, my mother and father, my sister, her husband and their 4 children
opened gifts under our tree while the turkey roasted. Dinner was traditional Canadian/English style, including gallons of gravy, tons of mashed potatoes,squash,turnip, a 25-lb. tom turkey, sweet potatoes, tiny peas with tiny onions, piccalilli, cranberry sauce, stuffed celary, and eight different desserts, all homemade by a working mom. It wouldn't have been Christmas without plum pudding and fruit cake which are shunned by everyone nowadays. Oh, I forgot. We usually had two friends who are Jewish join us for dessert; there was absolutely no room for them at the dinner table.
A little wine with dinner and lots of bourbon throughout the day.
After dinner we all zonked out while kids enjoyed their new games. Those were the days!

[D_A]

We still enjoy the Christmas cake and plum pudding (my family is Irish/Australian btw). This year we've already had one Christmas dinner (my sister and her kids will be interstate with her inlaws), plus have another two to go. Christmas day with my Mum, the six of us and a couple of "close-enough-as-family" extras, then Boxing Day we do it all again with the six of us, mother and father in-law PLUS it's my eldest son's birthday (he's 20 this year). I expect I will be feeling a tad peckish again some time in March.

[retro77]

The details of my life are quite inconsequential... very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen year old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. My childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds- pretty standard really. At the age of twelve I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum... it's breathtaking- I highly suggest you try it.

[shoota]

^ i hope to goodness sake you don't know that from memory lol i was rolling.

"pretty standard really", i use that line quite frquently

[retro77]

No I wish I did though...

[shoota]

don't try to pass me..

[SiGfever]

When MM was growing up with 5 siblings, Christmas was chaos. The eight of us, my mother and father, my sister, her husband and their 4 children
opened gifts under our tree while the turkey roasted. Dinner was traditional Canadian/English style, including gallons of gravy, tons of mashed potatoes,squash,turnip, a 25-lb. tom turkey, sweet potatoes, tiny peas with tiny onions, piccalilli, cranberry sauce, stuffed celary, and eight different desserts, all homemade by a working mom. It wouldn't have been Christmas without plum pudding and fruit cake which are shunned by everyone nowadays. Oh, I forgot. We usually had two friends who are Jewish join us for dessert; there was absolutely no room for them at the dinner table.
A little wine with dinner and lots of bourbon throughout the day.
After dinner we all zonked out while kids enjoyed their new games. Those were the days!

Well Dave's Mom you taught him well, his manners and regard for others had to come from his upbringing. You did a stellar job.

Merry Christmas.

[Kryja]

...Now that everyone has grown up one of the more interesting and fun things we always do is the "Chinese Christmas Exchange" (don't ask me why it's called that). Everyone buys a present for $20 and wraps it up. Then everyone draws a name out of the hat and you get to pick the present you want in order. When it comes your turn you can pick a wrapped gift or take anyone else's gift, each gift can exchange hands only three times.

Well it's priceless watching everyone try to get what they want, families ganging up on other families, strategies played so you ensure you get the gift you want on the third pick. It is HILARIOUS, with our family ! You'd think the presents are all made of gold.

That sounds like a right laugh. This is what I thought Secret Santa was supposed to be.

I've been having a little scout about the net, something you may or may not know;

Why is 26 December called Boxing Day?

Traditionally, 26 December was the day to open the Christmas Box to share the contents with the poor.

What is a Christmas Box?

The Christmas box was a wooden or clay container where people placed gifts.

History of Boxing Day - Boxing Day origins

Through our research for this page, we have discovered that Christmas Boxes were used in different ways:

To protect ships

During the Age of Exploration, when great sailing ships were setting off to discover new land, A Christmas Box was used as a good luck device. It was a small container placed on each ship while it was still in port. It was put there by a priest, and those crewmen who wanted to ensure a safe return would drop money into the box. It was then sealed up and kept on board for the entire voyage.

If the ship came home safely, the box was handed over to the priest in the exchange for the saying of a Mass of thanks for the success of the voyage. The Priest would keep the box sealed until Christmas when he would open it to share the contents with the poor.

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch...boxingday.html

I must say I've never heard of this game;

Where are Santa Clothes?

Get a Santa outfit about the size of a beanie baby or so and Hide the various pieces of clothing like jacket, pants, boots, cap, etc... throughout your holiday decorating, You may want to even take a photo of Santa before he lost his clothes, so that everyone has an idea of what to look for.

Examples of place to hide Santa's clothes:
Santa jacket On the silo of my barn in the Christmas village I put out
Santa pants On a small tree
Santa belt Use to hang an ornament on a different tree
Boots Standing amongst candles or small Christmas statues
Bag In the corner of my nativity set up
Mittens Hanging around a small stuffed toy
Hat On a small statue or stuffed toy

Everyone is given a pad and pen when they enter or you can wait until everyone arrives to begin and told to look throughout the decorating to find Santa's clothes. When they find Santa's clothes they need to write it down and prizes can be given to the first 5 people who get everything correct. This is a way of getting everyone to see all your decorating and different stuff throughout the party area.

Note: If you don't have a Santa outfit, make a list of Holiday items that guests can search for and the first ones to find them wins and ornament or a small gift.

[SMTB1963]

...Dinner was traditional Canadian/English style, including gallons of gravy, tons of mashed potatoes,squash,turnip, a 25-lb. tom turkey, sweet potatoes, tiny peas with tiny onions, piccalilli, cranberry sauce, stuffed celary, and eight different desserts, all homemade by a working mom. It wouldn't have been Christmas without plum pudding and fruit cake which are shunned by everyone nowadays....

When I read that, my eyes glazed over Homer Simpson style...and I've now got a pool of saliva on my keyboard.

Never was one for fruitcake myself, but my Dear Old Mum still makes a plum pudding every year. I still get that childhood feeling of awe when she brings it in to the table aflame from the brandy (or rum or whatever it is she douses it with).



Merry Christmas everybody!