STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

shopgirl82 · Chanel

What Holiday Traditions Do You Have?

mikacat · Coach

my hubby and i don't really have any but need to start some....

with my family, christmas morning is the big day, with early stockings, then b-fast and then presents.

dixiegirl · BCBG

i'm 19, so i'm still having christmas @ home with the fam & my brother.

christmas eve is always church & no presents even though we beg for them.

christmas morning has always been the same & i love it. we wake up & my parents make us wait outside the living room & dig through our stockings. then we walk in & they have all of our "santa" presents sitting out. they never wrapped those & it's always fun to walk in & see them right away & get excited. after all that dies down we hand out all of the presents & go around & open them one at a time in a circle. haha we drag this out as long as possible. it's nice to see what everyone gets instead of just ripping into them & it being over in five seconds.

then we go to charleston to see family & have brunch.
this just made me so ready for christmas to get here!!!!

small fry · Chanel

Well My son and I make christmas cookies , the sugar cut outs and he decorates them with the frosting and all, he loves it and I do too.

We need to add some more

sfclinevandy · Coach

We used to go to church on X-mas eve and then eat Chinese food because it was of the few resturants open. Now we don't go to church because my siblings and I complain too much so we just sit around my parent's house drinking sangria.

On X-mas day we open presents and all the extended family (ALL of my family on both sides is in Atlanta) comes to our house. That gets annoying.

Last year, one of my friends and I started a tradition. On X-mas night we went to the Ritz Carlton bar. Since hotel bars are the only ones open on X-mas, it drew a nice of assortment of alcoholics and people sick of their family, like us. We had so much fun and I met and made out with a cute boy. This year we're going to the Hotel InterContinental and hopefully it will be just as eventful.

erin · Chanel

well we used to go to christmas mass on christmas eve, but my husband and i don't enjoy church so we don't go. afterwards is my family's party. this used to be my favorite thing all year, but i hate having xmas eve at my grandparent's house. (it used to be at my parent's every year) my grandmother is basically a veg and it just depresses me being there.

on christmas day, we open presents at my in-laws and then have christmas dinner around 5. my good friend and her husband come for christmas dinner because they don't have family around here. (they are from france)

Chic · Marc Jacobs

I love x-mas and this is the last year before I get married so things will change....My sister and I are such dorks, we stay up till at least 1am and sleep in the same room together like we are 10, but is a tradition. Before we go to bed we look over the balcony at all the presents that my mom sets out, because she doesn't set them out till about 12am. Then we wake up early, it used to be 6am...but now it is more like 9am. We are forced to eat breakfast all together and then we open our stockings first, then move onto the presents under the tree. Then my Dad brings our big gifts out from his den and then I usually cry because it is so generous. Later my fiance and I go to his house and exchange presents where his step-mom always gives me a Clinique basket even though I don't use Clinique. Then at night we used to meet all of his friends and go out to a bar, but they since have closed on X-mas so we might just hang out at his brothers house.

It will be so weird next year being with my Fiance and having to drive over to my parents house. Even when I was living in Apartments I would stay over on X-mas eve.

laken1 · Hermes

I get depressed every time I read this topic because my traditions are so shaken right now. my grandfather died in February so everything we have always done no longer exists. And with me moving away I'm having to figure out how to do everything in a few days & from quite a distance yet I want to create traditions with MY family (meaning my husband & I vs. my whole entire extended family). It just makes me want to cry & I hate it. Sorry to be the buzz kill.....

zeitgeist4 · Gucci

* Christmas Eve at my aunt's house, where the meal is mainly appetizers (yum!) with a ham thrown in to make it seem like a meal. When there are little kids there, they get to open their presents from the aunts and uncles etc.

* Christmas Day at my parent's house, with big turkey dinner. My mom goes nuts and gets stressed. We go on an after-dinner walk to a street where every house is decorated. There is one house that is SERIOUSLY like the house in Christmas Vacation. Probably more lights though. The guy even uses a cherry-picker machine to get onto his roof. The owners are usually out on their driveway, with an outdoor fire pit going. They usually go to a snowy place the day before and truck in some snow.

* The morning after Xmas is when we open our presents (due to mom going nuts on Xmas Day), so we can all relax and enjoy the process. Me and my bro get our stockings first, then we take turns opening presents with mom and dad. My mom makes Stollen (German bread) that we eat for breakfast.

crystal · Kate Spade

laken1 wrote:

I get depressed every time I read this topic because my traditions are so shaken right now. my grandfather died in February so everything we have always done no longer exists. And with me moving away I'm having to figure out how to do everything in a few days & from quite a distance yet I want to create traditions with MY family (meaning my husband & I vs. my whole entire extended family). It just makes me want to cry & I hate it. Sorry to be the buzz kill.....

I'm so sorry sweetie, hopefully you and your husband will be able to create some really great traditions this year that will remind you of your grandfather and embrace his memory!

as for my traditions, my favorite one is Tamale Day! It's the Sunday before Christmas and my dad's side of the family (and my mom comes too, even though they are divorced ) all goes to my Grandparents' house and we make tamales. It's the one tradition we have that really makes me feel Mexican, since my family is very white-washed. We have "tamale talk" which is basically stuff you talk about that sounds crazy and you would only say on tamale day (i.e. one year my older cousin said he wanted to adopt one of the kids from that Apollo Theatre show!!). we take home a few tamales, but we try to save them all for Christmas that way no one has to cook!

i also go to church every year and have actually started going to midnight mass the past few years because i've always wanted to go so i have made that my own tradition, whether i go alone or can convince people to go w/ me (i live about an hour from my dad, but last year i got him to drive out w/ my brothers to come to mass w/ me). on Christmas, I go to my mom's and open gifts w/ her, then we go over to my Grandparents' where the entire extended family gathers and the youngest children pass out the gifts to each person (we all sit in a huge circle). then we go around the circle and open one gift at a time. it takes about an hour or two i think!! then i go w/ my mom over to her sister's house and we open more gifts w/ my two younger cousins over there.

Tara · Dooney & Bourke

laken1 wrote:

I get depressed every time I read this topic because my traditions are so shaken right now. my grandfather died in February so everything we have always done no longer exists. And with me moving away I'm having to figure out how to do everything in a few days & from quite a distance yet I want to create traditions with MY family (meaning my husband & I vs. my whole entire extended family). It just makes me want to cry & I hate it. Sorry to be the buzz kill.....

Laken1, I can completely relate. My grandmother loved loved loved Christmas. I was the only grandaughter, so of course I was very spoiled and I idolize my grandparents. After my grandmother passed away, Christmas time was especially hard. My mother and I decided that it was extremely important to keep all the traditions that my grandmother began alive. We still bring out her santa collection (even though some of them are SO tacky), we make her favorite fruit cake (even though we all hate fruit cake), and best of all we just tell our favorite stories about grandma. We always end up crying and laughing while decorating the tree at my grandfather's house because my grandma insisted on keeping all the horrid Christmas ornaments that we made for her as kids. Her tree is covered in popsicle stick reindeer and paper plate angels. But it is always my favorite time of year. And I feel like that is what she would have wanted.

This first year will be very hard, but it will be important to be with your family. Could you and your husband do something meaningful together for New Year's?

bumblebee · Coach

Her tree is covered in popsicle stick reindeer and paper plate angels. LOLOL--i love this!

laken, i'm so sorry to hear that, and i definitely relate. my grandparents were obsessed with Christmas like no other people i have ever met (even more than my mother), so i always get really sad and cry a bit around that time because i miss them so much. to make matters worse, my other granddad (my mom's dad) died just a few days before Christmas a few years ago at age 95, so we always focus on that, too.

a new tradition that i have started for myself this year, to honor my grandparents, is to decorate my own tree with all of their old ornaments from the 50s and 60s. they had millions of those shiny-brite type glass balls and different shapes, some painted, etc. they are beautiful, and i love them extra because they were theirs. i don't know why no one else wanted them, but i scooped up the whole collection!

small fry · Chanel

laken 1 I can relate as well, my first husband passed away over two yrs ago but having christmas with out is sad, I till do things that we did when he was here- such as bake cut out cookies with our son, put up some of the decorations the same way he did, and you know what i catch myself wrapping gifts like he used to- he loved doing that , and made then so pretty

hugs to you

Sandy · Kate Spade

My traditions are changing, and I'm not sure that I like it...

My mom, sister, and I always used to make cookies every year on December 23, but we don't anymore. Now that we're older and my sister has her own family, it's hard to find time for us all to be together for that long. Now I make cookies (er... try to make cookies; I'm not the best cook. I can mess up boiling water ) while my boyfriend watches.

Christmas Eve we go to my uncle's house. It's my dad's side of the family. Last year we lost my grandma and grandpa-- she passed away in July and he passed away just before Christmas. As awful as it sounds, I'm almost glad that he didn't have to spend Christmas without her (not that I would ever, ever wish for a loved one to die). He died of a broken heart; there's no other explanation. I love being with my family, but it's different without them. They were the glue of the whole family, you know? It felt a little empty without them, as much as I enjoyed the holiday anyway. This year, I don't know what Christmas at Uncle David's will hold-- there's a little family drama going on, so we'll see who shows up. It'll be an experience, whatever happens . I may have to go to my boyfriend's aunt's house, as well.

Christmas morning, we wake up at 7 and open presents. My sister and I used to open ours first, but since there's a three-year old in the house now, he gets first dibs. He opens his Santa presents and his mommy and daddy presents, then my sister and I get to open our presents from my parents. We give our presents to our parents and I give my nephew his from me and my boyfriend. Then my parents open their gifts from each other.

After presents, my dad makes a big ol' breakfast for all of us... we sit at the table for a while, still in jammies, talking about Christmas past. Fun times.

We used to hang around the house all day, playing with our new toys and trying on our new clothes... but now we go our separate ways. My sister and nephew go to his dad's house, my dad goes to his parents' graves, my mom to my cousin's, and I go to my boyfriend's house to exchange gifts with him and his family. Then we meet back up at home for 3-ish for dinner.

Christmas night we go to my grandpa's house (Mom's side of the family) for dessert and presents. That's always fun. It gets a little bit sad, talking about memories of when we were kids when my (other) grandma and cousin were still around. We don't let it get us out of the holiday spirit, though... it's been a few years, so it's easier to remember with fondness rather than sadness (but of course we are still sad about it).

This year I have to go to my boyfriend's grandmother's house on Christmas night, too. I usually skip out on this, but I don't have a choice this year... they put my name in the hat for secret Santa! Not that I don't want to be with them or anything, but I'd rather be with my own family, you know?

I think that's it for my traditions... my post was kind of a downer. Sorry about that. Reading everyone's traditions is giving me that warm fuzzy feeling .

As far as you, Laken... I know that nothing I can say would make you feel better, boy you don't know how much I wish it could .

jen · Kate Spade

Christmas eve we go to my Busia's house and we cannot open presents until we can see the first star in the sky

When we were little, my Polish, health nut grandpa would dress up as Santa and give the kids potatoes and apples-he's so crazy, but looking back, it was fun

Christmas morning I wake everyone up at the crack of dawn cause I can't wait-I love presents!

laken1 · Hermes

Ladies, thanks so much for all the kind words. I must have been in a serious pity party because when I wrote that I just talked to my mom. To me I guess that's the worst part - I've accepted the death, it's just that now my mom, who STILL gives her 33 & 36 year old children santa presents she loves Christmas so much, just isn't into it. And I sure that's how it will be with everyone, but there are some fun / light things that we get to do.

*Open SANTA presents Christmas eve morning - my sister has 2 little girls so they are there too - it is a lot of fun. They change how they do their presents every year as they grow up - like one year my niece went through her gifts are warp speed & the next year she wanted to play with everything as she opened it so it took her FOREVER. So it's always fun to see them opening.

*Christmas eve we have always gone to my grandparents - there are about 60 of us crammed into a little bitty house - so this year we are going to my Mom's which will probably be refreshing because we will have room to breath. We all drink tons of party drinks & eat ridiculous amounts of food. Then we do the chinese christmas stealing present thing - so that's always interesting.

*the day before Christmas eve we go to my dad's & he makes a big pot of gumbo - it's a good change from turkey or ham.

* we are leaving the day after christmas to go to Destin for 5 days, stay at a great resort with my DH's family! So I'm excited about that - should be fun. His dad always takes us to fabulous restaurants & i get to shop with his uber cool stepmom who spends $$ like crazy while they go play golf so that should be interesting. (yes, total departure from our rugged vacation at thanksgiving with his other set of parents!)

*We are spending Christmas day with my DH's mom & she has seen him on Christmas day in about 10 years. Since my family llives close to her family (in Baton Rouge) we will all be there instead of him being in Dallas, so she thinks I'm truly the bees knees.

I do appreciate the support though girls. I

ya'll.

Luv2Shop · Kate Spade

This is one thing I am worried about now that my grandparents are getting older. Christmas is changing each year and I hate it! I wish it was like what it was when I was a little girl, but I have really taken some great things from all your posts and I know that when they pass, we really have to keep the family close and the traditions alive in their honor. But for now, they are still here and here is what we do:

Hubby and I and my mom, dad and brother go to my grandparents house on christmas eve and we all eat ALL day. There are more kinds of homemade cookies then I can count. My mom's brother comes as well with his three kids that I LOVE!! They are 9, 7, and 2. Sooooo fun! We eat a huge dinner and can open presents when the table is cleared. We all take turns, youngest to oldest. And we are not the one gift per person kind of family so we open presents till we have to go to midnight mass. Seriously it's like 5 hours of opening gifts. It's so much fun! Then hubby and I leave before everyone goes to mass for his parents house, an hour and a half away. When we get there at 1:30 am we try to watch the Grinch with his sis and end up falling asleep on the couch. They (crazy!!) get up at like 8:00 am much to my dismay and open gifts and drink coco and then we all eat a big breakfast. We usually are so tired that we go home and go to bed at like 5. It's fun, but I miss the days when I was young.

We would stay at our grandparents for our whole christmas break, like a week. Same thing christmas eve as above, but then Christmas day we would get up early and open "santa" gifts and have a big breakfast and stay in our pj's all day. Then I would do a "fashion show" of all the new clothes I got and wear something new everyday that week. We would go to the movies and do fun stuff during the week. The funny thing is I can't really remember what else we did to fill a whole week with my grandparents but I always thought it was so fun. It always felt like a month and now days Christmas seems to go by in like 2 hours! I just wish I was young again and things would slow down!

NCshopper · Hermes

I love Christmas and I'm so excited to go home this year because it's just been my hubby and me the past two years by ourselves in NC while our family is elsewhere. Blech. It'll be our first Christmas home since we got married, so I'm SO excited to have him in on the traditions AND my three year old nephew will be there and I can't wait to see his happy excited face on Christmas morning.

Anyway, every Christmas eve we go to the candlelight service at church, which is so great because I get to catch up with people I don't get to see most of the rest of the year. Then we go home and my mom lets me open one present and it's always pjs (I hope she does that this year!!!)

Christmas morning my parents and I get up and sit around and open presents and make a big mess and have creme brulee french toast (it's to die for). Then the family comes over for lunch and we sit around and open presents and eat and after we're done with dinner my mom brings out the plum pudding (which my cousins call the fire cake). My mom has a pot of brandy that she lights on fire and then ladles the burning brandy over the cake and the cake (that has been soaking in brandy for a month) then starts burning too. It's so great.

I can't wait this year. I'm so FREAKING excited!!!!