Your Christmas..?

My Folks started a tradition which I have learned is not as rare as I had thought a few years back..

The day the Christmas tree is brought into the house there is an elf attached to it.. he reports back to the santa how the kids were.. etc.. if they were good they get a gift (but they have to find it) if they were bad they have to look even harder...

gift is always a pair of PJ's/sweats etc.. Mom mails all this down (stocking stuffers too) for 8 people (she still does this for Me and Wifey too..)

So at some Point during Christmas Eve the elf gifts are hidden.. (kids will find them when they find them.. but once they find them.. it's game on for all of them)

After they open them we all get ready to head to my inlaws house.. which is the day they celebrate Christmas for some odd reason.. so we shove about 40 people into the house eat dinner then gift time.. usually there for about 3-4 hours then go home..

Christmas day.. I am such a freakin kid still I have been awake since 2am I am guessing.. with the warning from the family DO NOT wake them on Christmas day.. WTH.. so I allow them to sleep in till I cant.. and cave in and risk a beating.. and wake them about 7am
open gifts.. will have our Grandbaby from 10-12 on this day! I'll take a nap round 12:10 - 2.. start the Ham for our dinner here..

I have already opened up the gift from my Daughters boyfriend.. and sent an email thanking my folks and sister who sealed up all of their gifts to the kids with tape.. so I cant look..

I'm having 4 Christmases this year. Family can't all make it on the same day so we have to split it up.

never had an elf as a kid. but my great nephews do they call him patch. he's a snitch. i don't think i like him.

In 2000 and 2001 I spent Christmas in County jail, my 12 year old daughter whom I had raised as a single parent since she was 20 months old had been taken from me in a horrific miscarriage of justice. The socks I got were nice to have but the moldy orange I got one of those years spoke volumes of my plight. During the first Christmas I started my tradition that continues to this day. I had my lawyers secretary go to the local giving tree and pick up 4 tags and I filled the wishes from the children. In the past few years the gifts that are asked for have escalated to the point where I can't afford to buy X boxes for presents. This year will however be the best yet. A family of 5, a single mother with terminal cancer and her children, were getting a food basket from my daughters church and a tree from K House the local University church club she chairs. For my Christmas this year we bought presents for the children and my daughter took them shopping to buy presents for their Mother. Nothing that I could ever buy for myself or receive as a gift will ever bring me the return that this small investment will give to me and hopefully them as well.

FYI I am a very selfish and self centered soul and I only do what makes me feel good, I was very selfish this year. Merry Christmas everyone.

That's a great tradition, G. My Xmas is usually with friends, (and we bust out the good stuff) as no family left I donate $$ to a small local nursing home for them to buy gifts for the residents that don't have anything/anyone. They treated my Mom well when she was there years ago. I'm friends with a couple of the nurses so they make sure it gets done fairly.

420God said:

I'm having 4 Christmases this year.

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I remember Xmas's like this, having to eat 3 dinners in one day!

BarnBuster said:

I remember Xmas's like this, having to eat 3 dinners in one day!

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Yep, that's it! Xmas at home, then the wife's parents, then to the wife's brother's house.

I have more of my own family coming up on the weekend to do it again!

BarnBuster said:

I remember Xmas's like this, having to eat 3 dinners in one day!

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I liked that part.. it was the leaving the dinners part I hated

I kinda like not having my folks here.. but miss them during this time.. Wifey and family prefers my folks over wifeys just because everyone is freaking nutso at my folks house.. one year we were all together at moms house and there was this bottle of wine my mom had opened up and had near her but forgot her glass on the counter so she took a swig from the bottle and out of the corner of her eye saw me lift my camera and take several images of her in this pose.. she almost spit wine out.. but held it togeher.... and to this day whenever she calls me this pic pops up


gotta find those pics now..

CaretakerDad said:

In 2000 and 2001 I spent Christmas in County jail, my 12 year old daughter whom I had raised as a single parent since she was 20 months old had been taken from me in a horrific miscarriage of justice. The socks I got were nice to have but the moldy orange I got one of those years spoke volumes of my plight. During the first Christmas I started my tradition that continues to this day. I had my lawyers secretary go to the local giving tree and pick up 4 tags and I filled the wishes from the children. In the past few years the gifts that are asked for have escalated to the point where I can't afford to buy X boxes for presents. This year will however be the best yet. A family of 5, a single mother with terminal cancer and her children, were getting a food basket from my daughters church and a tree from K House the local University church club she chairs. For my Christmas this year we bought presents for the children and my daughter took them shopping to buy presents for their Mother. Nothing that I could ever buy for myself or receive as a gift will ever bring me the return that this small investment will give to me and hopefully them as well.

FYI I am a very selfish and self centered soul and I only do what makes me feel good, I was very selfish this year. Merry Christmas everyone.

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You must spread some reputation around before giving it to CaretakerDad again.

We go to my folk's house around lunch time and exchange gifts. Then plays games and bullshit until dinner. Usually pretty chill.

neosapien said:

We go to my folk's house around lunch time and exchange gifts. Then plays games and bullshit until dinner. Usually pretty chill.

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when you leaving for China? Thought that was soon?

Want to do something different this year. I'm trying to find a soup kitchen in my area to help serve some holiday meals. I am really proud of my self for how far I've come and the progress I've made as an individual over the past several years. Still have a lot of room for improvement but I'm happy with where I'm at and the person I have become through time and experience.

gioua said:

when you leaving for China? Thought that was soon?

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Jan 15th. Getting there. Just enough time to wrap things up. Still got to book 1 last hotel for part of the excursion too. The daughter's birthday is also December 26th and we're having her party the Saturday after Christmas so my sister and her family can make it from out of town. Going to be a busy couple weeks before we leave. My wife's brothers are the only ones that know that we're coming back, it's going to be a huge surprise for all her aunts and uncles and friends. Should make for a very special Chinese New Years for everybody. Getting pretty damn excited.

hempyninja309 said:

Want to do something different this year. I'm trying to find a soup kitchen in my area to help serve some holiday meals. I am really proud of my self for how far I've come and the progress I've made as an individual over the past several years. Still have a lot of room for improvement but I'm happy with where I'm at and the person I have become through time and experience.

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Meals on wheels is a great program. If you work in a soup kitchen you will find the people that you serve to use more manners when turning in their tray after they eat versus when they are in line and hungry.

Good for you man.

kinetic said:

Meals on wheels is a great program. If you work in a soup kitchen you will find the people that you serve to use more manners when turning in their tray after they eat versus when they are in line and hungry.

Good for you man.

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" be the change you wish to see in the world" Might not be able to change the world myself but can definitely make a difference in other peoples lives and that is good enough for me. The world needs more light to balance out the darkness. Kinetic your heart seems to be in the right place and youre pretty level headed. Keep on keepin on brother

hempyninja309 said:

" be the change you wish to see in the world" Might not be able to change the world myself but can definitely make a difference in other peoples lives and that is good enough for me. The world needs more light to balance out the darkness. Kinetic your heart seems to be in the right place and youre pretty level headed. Keep on keepin on brother

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good quote. Smart guy said that once. I live by that quote.


So whos raising money for charity right now? If you arent its real easy to get in and people love givin it up around the holidays

gioua how long does it usually take for them to find the first one? What if they find someone else's gift? Sounds more like an easter egg hunt LOL

on my moms side my italian side we would all sleep over than the morning us kids would open gifts wed spend the day hanging out prepping dinner and singing songs about jesus as we were roman catholic.
than we'd eat a big feast like lamb and pasta LOL

now that that part of my family is all sick and cannot do xmas anymore we spend it with my moms wifes family.
which ive never really enjoyed all too much.

xmas eve we go to aunt and uncles house we all write in this book we have nibbles and we look for the angel in the tree ive never found it its so damn hard LOL
we have drinks and than xmas morning
i go to my mom and jens house open gifts than we pack up and go to jens parents house which the entire basement is flodded to the roof with gifts (IMHO way too much my family is more simple 1 gift per person) however these people probably spend close to 20 grand every fucking xmas.
still they make me and mom apart of it
than we all depart go home and than go back for dinner.

than we usually have a holiday come n go which is everyone getting plastered

I remember that on the afternoon of Christmas eve we kids would be BANISHED on pain of unspecified pain from the downstairs of the house. During this time the Christ-child (the central European franchiseholder for Santa) would appear, but only if no children were there to break the magic!

During that time we might or might not hear the sounds of a tree being schlepped in, decorated in a maternal whirlwind, and the soft telltale of wrapped parcels being placed. Remarkably i never heard the sounds of the Christ-child uttering Viennese curses in my parents' voice.

Alienwidow said:

good quote. Smart guy said that once. I live by that quote.


So whos raising money for charity right now? If you arent its real easy to get in and people love givin it up around the holidays

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Money solves little and makes the undeserving feel good. Go to any nursing home and just start visiting someone who has no one. Ask for someone who isn't mentally clear. They will think you are their family. Just go sit with them and bring them things they need. Do for them. Do this on a schedule. Become the family they need. Pick the dirty, unwashed and unloved, give to them.

Money is simple, doing is hard.