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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
What is your Christmas Eve/Day routine with kids?
We are hosting my parents for Cmas this year and I'm trying to decide how to plan it out 
We always go there or to my IL's. Plus, this is the first year that E really gets it (well, kinda).
* DS1...allergic to dairy, peanuts, eggs and turkey *
love is for every her, love is for every him, love is for everyone
love is for every her, love is for every him, love is for everyone
Re: What is your Christmas Eve/Day routine with kids?
Christmas eve we go to my ILs for dinner and open gifts with them. This year we are going to play games, etc as well. Then we come home, leave cookies for santa, read the night before Christmas and put kids to bed.
Christmas day we open gifts from Santa and from each other, eat cinnamon rolls, go to church and come home and host brunch for ILs and my parents. We then have a whole family christmas with DH's extended family that evening somewhere.
Is this the kinda thing you were looking for?
Yes
I'm just looking for a general idea and maybe someone will have a fun tradition (like reading a book!) that I hadn't thought of.
Growing up we shuffled around so much to all the relatives that we never really had good traditions. I didn't have my first Cmas in my own home until I was 25! My mom has tried to start some traditions but it's hard when we are only together every other year and a lot of the time we are traveling to extended family.
love is for every her, love is for every him, love is for everyone
Christmas Eve - I host our Christmas gathering with my mom, brother & family, and my BFF (who is married to my cousin) and their daughter. I don't get to host any other holiday (like Thanksgiving), so I do a big dinner and we exchange gifts.
I get the kids a new pair of PJs every year, they open these on Christmas Eve and wear them to bed.
Christmas Day - the kids open their gifts from Santa, the family gifts and their stockings. I usually invite my dad and step-mom over for breakfast. (But, I think they're going to Vegas this year, so I may invite the in-laws...even though they're Jewish! Ha!).
I don't know if this is an Iowa thing, but Christmas eve is always oyster soup dinner usually with snackies like smokies, shrimp, crackers and cheese. My grandma would open it up to whoever could make it was welcome and when I met J, his mom did the same thing. Both are from Iowa. We also almost always go to Christmas eve service.
E recieved a hard copy of "Twas the night before Christmas" as a baby gift from a dear friend's mom. We've already read it a bunch this month, it's stashed with the Christmas decoration, but will definately read it on Christmas Eve after we put cookies and milk out. I like the new pj's gift opening and may use this idea this year for all of us.
Christmas morning tradition at our house is opening presents, then I cook a big breakfast (rolls or a breakfast casserole of some sort).
In the past it has been,
A day or so before Christmas, the kids would go to ILs house and have a big sleepover with the cousins. Christmas Eve DH and I either go to my brother's house and hang out or to his parents...sometimes go to church. The kids are with their mom on Christmas Eve.
Then in the past, it was we get the kids at 9am, open presents at our house then we would go to inlaws for most of the day and then to my brother's for dessert.
With Sawyer being born, this is all changing and setting a new tradition.
So this year, the kids will still go to ILs on the 22nd for sleeping under the tree sleepover with their cousins. Then we will do Christmas with my family on Friday, the kids will go to their moms for Christmas Eve (all day) while DH, I and S will probably hang out go to church and go to his parents house for a bit. Then we will come home and read Sawyer the Christmas Story to him. I have placed a nativity set in Saw's room. And I'm planning on keeping baby Jesus out of the nativity until Christmas Eve night. After we read the story, I want to go up and have him put baby Jesus into the nativity set to signify he was born, then do all the other Santa stuff (put cookies and carrots out).
Then on Christmas, we will get the kids at 9am and stay home all day long! I have invited the inlaws over to our house and I will do dinner and probably do presents with them.
I don't have kids and my husband works retail so it is really sucky even thinking about future plans but here is what my dog and I have in store:
Sunday Dec 18th-my dad's side Xmas (everyone still gets together with my grandma all the aunts/uncles/cousins and their kids)
I will travel to my hometown on the 23rd or so and spend time with my family and my husband will be working the whole time. X-mas Eve is going to church with my parents and than with my mom's side we do the whole family X-mas again. Also, as pp said, we do the oyster soup but most of us eat chili or chicken noodle
X-mas day my parents invite over whomever has no where else to go (single aunt and divorced uncle, widowed aunts, grandma, etc.) and we play scrabble and lounge.
Not sure when my parents and brother/sisters and their kids will get together and open presents~my mom feels bad for my DH and usually wants us all together but he has told her to go ahead and do it whenever since his work schedule SUCKSSSSSSS!! In January, we will travel to his family in Indiana when he is actually allowed to have more than 1 day a week off from work to spend a weekend with them.
We've always stayed in town for Christmas, so usually we do Christmas Eve at our house, if we have the older boys that year, with my mom, the boys and usually my two aunts on my dads side, and maybe my dad and stepmom and brother if they are in town. We always do gifts that night and food wise last few years we've ordered platters from Jimmy John's and did dips and snacks and stuff. If my sister is in town, we sometimes go to my dads on Christmas Eve and eat pizza.
This year we will have 4/5 of the boys, us, my mom, maybe MIL and FIL, my dad/stepmom/brother, the older boys' mom, my aunts and will do the same Christmas Eve thing and then dinner at our house on Christmas day.
Christmas Eve day- We go to IL's house to celebrate with them. We always eat steak, shrimp, baked potatoes, corn and pillsbury crecent rolls...Always. I'm going to spice it up with a new corn recipe this year.
We open presents and then just relax until the evening.
Christmas Eve night- Go to church with IL's and then we go to DH's grandmas house. It is usually packed with family and I think an awesome tradition! They normally have some one dress up as Santa and the kids go nuts with the anticipation of seeing Santa. After supper is cleaned up all the kids go to the basement and wait for what they know is to come. They always wait on pins and needles until they hear a knock on the basement window and run like crazy up the stairs to let Santa in.
Each kid gets a chance to sit on Santa's lap and get a present. If the family can't find someone to dress up as Santa for the evening then Santa leaves his bag of goodies by the basement window and someone will pass them out. Once we leave there we will come home, put on their Christmas pjs,set out cookies, take our last day off of our countdown and read a Christmas book right before bed.
Christmas morning - Open presents from us and Santa, eat a small breakfast and pack up the car and head out to GI to my parents house. Once we get there we open presents with my family, eat and relax. Each year we try to do something different as far as food. One year it is traditional food and the next it may be Mexican.
This year it is Italian.
Traditionally on Christmas Eve we do soups for dinner (oyster stew and one other like beer cheese) with meat, chz & cracker tray. We open gifts and play a game.
Christmas Day is Santa gifts in the morning... then we have dinner with family and do gifts with them in the early afternoon... usually followed by a holiday movie of some kind.
This year we are hosting my parents and BIL/SIL, which we've never done
Married the love of my life 6/3/06
Became a family of three 8/25/09
Our Christmas/Christmas Eve seems super crazy, but I love every minute of it!
On Christmas Eve Eve we go to my aunt's house for Christmas with my mom's extended family.
Christmas Eve we go to DH's mom's house for brunch with his brother and his family. Then we head to my parents house for Christmas with my dad's family-it is my most favorite day of the year-we drink, do a white elephant, family skits, dance offs etc. It is crazy and we always stay way too late!
Christmas morning we do Santa presents at our house and then head to my parents house for breakfast and presents. We hang out there for most of the day, head home for a quick nap and then head to DH's aunt's house for Christmas dinner. Oh....now I am even more excited!!!
In the past, we've always had to go to KC for a few days around DH's work schedule, and then we'd have dinner with the IL's. We'd go to church SOMEWHERE on Christmas Eve, and usually the 11:00 service. This year, we're starting our family traditions. :-) My mom is coming up because I told her we aren't traveling this year..... So....
Church at 5:00 (when he does better staying up later, we will do church later...), B will open his Christmas PJs, and we're getting one of the Kohl's Christmas books for him also. My grandparents recorded Night Before Christmas, so next year, he can listen to that! Oh, and the grownups will have chili once B is in bed! We will try to decorate cookies before B goes to bed... if we don't have time, we'll do it after dinner.
Christmas morning, IL's and my dad are coming over (mom will already be there) probably around 8:00 for breakfast and to open gifts. DH works at 2:00, so we'll have lunch around 12:00 and then just relax and hang out. ILs will probably (hopefully) leave when DH leaves for work.
Picture courtesy of Heidi Keene Photography
On Christmas Eve we to go the IL's house for dinner and open presents with them. I think last year we also opened the presents at our house in the a.m. because I just can't wait to give presents!
One Christmas Day, E gets presents from Santa, then we go to my grandma's for presents and dinner starting at 11ish with my extended family.
Anytime before or after these days, depending on my brother and SIL's schedule, we go to my mom's and open presents there with my siblings and parents.