What are your christmas traditions?

My family goes out to my aunts house, where most of us gather and eat food, exchange gifts, and usually watch a movie afterwards.

My immediate family the last few years has saved getting and putting up a tree on christmas eve. Which is actually kind of fun, although I'm trying to avoid that this year. On christmas eve we usually hang out, admire the tree, watch a movie, or listen to christmas music. I also talk to a friend every christmas eve who lives in ohio.

Simple christmas, but enjoyable.
What do you all do?

My mother's father's side of the family has a family Christmas that rotates family hosts each year and it's usually a few weeks before Christmas. This year it's at my grandparents. And there's usually food and lots of little cousins running around. The younger kids get a gift from their grandparents and then the adults do a chinese gift exchange that can get rather nasty depending on the gifts. All in all it's fun I suppose, I really just go for the food.

Christmas Eve I go to my father's mother's house and then that immediate family gathers and we have food and open gifts.

Christmas Day involves the gift opening at home when my baby brother usually wakes up around 6am. Then it's off to my grandparent's for food and more gift opening.

The end. (Til my baby brother's birthday 5 days later.)

I wish our family rotated hosting christmas each year, but no. Every year my mum does the whole christmas thing and cooks and pays for all my cousins, aunties and uncles and familiy friends that don't have other engagements. She didn't do it a few years back and no one took it upon themselves to do it. If we don't invite everyone to our house, no one invites anyone to anything. Shitters!

I'll be at her place helping out...and helping myself

Tradition is start early and we eat all day.

Well, upon gathering at whatever house it is the families are all at, the family promptly devides into two. These two factions then start a war. There will be behind-the-back conversations, subtle comments made, and at least one person will "freak-out" which includes, but is not limited to: crying, cussing, hitting, throwing, burning, raging, storming, and destroying.

Then comes the drinking that is a must at all family events (at least in my family). It's always the same things: two fifths of R&R, one big thing of crown royal, 2 fifths of Jack, and one thing of some flavored vodka. Contrary to popular family lore, the liquor helps nothing. People's tounges become more loose, the jokes become just a bit to hard, and some amount of food will get ruined.

Now the feast starts, where upon the most chaos comes. In a family mainly dominated by females (me and my brother are the only two males of our generation, we have like 12 girls to contend with) dinner is something akin to a civil war. Some want the gravy this way, some want no gravy, and others just want some fuckin' gravy period. The ham/turkey is never going to satisfy everyone, and people (mainly me) get yelled at for eating small things, like black olives. I usually disappear out back for some X-mas bowls to ease my nerves.

I reappear in time for presents, which is actually the most enjoyable part of the evening. At this point the two factions are sitting no where near each other, and everyone is in somewhat of a subdued nature after the freak-out person freaked out earlier. Presents are exchanged - where upon we find that people didn't buy for everyone, or just bought for certain people, etc. etc. This starts the second war. This is usually where I leave.

Does getting bitched at, yelled at, and stomped all over count as tradition?

The only tradition i have is that you have to wait till chistmas morning to open your gift(s).

Oh, and you have to attempt to aviod fighting..

we have it at my aunt.... but don't feel like going...

But fighting- is sometimes the best part.