[atouchofheaven]

okay, so we are having both sides of the family over on Christmas Eve, just parents and siblings. and i am looking for a tradition to start with everyone that takes the focus off the gifts and on the more important things about Christmas. oh, and there will be two kids; age 2.5 and 6. any ideas???

[waited2long]

Maybe you could pull out the board games? Or play Charades? String popcorn and tell family stories?
Go carolling?

[greenrobin]

Sometimes we pull out the photo albums and tell stories about whatever pops up. Sometimes it matches the picture, sometimes something about the picture reminds us. It's especially fun when you are lucky enough to have an older relative around who is the family history keeper....in other words, the family gossip!

[Barksum]

Involve the kids in a cooking project. (decorating cookies, making rolls, etc. Wilton makes cookie icing in a container like glue comes in and it is easier to make decorative lines on cookies and then put sprinkles on it while it is still wet. Rolls don't have to be made from scratch, but you can do the Pillsbury kind from the tube.) Have them whip butter with honey or herbs for the rolls.

Get special glasses for the dinner. We use stemware for the adults and some pretty double shot glasses for the little kids. (Easier to hold and they get excited about them.) We serve sparkling cider/cranberry or grape juice for those whole don't drink alcoholic beverages.

Have a bound journal ready in a central location for each person to jot down the years' big events. Keep it from year to year and read aloud what was written in years past.

Have each person verbally share their happiest memory from 2008.

Buy Christmas crackers. (Those things you pull apart.) My kids love those, and since you have to pull them with the person sitting next to you at the table it gets everyone involved. Then you get to wear the party hat that comes in them for the whole meal.

We like to ask Grandpa and Grandpa about all those stories that everyone knows already. You know, "Tell the one about when you had the flat tire in the desert, Grandpa!" Stuff like that.

We do hors devours before the meal and that's when we do alot of talking and stuff. After the meal we clean up a bit and then sit around and do games like King Elephant (don't know how to give the instructions for THAT game!!) and charades, or answer trivia questions. Then we have dessert and coffee.

Part of the tradition in our family is to have friends over, or those people we might happen to meet who don't have family locally or are truly without any family, etc. This often is a bunch of college kids who can't travel for the holidays, etc. Makes for LOTS of people, chaos, and tons of fun.

[atouchofheaven]

i forgot to add....my husband's family isn't especially close or family oriented. so it will be a stretch for them to participate so i need something...let's see...beginner? not too intense or memory oriented since they have an assorted history with my husband. thanks for the ideas so far. i like the idea about sharing a favorite memory of 2008 and also decorating cookies.

[AmyAnne]

What about making ornaments with people's names on them in your family? You would each hang your own ornament, and the ones of those no longer with you and say something to remember them?

[momraine]

What we do does involve gifts, but that's not all. Christmas eve we give the first gift and it's always pajamas (the big kids love to roll thier eyes and say "gee I wonder what it is") the kids and adults all go put on thier pajamas. Then We do the kids gifts to everyone. These ae either home made, or bought at the school gift thing they do or from the dollar store. the pick out each gift and they wrap it! (love some of those little kids wrapping jobs with half a roll of tape and gift still falls out!) Anyway, we have a whole bunch of Christmas books we have collected over the years. We read a book and then do the youngest child and then read a book and then do the next child, etc. We always end with "Twas the night before Christmas" and the Bible. While dad is reading, I bring in hot cookies and hot chocolate (with candy canes to stir it!) The kids love thier turns to hand out the gifts and because they have recieved no big gifts yet, they appreciate the smaller ones. It's really gotten the kids excited about the giving aspect as we make a huge deal over each gift. Now all this is usually after church. Before church we do an international meal. Since we have kids adopted from Poland and Russia, we order food from those places, and last year my neices who are half Mexican were living with us so we had enchiladas, and then we had French bread to celebrate the Frence ansestory of our family, as well as Latkas for the Jewish part and we had something Irish too, I just can't remember what. (not beer!) Anyway, the older kids all helped with the cooking and we talked about where the different foods came from. Everyone started out with just a bite on thier plates of each thing and then after the sampling they could eat more of what they liked. It was a lot of fun and a fun way to celebrate all the nationalities we have.
You can also do a gift exchange with ornaments. We do that with a group of friends. Just one ornament wrapped. (or sometimes you can do white elephant, which is fun) and then everyone draws a number and the person who draws number one takes a gift and opens it and shows it to everyone. The person who has number two can either steal number one's gift or take another. Each gift can only be stolen twice so the third person to get it gets to keep it, it's then safe. We have had a lot of fun doing this even with kids involved.

[waited2long]

How about Poker with candy canes and/or peppermints for the "pot"?

[AmyAnne]

Originally Posted by waited2long

How about Poker with candy canes and/or peppermints for the "pot"?

LOVE IT! Such a good idea!

[mrsred]

We do a fun gift exchange. For beginning you could keep the limit low, like a gift under $10 - $15. I have a big family so the women bring a woman's gift and the men a man's gift. With a smaller group everyone can just bring a non-gender specific gift. (kid's are not a part of this, everyone gives gifts to the kids). Anyway, all the gifts go into the center of the room, no name tags, and then we draw numbers. The person with number one goes first, and opens which ever gift they choose. Then #2 gets to decide if he wants to steal what #1 opened or choose a new gift. #3 has choice of either opened gifts or new gift. Etc, etc. If a gift gets stolen, the person that lost the gift immediately gets to choose a new gift. They can steal any gift except the gift that was just taken from them. We play that you cannot steal a gift back from the person that stole it from you. But if A opened it, B stole it from A, C stole it from B, then if A would be able to steal it from C. Does that make sense? After everyone has gotten a gift it goes back to number one. Now that all the gifts are opened she can steal what ever she wants. The person she stole from gets what ever gift she is giving up.
It sounds complicated but it really isn't. It can get to be very funny, with stealing going on. The first year my husband spent with my family, over 20 years ago, he stole a windshield scraper from my dad. For the next ten years, what ever dh had opened Dad would steal it, whether he wanted it or not!
I have heard of some families getting upset over this game, but I think they have higher limits. We are up to 20 25 now, but even at that, there is nothing worth fighting about.

[atouchofheaven]

ha, ha! mrsred, that reminds me of when we tried this game with my extended family one year. talk about getting upset about it! it got so bad that my two aunts ended up in an argument because one said the other's son has a milk allergy because she didn't breastfeed him long enough! yes, my family is crazy. it's a good idea though and i would love to do it but we tried it once and it went horribly. thanks though.

i like the idea of everyone making something. whether it's cookies to decorate or ornaments. i might go with that. thanks everybody!

momraine, we've also just started making food from our different cultures too. my son is puerto rican so we make lots of rum drinks! ha, ha, maybe that will lift everyone's spirits this year!!!

[Barksum]

We also have done a White Elephant party, where you give those wonderful gag gifts. It's fun with a fair sized group. One year there were things like a gift of 50 Harlequin romances, a mis-matched pair of socks, plastic doilies (the really cheesy kind), salt and pepper shakers, etc. That was pretty fun. The fun really gets going when there is only one gift that is even worth considering and everyone wants that one gift! LOL

[BrockBaby]

This is a game that we play on Thanksgiving, but it would work for Christmas Eve as well. Everyone is required to bring a wrapped gift that costs a dollar. They all go in the middle of the floor. Then a deck of cards is divided among the number of people in attendance. (If there are any extras, it's okay...just know that there will be a few cards that aren't "called") You then take another deck of cards and start "Calling". For instance, the dealer (who has her own little pile of cards) will call 3 of Hearts and whoever is holding the other 3 of hearts gets to pick a gift. They do NOT open it. THe caller keeps calling until the deck is gone...and the whole time people are stealing from each other, ect....it's fun. In our family, because we don't want anyone not to have a gift...at the end if someone doesn't have one (which will happen..because there are more cards then gifts) someone who has several chooses which gift of their they can have. You do not have to play like that...we are just nice! LOL It's fun and we all look forward to it.....ironically enough, one year I won Windshield Fluid just when I needed it most!!!!

[momraine]

There is a clay called sculpy you can get at most craft stores. It comes in lots of really pretty colors. You bake it to harden it. It works great for making ornaments. You can use cookie cutters and rolling pins, and you can use play dough type toys, like the ones that you squeeze dough through and it makes shapes or hair. You can also use play dough type molds. Sometimes you can get some of that stuff (off brand of course) from the toy department. Also set out plastic knives, maybe a few squewers for making little holes (eyes for some ornments, decorations for other, you can als use them to draw lines in ornaments) I also set out things like meat tenderizers and plastic forks, some of that netting stuff that some produce comes in, anything that might make a fun pattern. use straws to make the hanging holes and let everyone be creative. You might even make a few ahead of time for ideas. Some are simple flat cookie cutter things, other things we have made are clay 3D people. Candy canes are easy, just take the two colors and make snakes and then twist them together and bend. You don't even need a hole for that one. Wreaths are also easy and you can use ribbon to hold them. Just make a green snake and attach the edges to each other to make a circle and add little red berries or whatever. It can be a lot of fun. Then you bake them and let them cool, and during that time you can do something else. Like maybe go around and ask each person the best and worst gift they have ever gotten in thier lives. It's kind of funny to hear the different responses, especially the kids who usually only remember thier last christmas. LOL
Be sure to have paper plates ready for people to take thier ornaments home on in case they are not cool yet. You can also ask each grandparent to tell what christmas was like when they were little.