Funny holiday/new years traditions?

[rockzilla]

I was at a New Year''s party at a friend''s house last night (her whole family was there) and they had a tradition I had never heard of before. A few minutes before midnight, they handed out cups with twelve grapes in them to all of the guests.

Then, at the stroke of midnight, all of the guests climbed under the table, and we each ate a grape each time the clock "dong"ed. It is supposed to bring good luck in the new year.

The funniest part was that they didn''t actually have a clock doing the twelve dongs....so her dad was sitting there under the table going "dong...dong...dong...."

Anyone else have a funny tradition to share?

 

[Haven]

We inadvertently started a quirky Christmas Eve tradition this year. We''re Jewish, so we always get our families together on Christmas Eve to enjoy some takeout, and usually a Chanukah celebration.

SO, this year we decided to have a Pizza Throwdown. We invited our families and ordered different pizzas from different area pizzerias. Everyone blind tasted each pizza and then ranked them against each other. It was a lot of fun, especially when they started to make in-depth analyses of the pizza. It was hilarious to hear my FIL comparing the virtues of one choose to another, and my sisters arguing over the ideal crust-to-sauce ratio.

We''ve already decided that the Pizza Throwdown will replace our usual Chinese Takeout tradition on Christmas Eve. Next year we''re going to have each couple/family bring their favorite pizza.

 

[mayachel]

At midnight on New Years, we grab pots and wooden spoons/spatulas and run out the front door, stand on the stoop and bang and cheer...for about a minute.