What are your Christmas plans?

[basil]

This is the first Christmas that I''ll be away from my extended family back home. Due to work reasons, I''ll be spending the holiday here in Pittsburgh with my fiance - just the two of us. Since I''m working nights this month and it''s not very busy, I''ve had a lot of time to plan. It''s also our first Christmas together (of many!) so I want it to be really special.

Decorations - I bought a Norwalk Island Pine tree houseplant that''s about waist high, and some cute straw ornaments from Ikea. I have some ornaments that my mom has made for me that are "mine" that she is begrudgingly giving me. I''ll have to get some lights, I think. And I really want some electric candles for the 8 windows in my front sunroom that are visible from the street. I also splurged and ordered some personalized needlepoint stockings from LLBean for us. They''re so cute and I can''t wait to surprise him with them!

Meals - I want to make something really decadent. My fiance is from Maryland, and we''re going to visit his parents in early December. We''re hoping to be able to bring back some Maryland crab meat. So crabcakes for Christmas Eve. If not, I may make salmon cakes. Creamed eggs on toast is my family''s tradition for Christmas morning. We usually have roast beef for Christmas dinner, but that''s obviously too much for just us. So I''m thinking filet mignon... And to be extra decadent...Lobsters (his favorite)!! And of course, some nice wine. I still have to find a good dessert recipe and some sort of salad/vegetable.

Gifts - He''s difficult to buy for, being the type that usually buys the things he wants without waiting for someone to give it to him as a gift ( i.e. If he hasn''t bought it, he probably doesn''t want it). So I''m thinking of just giving him a few nice shirts and sweaters...with hopes that nice clothing encourages him to get rid of the sweatshirts he bought in high school

Outfit - We have always dressed up for Christmas dinner, so I''m hoping to buy a new outfit for my hospital Holiday party and wear it for Christmas as well. I don''t want to spend a lot, though, so I''m thinking of buying a skirt and a cashmere camisole from the Isaac Mizrahi collection at Target. My fiance will be OK with wearing a dress shirt and nice pants even if it''s just us, but refuses to wear a tie...

Is anyone else already planning for Christmas? How will you be celebrating?

 

[firebirdgold]

We''re going to his family''s in portland for christmas, and it''ll be my first time having christmas away from my family. (That I can remember). I''m really looking forward to it, I just adore his family! I really don''t know what to expect. My family has such ingrained traditions and I''m sure they do as well.

What I''ll miss the most isn''t our tradition but a local tradition. Christmas eve we invite friends over for a hearty bean or split pea soup, bundle up, put flashing collars and christmas bells on the dogs, and go walk on the Eastside with the rest of the city.
Instead of or in addition to christmas lights everyone here uses candles in weighted down paper bags creating a soft glow. The walk is lined with them, they''re on the roofs, and people make mazes and other patterns with them in their yards. There are bonfires surrounded by carolers every hundred feet or so, and people handing out hot apple cider. Generally the evening ends at a christmas mass, but most of my friends aren''t catholic so I haven''t been doing that lately.

DECORATIONS - I know they have a big christmas tree so we''ll help decorate that. I think it''s like my family''s and has a wide assortment of decorations collected over the years. I try to get a new ornament every year to help remember that christmas by, so I''ll be shopping for something oregonian. Maybe wood or pressed glass.


MEALS - I think his family has a turkey christmas dinner, so I''m looking forward to helping cook that and maybe insert a couple of my favorites. I''ve heard a rumour that they used canned cranberry sauce so I''m hoping they''ll let me make a real cranberry sauce.
I''m just so excited to be sharing christmas with his family and learning their traditions. I can''t wait to see Portland all done up in christmas lights! And I hope it''s drizzling, that''d be so nice. I''m also looking forward to cooking and baking. I usually get it all out of my system during christmas!

Outfit- I''d better check my closets! I may have to go shopping for christmas outfits too. And we''re staying through New Years so I need something casual yet nice for that. I was there two years ago for New years and they play poker and drink all night. It was the best New Years I''ve had in a long time!
Target is a great Idea basil! Thanks!

GIFTS - We''re buying the Wii and some games before christmas for ourselves, so I think we''re going to be modest with presents to each other. I''ll probably get him some nice clothes from llbean or landsend. I''m a bit tempted on getting him a sirius radio thingy, but they''re a bit pricey. And we''re going christmas shopping for our families in Taos today.

Oh, and like usual everyone will be getting rabbits or something. My favorite gifts to give are from the Heifer International Charity. Besides it really helps with people who are hard to shop for. If I get really stuck for my parents my main gift to them will be a goat or sheep or something.

Christmas is really my favorite time of the year!

 

[kcoursolle]

I''m going to have to miss thanksgiving this year at home, so my fi and I are going to host our first thanksgiving at our apartment with any of our friends who also can''t make it home.

For xmas, I''m going home (CA-Midwest). I''m a little nervous to experience a midwest winter coming from LA, but I am excited to have a white xmas. It just doesn''t seem like the holiday season yet since it was 95 degrees outside the other day here.

 

[robbie3982]

I''m Jewish and FI is Catholic, so we will always be spending Christmas with his family, though it wouldn''t be a big deal to split the holidays if we both celebrated Christmas since our families only live about 20 minutes away from eachother. We actually bought a tree (a really awesome fake that looks real) and put it up before halloween. I was so excited about having a tree (I''ve never had one before) that I couldn''t wait. So far we have lights and one ornament up. I think we''ll get some ornaments as gifts this year, but I''d like to have a few up at least so we''ll have to go out and buy some.

FI''s family always has amazing home cooked meals for holidays. There are 20 people with his immediate family and their kids and we usually have parties with his mom''s two sisters'' families as well so there are always a ton of people. I can''t wait for the holidays

 

[RoseAngel04]

Ah Christmas time! I adore Christmas time! It''s my fav holiday by far! All the lights and the holiday season with the bells and decorations..fun fun!

This is will be our first Christmas together as an engaged couple and the last one before we are MARRIED so I''m sure it will be memorable. I''m going to order an ornament that has our names on it as well as "Engaged 2006." For the past few years we''ve put up a tree together at FI''s house and decorated it with lights and ornaments. We get real into it etc. We also have these cute lighted Santa and reindeer window decorations that we put up. We tried the window snow last year but it didn''t work too well. We also have other various decorations we put up at FI''s house like our stockings and for our pups too! I also help my family decorate at my house too...we have a lot more then at FI''s.

Luckily our time together for Christmas works our well. FI''s family celebrates on Christmas Eve so we spend that time with them and my family does Christmas day, so that''s celebrated with my family. We also do other family dinners/gift exchanges through December for his and my family.

We are also having our engagement party in December and have asked our guests to bring us ornaments to help decorate our tree. I don''t think we''ll actually use the ornaments until next year when we''re married but it will still be cute!

Like I said before I LOVE the lights and house decorations around Christmas time so we''ve made it tradition for FI and I to go look at lights and stuff close to Christmas day together.

 

[njc]

We are headed to NJ to the in-laws this year... my first Christmas away from home EVER!

I have no clue what their traditions are...

DHs b-day is Christmas Eve, so I''m sure his fam will do something for that (probably go out to dinner). I like my in-laws and extended fam... they are great and I have no complaints. But if its anything like Tgiving was last year (we trade off holidays), it wont really feel like Christmas for me because they dont do the things my family does, so I''m not all that excited this year.

I know DH had to "deal" with my family last year and its only fair, it just sucks. I spent half the day on the phone with family wishing them happy turkey day... guess it will be the same this year. Although my grandfather was hilarious asking about "what them yankees do", so maybe that will cheer me up again.

I am SOOO envious of yall that can easily spend holidays with both sides easily. Ive gotten choked up just thinking about how im going to miss "my" christmas!

 

[diamondfan]

We don''t celebrate Christmas but I love the time of year. We are taking our kids (and my mother in law!) to Little Dix for the holiday. My kids have two weeks off, so we might then go up to our home in the mountains to ski with them and hang, more relaxed. Two different climates but that is fine! Where I live most people clear out over Xmas and NY eve...it is pretty quiet!

Hubby and I are going to NY for my 41st bday to stay over, shop, eat and see a show, so that should be nice too!

 

[anchor31]

Oh njc, I can relate... My parents, siblings and I have always spent Christmas with my mother''s family two hours south-west from home, and New Year''s with my father''s family two hours east from home. Since J and I have been together, there were two Christmases we were at home because my uncle was just divorced, so we were at my parents'' on the 24th and at his on the 25th and then we spent New Year''s apart... But then last year, my grandmother decided to host the Christmas dinner again, and it created major drama... I dislike his family and didn''t want to miss "my" Christmas, but he didn''t want us to spend Christmas or New Year''s apart anymore... I told him I was not prepared to act like a married couple when we weren''t even engaged, so we made a deal: If by the next holidays we were engaged, we''d split between the two families.

So obviously we''re splitting this year on... And call me a spoiled brat, but I hate it. We decided to spend Christmas with my family since it''s THE holiday in my family, so we''ll visit my mom''s family together. Nothing happens at Christmas in his family anyway, so it''s no loss. And then we''ll be celebrating New Year''s with his family - his mother''s family, 400 miles away (where I used to study). He has aunts and uncles on that side of the family I actually really like and we''ll be staying at his favourite aunt''s, so I''m okay with that... But the 400 miles drive in possibly awful weather... YUCK.

Not to mention that I hated my studying experience I had there and the 18 months I spent there seem more than enough for a lifetime... I don''t want to go back.

But I have to, so I guess I''ll have to suck it up. What makes me really really sad about this is not seeing my favourite aunts and uncles on my dad''s side for New Year''s, and it''s the only time I get to seem them in the year!

But J did promise that we''d visit them together later during the year, possibly in May.

I wish it was easier! I love Christmas so much, all this sort of takes some of the fun away. I wish we could have a quiet little Christmas for once, with just the people we love.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

We spend it with DH''s family in Ohio every year. We also have a wedding to go to on the 23rd.

I am ashamed to say, I am kind of getting "wedding out." As it is DH is going to a wedding alone on the 10th of Dec b/c I am going to FL with my family to meet my brother''s ship (he is at semester at sea and all you current college students should look into it b/c it seemed like an awesome experience). I can''t wait to see him b/c I haven''t seen him since my own wedding (middle of Aug). I miss him!

 

[Madam Bijoux]

I always see The Nutcracker on Christmas Eve and spend Christmas Day at home.

 

[SoonIHope]

My mom''s family always has a huuuuge very old New England traditional Christmas, where we cut down the tree ourselves, and have about 20 stockings on the fireplace, and eat the same Christmas eve/Christmas morning/Christmas dinner meals every year, and sing the same Christmas carols, etc. That experience is my ultimate "What Christmas Should Be," but even growing up we only did that every other year, and spent the alternating years with my dad''s family in SC. That was a fairly traditional Christmas too, but then my (sole) cousin moved to California, so it was just me and my parents, my aunt & uncle, and my grandmother, once my brother started alternating Christmases with his now-wife a bunch of years ago, so it really didn''t have the whole big family Christmas feeling. Plus at a certain point my aunt decided it was too much trouble to have a tree in my grandmother''s house, so there wasn''t even that!! And they don''t have stockings for adults, so all during high school and college I was the ONLY stocking which was a bit weird.

Now, my fiance and I have an alternating Thanksgiving/Christmas deal that we''ve been doing the past 4 years. It works pretty well but his family is Chinese so they just go out to dinner or maybe to an aunt''s house for Christmas, and don''t do presents or anything. It''s usually just a nice big dinner with all the family. Which is good and all, but doesn''t feel any different from other nice big family dinners, aka not like CHRISTMAS. So that makes me a bit sad. But it is important to them in that it''s one of the few times a year that everyone in the family can get together, so they still "celebrate" it in their own way, and we could never just not go. Also, so far we have gone up to have a traditional my-mom''s-side-of-the-family type Christmas in January with just us and my parents and my brother & his wife for the 2 years we had Christmas with my fiance''s family, so it doesn''t feel thaaaat bad, even though I miss all the commotion of 20 people in the house.

The saddest part though is that because of the me-&-fiance alternating schedule AND the mom''s-family-vs-dad''s-family alternating schedule, we haven''t had a single Christmas with my dad''s family in SC in the past 4 years. And now my grandmother passed away just a few months ago so I feel horrible that that''s how it ended up.

We were planning to go down and have Christmas with them the day AFTER actual Christmas this year since it''s my fiance''s family''s turn (and we''re still going to) but now it''s too late to do it with my grandmother. So we''ll stay at my aunt''s house (where we''ve never stayed before) and do it all there instead. Which is fine and I''m looking forward to hanging out with that side of the family since we haven''t seen much of them in the past few years, but it still makes me so sad that we missed Christmas with my grandmother by so little.

 

[piccolascimmia]

I just booked us a cruise in the carribean for the Friday before until the Friday after Xmas We''re using the rationale that we need to go on our first cruise to decide if we want to get married one...but I''m happy just to have a nice getaway during this stressful time of the year (I''m not much of an Xmas person)...

 

[njc]

albicocca - Okay, I gotta ask what it was like never spending Christmas at home. Did you ever get confused about Santa presents (how does he know where we will be)? Both DH and I had both sides of the family within 15 miles, so it was always Christmas morning at home (Santa presents) and then going off to wherever or, everyone would come to our house.

 

[FireGoddess]

I loooooooove Christmas. I live for Christmas every year. It''s my favorite holiday too.

I will be having a tree trimming party in early December. I''ve had one for the past 2 years and it really gets everyone in the spirit. It''s fun to decorate the tree with lots of friends and drink rum punch and mulled cider...and eat lots of yummy appetizers and snacks...and listen to Christmas music or watch Christmas movies on TV while we decorate. Last year I had cookie decorating and this year I''m thinking of having ornament decorating.

I also do Christmas Eve dinner and have friends and/or my BIL and SIL come over. My husband and his brother aren''t Christian, so they don''t celebrate which means I don''t have to alternate Christmas celebrations.