Hellobee Boards Topic: How big was Christmas in your family growing up?

Hellobee Boards Topic: How big was Christmas in your family growing up? https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:14:09 +0000 LovelyPlum on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1284864 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 16:12:07 +0000 LovelyPlum 1284864@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @Corduroy: good luck with the new traditions! Hope it's smooth and fun :) LovelyPlum on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1284860 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 16:10:46 +0000 LovelyPlum 1284860@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @SAHM0811: this sounds like us, though my parents aren't immigrants. Christmas was first and foremost a feast day for us, but it also involved getting a tree, stockings, lights, etc. We also got to see our cousins, which was really fun, and to spend time away from doing homework. We never had the strict traditions that many families had (eat at one place on Christmas Eve, host such and such party, etc), but we did do a few things every year. We always put up a creche, which was a big deal. My personal favorite was putting out luminaries all over our property on Christmas Eve. It symbolizes the Christ child coming into the world at night-and it's so, so pretty! ETA: Looking back, I'm pretty sure there were years that my mom would have liked to make a bigger deal out of Christmas, but it was just so darn expensive that it became smaller and quieter. I'm realizing now that I have to learn how to enjoy Christmas in creative ways, because it seems like money is always tight this time of year. Even if you don't go all out for presents, Christmas can get expensive! So it is a priority to make sure that we are all enjoying the season without feeling too much financial strain as well. Mrs. Bee on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1284859 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 16:10:29 +0000 Mrs. Bee 1284859@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @PawPrints: just a fun question. i think some of the traditions will be fun to incorporate, but i think we'll always keep gifts pretty simple. we have been doing matching pj's the past 2 years which is fun! we also have stockings from before we had kids, but i have nothing to put in them haha. it seems like a lot of fun to get wrapped so into the holiday spirit when you have a family, but i guess i have no personal experience! PawPrints on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1284848 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 16:05:04 +0000 PawPrints 1284848@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @Mrs. Bee: Just curious, is this a fact-finding mission purely, or are you considering adopting some new ideas for your family's Christmas? I'm sure the hive would have tons of tips and suggestions if you decide to embrace any of the madness! PawPrints on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1284821 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 15:53:20 +0000 PawPrints 1284821@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Huge, huge deal. It's about the whole month of excitement and anticipation as much as the day itself. I remember feeling wired and giddy every single day of December, with all the various signals surrounding us that this was a very special time of year. Christmas carols playing, random cookies that neighbors would bring by (and my mom would make cookies and ask me to deliver them to the neighbors), decorations all over the place, learning how to select and make or purchase gifts for my family members, the overwhelming anticipation of Santa coming. Huge as huge can be. MamaJ on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1284814 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 15:50:36 +0000 MamaJ 1284814@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We did a tree (until I got older and my mom decided she hated putting it up) and gifts. My mom always worked holidays, so we did christmas a few days early. We went to a nice dinner and came home and open presents. Christmas day my dad and I would hang out or go to dinner. When I was a kid and doing santa we always did Christmas morning then my mom would go to work. Smurfette on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1284812 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 15:49:30 +0000 Smurfette 1284812@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @Mrs. Lemon-Lime: I love the Homemade ornaments that we have from our nieces and nephews. They are so proud of them when they hand them out every year. But our tree is full of Hallmark ornaments. There is no color scheme or rhyme or reason to it. Corduroy on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1284804 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 15:43:40 +0000 Corduroy 1284804@https://boards.hellobee.com/ HUGE. I was raised Catholic so we had all the advent traditions starting weeks before Christmas: wreath with candles every night. We 'did Santa' so there were letters, pictures, cookies, etc. We always traveled to my grandparents place 8 hours away for a week. My mom loves baking so she would make and decorate hundreds of gingerbread men and make a yule log. Christmas Eve was a big dinner with my dad's family. Christmas morning we had stockings, then church, then breakfast, then presents. That was followed by a big family gathering. This is my first year with the in-laws. Time to learn some new traditions. sandy on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1284636 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 14:47:37 +0000 sandy 1284636@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Not huge in my family - also immigrant parents. We'd definitely get to pick out a present and usually it was a big one like a bike or Nintendo. We usually got a tree and as I got older we'd decorate the house with lights outside. We didn't do stockings or a big breakfast or dinner. It wasn't a big deal and we didn't grow up believing in Santa - but one year I got a cabbage patch doll and I was in 1st grade or something and I thought Santa brought it for me. It was not a cute cabbage patch doll - she had short hair like a boy and I didn't like it at all. My husband grew up doing a traditional big Christmas and I love that bc I'm very much into all the decorating and big brunch together, ect. I don't like the big focus on presents but I love the family time and festivities Boogs on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1284289 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 13:04:01 +0000 Boogs 1284289@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Christmas has always been big with us and now we just add more and more traditions every year just because the kids have so much fun, and honestly so do us adults lol. Mrs. Lemon-Lime on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1284136 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 12:13:19 +0000 Mrs. Lemon-Lime 1284136@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @mrs. bird: your Christmas morning sounds like the best time ever!!! Modern Daisy on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1284099 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 12:02:13 +0000 Modern Daisy 1284099@https://boards.hellobee.com/ It was big for me and DH so we will continue that tradition with DS. The one annoying thing I can't wait to end is the traveling. I grew up traveling on Christmas day every year and now we fly to my MIL's. I can't wait to spend the entire holiday in our own home and have people come to us! LuLu Mom on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1284029 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 11:47:18 +0000 LuLu Mom 1284029@https://boards.hellobee.com/ It was huge! We did the tree, the stockings, santa, baking cookies, big family gatherings, ect. I loved it and am carrying on the tradition! SAHM0811 on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1284017 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 11:44:13 +0000 SAHM0811 1284017@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Christmas is/was a big deal since it's a religious holiday for us. And we went to Catholic school, so it was celebrated a lot there too, of course... Christmas concerts, celebrating Advent, etc... My parents were immigrants too, so presents may have been pretty simple some years, but Christmas was still a big deal in other ways. In our culture, spending time with family (including a big extended family) was especially important around the holidays. We'd get together with all our aunts, uncles, and cousins. During December, we'd go out and visit other extended family members that didn't live so close to exchange presents and catch up. Food was a big part of holiday celebrations as well! Alivoo01 on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1283923 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 11:14:49 +0000 Alivoo01 1283923@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I'd say it was a pretty big deal! We decorated the exterior and interior with lights and decor. Then we always put up the tree and presents underneath, etc. Then on Christmas eve, we'd load up all the presents and meet at one person's house to exchange and open presents. We also had stockings that we wrote down our wishes to Santa in and the weeks before, we'd randomly get items from our wish list in our stocking! I loved all the excitement and carried some of it on, and now that DS is here, I want him to get in on the excitement as well. We'll see if he takes to it or thinks mommy is just bananas. lol mrs. bird on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1283890 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 11:08:57 +0000 mrs. bird 1283890@https://boards.hellobee.com/ it was HUGE! it still is. we weren't religious, so there was never any jesus involved in our celebration, it was about celebrating generosity & spending time as a family. we'd all wear santa hats and go get an enormous tree (the house had cathedral ceilings and we'd get a tree that went nearly to the top, my dad needed a giant ladder to decorate the top of the tree) & we'd each pick out an ornament for that year & a christmas building for our christmas village. christmas eve my mom would give us new pjs that she had sewed and we'd get to open one gift, usually my brother & i would each give each other one to open. we'd make cookies & put out carrots for the reindeer. my dad would read us a stack of christmas stories (he does the best voices!) and i would get to sleep in my brother's room on his top bunk- i would get too excited about christmas morning, i'd vomit in his bed because i wasn't used to being up high & couldn't climb down in time to make it to the bathroom (hahaha, i vomit when i'm excited or stressed, my poor brother!). then, christmas morning we weren't allowed out of bed until 5am, then we could go out and look, but we weren't to open anything or wake our parents til 5:30, then we'd spend an hour fighting to get my dad out of bed. we had huge stockings and after we opened everything in them, we'd wear them like mermaids, we'd open the rest of our presents and have breakfast. many years we went and volunteered at a christmas dinner for the homeless, then we'd go have christmas with my mom's family. christmas with my dad's side was over new year's. @Mrs. Lemon-Lime: how bad is it that still, at 29 & 30, it takes my brother & i (and now DH) over 2 hours to open all our presents? hahaha. we still go sleep at my parents' house and have a big christmas morning with them. i <3 it! once we (SO & I) have a LO i guess we'll start having our own christmas, but my parents just do christmas so well! Mrs. Pickle on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1283835 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 10:58:43 +0000 Mrs. Pickle 1283835@https://boards.hellobee.com/ It was a pretty big deal! It was definitely the biggest holiday for us because we didn't celebrate Halloween and the Easter bunny didn't visit us. pui on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1283818 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 10:55:22 +0000 pui 1283818@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Christmas was definitely a big deal when I was a kid. It was the biggest holiday for my family. mrs. wagon on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1283811 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 10:54:33 +0000 mrs. wagon 1283811@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We definitely decorated every year, with a real tree and lights on the house and everything, and we had monogrammed stockings and everything. But usually our "santa" present was bought around november if we found something we liked. Usually a new winter coat or something. We'd buy it and then my mom would say "this is your Christmas gift." Haha. I never complained because she was a shopaholic and bought me stuff all throughout the year, but she still does it too! Never really a gift picked out for Christmas... she just takes something she was giving me and labels it as the Christmas gift. I used to be sad about not having something to open under the tree on Christmas morning... sometimes I'd wrap a toy I already owned for myself. Haha. Stockings were never stuffed, etc. So we had all the decorations, but Christmas day was always just another day, rushing to church and usually fighting on the way. Those are my most vivid Christmas memories!! lol. But I do believe that when we were younger my parents did do a santa gift under the tree because I do remember knowing that santa was my parents because of their very distinctive handwriting! Anyone else's Asian immigrant parents cross their i's instead of dotting them?? ;) Reese on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1283770 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 10:49:12 +0000 Reese 1283770@https://boards.hellobee.com/ My parents are immigrants too and we have always had a HUGE Christmas. They really embraced the traditions. We always opened our presents Christmas eve at midnight...staying up that late was soooo fun! Christmas is still a big deal in our family - which is why it is my favourite time of the year. Even DH look forward to spending the holidays with my family because he says it is such a great time. Mrs. Bee on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1283752 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 10:42:54 +0000 Mrs. Bee 1283752@https://boards.hellobee.com/ so interesting to hear all your responses! i honestly had no idea how big christmas was until i became a parent since most of my friends had immigrant parents. we all got no gifts haha! Mrs. Jump Rope on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1283746 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 10:41:51 +0000 Mrs. Jump Rope 1283746@https://boards.hellobee.com/ HUGE. My mom puts up two Christmas trees and decorates the huse top to bottom. We had stockings and presents under the tree. At my grandmas house, we'd gather on Christmas Eve. She had an open door policy for the holidays and while the immediate family was there almost all day and night, other relatives and friends would stop by throughout the day. We had a huge spread of food served buffet style and would gather around the piano in the evening to sing Christmas carols. She easily had 80 people in and out of her house on Christmas Eve. Now that Chloe is here our traditions aren't much different. My mom still makes a huge Christmas breakfast, we still go to mass on Christmas Eve, and we still have a huge Christmas Day celebration. Mrs. Lemon-Lime on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1283709 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 10:32:18 +0000 Mrs. Lemon-Lime 1283709@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @Anagram: one of my husband's friends spent two hours opening gifts with his children. Each child received over 40 gifts! My gooodness. @Snowdrop: it was a lot of fun. We lived in a split level, so the search took us up and down and all around. bpcmarj on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1283628 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 10:12:02 +0000 bpcmarj 1283628@https://boards.hellobee.com/ It was a really big deal. So much that even though I haven't had Christmas with "my family" in several years, it still makes me sad that we don't all get to be together anymore. Christmas season was decorating with a tree, lights outside, and my Mom's many vintage Santa Clauses. Then it would include the town Christmas parade, church Christmas musical, visiting with friends, and occasionally a candlelight Christmas Eve service. Christmas Eve was reading the Christmas story, placing the star on the top of the tree, opening new pajamas, and then (as we got older) wrapping all of our gifts for the next day (including helping Santa wrap presents for our younger siblings). Then Christmas morning was lots of presents, a BIG breakfast (pain perdue, homefries, bacon and fruit), loud Christmas music, and lots of fun playing with our new things. I really hope that I can make Christmas as special as my parents made it for me. Mrs. Chocolate on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1283616 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 10:08:34 +0000 Mrs. Chocolate 1283616@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Im like you @Mrs. Bee. as I have written about in the past. My parents were immigrants so they never really did the holidays big which is what Im use to as well but DHs family does it much bigger and I admit now that I have kids I keep trying to figure out what elements to add or not add. I still have a few years before the kids really remember I feel and we are stuck with it until they grow up. Im still feeling around to see what works best for our family but so far we are doing Santa and elf on the shelf and maybe letters to Santa Not sure what else will happen in the next few years Anagram on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1283615 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 10:08:20 +0000 Anagram 1283615@https://boards.hellobee.com/ HUGE. Tons of presents for everyone. We had three christmases a year. One at home with our immediate family, one with my dad's extended family and one with my mom's extended family. We always went to a Christmas eve service and always had a huge breakfast Christmas morning. We didn't do Santa in our house growing up (I mean, we did pictures and stuff but that's all), so our christmas traditions were a bit different. We usually opened presents Christmas eve and my dad always read the story of jesus's birth from the bible while we all sat around the tree, and we would sing Christmas Carols at the appropriate time in the story---like Hark the Herals Angels Sing, O little Town of Bethlehem, etc. Then we would open presents and stuff. SO awesome. I think the only thing my mom regrets is getting us TOO many presents some years. We recently saw a picture of on our Christmases, with all the presents under the tree and overflowing to a table nearby and all over the floor and my mom said she wished we'd made Christmas a little less about consuming. But otherwise, it was great. My husband's family has never done Christmas since they are hindu. We will probably meet somewhere in the middle with our LO. Mae on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1283604 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 10:04:45 +0000 Mae 1283604@https://boards.hellobee.com/ It was a very big deal. My mom went all out decorating, we always made a big thing of Christmas shopping and making cookies. Lots of holiday music. We also would always see all of our extended family for Christmas on both sides, and we always went to midnight service at Church on Christmas eve. We always had stockings waiting at our bedroom door on Christmas morning and we made a big thing of opening all our gifts (one at a time, not a free-for-all!). I <3 Christmas. Snowdrop on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1283592 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 09:59:51 +0000 Snowdrop 1283592@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @Mrs. Lemon-Lime: sounds so lovely. The hot and cold game is a great idea! Smurfette on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1283591 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 09:59:51 +0000 Smurfette 1283591@https://boards.hellobee.com/ It was a big deal and still is!! We had an advent wreath, lit the advent candles every night with dinner. We wrote letters to Santa, decorated the house (inside and out), big tree. We make a Christmas craft every year that we gave to Aunts, Uncle, and Grandparents. Christmas Eve was always church, dinner, and presents with the whole family. Christmas morning was gifts, breakfast, and then stayed in our pj's all day playing. Steaks for dinner. We still do Christmas Eve with the family. We will spend Christmas Day at home, just us, but I will be still in my pjs! Mrs. Lemon-Lime on "How big was Christmas in your family growing up?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-big-was-christmas-in-your-family-growing-up#post-1283584 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 09:56:04 +0000 Mrs. Lemon-Lime 1283584@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We put up our tree shortly after Thanksgiving. We put Santa and Angel figurines, garland througout the house (stair banister, mantel, TV entertainment unit). In the family room we had special pillows, throws, and guest towels just for the season. Our tree was gorgeous. The ugly homemde ornaments always ended up in the back lol. We baked cookies the night before for Santa. We opened up our one present- Christmas PJs. We usually started camped out in front of the fireplace. Then, my parents would say Santa can't come until we sleep in our beds. The tree lights were always on when we woke up, which was special because throughout the season we turned them off each night. My parents made coffee and hot chocolate for us. We weren't allowed to open presents until everyone had their mug. We marveled at Santa's half eaten coikies. We took turns opening gifts because with every present my mom wanted to capture the moment with a photo. The most coveted toy would often be hidden somewhere in the house and we would play hot & cold until we found it. We opened stockings last. Then we could play with our toys and friends. Finally, we would get all dressed up for Christmas dinner. ETA: the music, my mom loves music and she played holiday music non stop. My favorite was the Temptations Christmas album.