You guys! 8U I need infos!

[eliyes]

Okay, so, flist, I know there's an international bunch of people commenting on this here journal o' mine. I hearby invite you to tell me all about winter festivities in your part of the world. Every site I've found that compares how, for example, Christmas is celebrated in different parts of the world has failed my accuracy test. I check what they say about Canada. If it's wildly inaccurate, I ditch the site. Sites ditched to date: 18. Sites kept: 0

So, what say you? What all do you do, in your family, community, country? What have you seen done elsewhere, if you're a traveling sort?

I'm looking for inspiration.

Comments

[kiffie.livejournal.com]

Christmas isn't all that special with my extended family -- the only "odd" thing I can think of that we do outside of the bare-bones celebration (opening of gifts after dinner, spending the rest of the night getting drunk and telling stories) is passing out those Christmas poppers with the paper crowns inside. Those are fun and silly. One year, I got a shoe horn. :D

Community-wise, the Mission San Gabriel Arcangel decorates the big pine tree in their front yard with pie tins. They used to do lights, but I think there was a budget thing. Some businesses put lights on their palm trees. The fire department puts wreaths on the grilles of their engines.

[eliyes.livejournal.com]

A shoehorn? Seriously? XD

So you open your presents Christmas Eve? Or do you have the dinner Christmas Day?

[kiffie.livejournal.com]

I liked it. :(

We tend to have dinner with extended family on Christmas Eve, open whatever presents we have given/received with them after the meal. But Christmas Day is when me, my mom, and my dad all get up early and exchange our own gifts. And, inevitably, one of the cats gets inside the tree and causes trouble. :3

[eliyes.livejournal.com]

I'm not saying it's not good! It's just that I think the most useful thing I've ever gotten from one of those was a tiny plastic compass keychain.

Gotcha. :3 I open one present the night before and the rest the next day, with the exception of stuff from my friends. We all try to have a get together and open them together so we can show and tell and see how people like them. Once I choked from excitement and nearly wound up receiving the Heimlich maneuver. X3 I still have that purse. It is sturdy black canvas with JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS ON THE FRONT OMG 8D 8D 8D

[croaky.livejournal.com]

Actually, Wikipedia's note about Swedish Christmas here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_festivities) is fairly accurate, if very generic.

Perhaps most notably about Xmas over here is that the actual word for 'Christmas' is actually "Jul" (pronounced near like Yule, yes). We also have several otehr minor celerbation things during anda round Xmas so Xmas itself isn't such a super-huge feast. We celebrate "Advent", which is named after the Christian 'waiting for the light/birth of christ', but is basically just the count-down to either the 25th or the solstice: we light candles and put up stars etc from the first Sunday in December and onwards. We also drink mulled and spiced wine during all of december like it's obligatory.

Then there's St. Lucia day, another 'light' Holiday, named after the saint... and another 'light' holiday in disguise... where we do pagan stuff to supposedly celebrate Christian holidays. St. Lucia Day is one of our resemblances of Halloween with kind-of trick-or-treat'ing (the other day is on Easter). Lucia day is more like Halloween+going carolling, though. It's also known as the day all young peopel get so ridiculously drunk that there are public events like concerts etc planned every year just to either keep them home at the TV or somewhat sober.

The 24th we celebrate our Xmas.. with xmas tree, and presents etc. Winter edition of the infamous Swedish Smörgåsbord. Only thing to happen on the 25th is morning mass, if you actually go to church. Second day after xmas is public holiday and start of the Xmas sales. AKA crazy shopping and party day. Swedish Xmas supposedly ends on Ephiphany day.

There's helluva many different ways to do it though. Me, perosnally, I refuse xmas decorations before a day or two ebfore the 24th, becuase I prefer Advent decorations. And then you ahve the tree up to New years. Everything is abck to normal by Ephiphany.

Oh I almost forgot the most important thing, we ( and by we I mean me) also celebrate ME because hey.. the 24th is my day too. Cake on xmas, yes.

[eliyes.livejournal.com]

I researched the hell out of St. Lucia day a couple of years ago, actually, after I found a recipe related to the day.

Interesting! You've given me a few points to research off of. Thanks. :D

[random-redshirt.livejournal.com]

As far as the community goes, there's usually something called the downtown stroll in the first few weeks of December. Four or five blocks downtown are closed to road traffic for an evening so that people can wander around in the street without getting run over. Often there will be some sort of live entertainment by local groups, whether it be local indie bands or high school music groups, and occasionally demonstrations by local martial arts classes. Shops leave their doors open later than usual, and people sell stuff out of booths in the street, from sandwiches and hot chocolate to clothing and crafts. Sometimes there is a short parade at the beginning. In neighborhoods, people put up all sorts of lights and decorations, and it's not uncommon for people to just drive around town to look at all the shiny.

For my family, there is the making of a ridiculous amount of baked goods. We try to have Christmas dinner with family or friends. If we're visiting relatives, we might end up at a huge family get-together a few days before Christmas, where we eat lots of appetizers, swap stories, sing carols, and try to remember everyone's names. :D

[eliyes.livejournal.com]

The booths things sounds especially awesome, but up here there'd be frostbite for the effort. XD We do a lot of driving around to look at people's lights, though, or at least I do when I'm visiting home where people have cars. ;3

This sounds very much like the kind of Christmas party my friend's mom throws. You and Kiffie both mentioned telling stories. Is that a big part of the holidays for you? In my family it's just telling the kids the Christmas Story on Christmas Eve. Is it that kind of story?

[random-redshirt.livejournal.com]

Well, it can get pretty chilly sometimes, though I don't know how it compares to where you are. Still, a few hours of temperatures in the high-30s-to-low-40s degrees Fahrenheit is enough to make people glad of an outdoor gas heater.

That's sometimes part of it, but a lot of it's catching up on what everyone else has been up to. This goes double for any new additions to the family.

[20thcenturyvole.livejournal.com]

My family's Christmas varies depending on what country we're celebrating in. We're from Australia, where a typical Christmas involves hanging out at my Grandma's place preparing vast quantities of food before piling into cars and going to the beach for a barbecue, then coming home, doing the presents, and hanging out in the back yard for more food. All the normal bits and pieces are there - the tree (there are large evergreen forests in Queensland), midnight Mass, Christmas crackers, a large fruit pudding that had previously spent three days strung up outside in a cheesecloth being brought out, doused in brandy and set on fire - except it's really freaking hot and we make sure to wear a lot of sunscreen. I gather it's pretty similar in New Zealand, though I've never stayed here for Christmas. It's also fairly similar in Fiji, though that involved a lot more Methodists. England had all the traditions we were ripping off, it was just colder - also, you round off the evening by falling asleep in front of the Queen's speech, and these days, I gather, waking up just in time for Doctor Who.

However, my parents currently live in the UAE, a Muslim country in the desert; there aren't really any good services to go to, the tree's artificial because that's the only kind you can get, and the presence of family is a lot more variable, so it's a much more low-key affair. I didn't realise quite how much a community sense mattered to your Christmas spirit until I went to a place that didn't actually have it. Anyway, I hoped that was remotely useful.

[eliyes.livejournal.com]

Actually pretty useful indeed! Thanks for sharing. :3