[Raion]

I'm not one for Christmas much for a variety of reasons, but I do like hearing about people's cultural differences in how they celebrate it, who they're with, what food they eat, and such. 

Up until the age of about 19 I celebrated it mostly with my father, and while trees used to be part of it, by 19 it was no longer. It was a family tradition to get Italian-American food, my favorite thing was definitely the calzones or sfincione (a type of sicilian pizza). 

Since age 20, it's either been something I celebrate with whomever I'm dating, or rarely, with my grandparents. Most unique custom had to be my ex's celebrations in 2019, whose father was Croatian and her mother Greek - for those out of the loop that means there's a mix of Orthodox and Catholic traditions. For their part, Badnjak isn't actually the gift-giving day, that's St. Nicholas Day on Dec 6 (which is conveniently on the same day I was born, heh) for that family. I attended both, and her dad got me, well a PS4 controller (limited edition) because he is a massive gamer as a combined present - I got her parents some Chinese teas they like that are hard to source. Christmas mass at their church was 3 hours long or so and entirely in Croat, which I don't speak. For those who recall, I'm not Christian, but it was a unique experience anyways. Her mother's Orthodox Church, well I never went because Orthodox services are far more esoteric. The food, well in a word it's quite good! I like Croatian food, it's pretty tasty usually other than the mutton/lamb dishes, and the variety is usually pretty good. The Eve dinner is served with fish, which IIRC was halibut. It was quite tasty. 

Anyways, nowadays I do get gifts for people anyways, mostly because I know it's culturally expected of me as an adult to do so. I usually try to spread that out throughout the year so I don't deal with a massive financial hit. Some of my friends/family are used to by now having me ask them in Mar or Jun what they want. 

Anyways, let's hear what you do on Christmas.

[commodorejohn]

For my family, we don't have a lot of specific traditions so much as just general family get-together stuff, but one thing my parents have been doing since before I was born is making sandbakkels (almond-flavored Norwegian sugar cookies pressed into and baked in a fluted tin.) Love those things.

[Raion]

Huh, do they use real almonds or just the bitter almond extract?

Many "almond" flavored things other than amaretto taste more like cherry to me.

[SGIArtist]

Very recognizable about the 3 hour long Croatian mass , though nowadays it seems to be more streamlined. I still do that with my parents. Traditionally we also buy a whole roasted pig for Christmas. It's mostly a religious celebration, we never really did the whole gift thing.

[Raion]

If only she wasn't so freaking crazy. I liked her family a fair bit.

[commodorejohn]

Huh, do they use real almonds or just the bitter almond extract?

Many "almond" flavored things other than amaretto taste more like cherry to me.

Almond extract, yeah.

[Raion]

Neat. I figured that was the case. I would probably do something similar with amaretto.

[commodorejohn]

Mm, that'd be interesting to try.

[uunix]

My wife is Christmas crazy.. it normally starts with a CD in the car around July.. It really is what she lives for. Which is also the same for my mother, although since the old man passed away, does not have CD in the car.

So now that we have moved into the same house, we now have 3 rather large Christmas trees, multiple mini ones and just about anything 'Christmassy' you can imagine around the house. They love it.

Myself, I like to put on the persona I'm a grumpy anti-christmas MF, but that's to somehow create a balance otherwise, that fat fscker Santa (who I believe to have spread Covid last year) would have his feet under our table here.

Secretly, I love the 2 women in my life have a common goal (to naff me off) and a common love in celebrating Christmas, and as you can imagine.. my kids have a fantastic time.

Each year my parents would host about 14 of us for Boxing Day, obviously this year will be a lot different, but I'm sure next year will be better and I'll be the one distributing the presents under the Christmas tree instead of the old man.

As for the true meaning of Christmas.. I don't give a fsck really.. The bible in my opinion is a guide to how people should try and just be nice to each other. It's maybe what 'The Hitchhikers Guide' should have been for us earth dwellers.

[Trippynet]

My approach is interesting as my wife is German. When I grew up, we had lots of fancy lights, decorations, plus lots of presents. For my wife, she hates modern flashing Christmas lights and prefers more traditional German decorations. I've grown to like a lot of these. Nice, crafted paper stars that light up, traditional wooden and painted tree decorations etc.

We always go for a real tree - it just looks better, smells better and is better for the environment as well. We go for mixtures of Christmas food, so have had traditional German cookies, Stollen, but also British Christmas cakes and puddings as well. Plus we've had both geese and turkeys, just depends what mood we're in each year. We do go for more presents than my wife is used to originally, but try to find a nice middle ground.

Ultimately, both German and British Christmas is about food, family and fun - so there's plenty of overlap. Oh, and plenty of alcohol as well. Can't beat a nice gluhwein or feuerzangenbowle!