That same curmudgeonly grandmother also made stockings for each of her grandkids - i still have mine, red with elaborate cross stitch embroidery with my name and an elaborately decorated tree. I also have a green gingham stocking from after my parents separated, when mom liked to do a stocking at her place as well as one with dad's family.

We put out a plate of cookies for santa and carrots for the reindeer on xmas eve, and my father prided himself on personally knawing down the carrots to make them look (in the morning) like reindeer had chowed on them - unpeeled and uncleaned. yuck! Aunt Nancy lucked out and got cookie-eating duty. I found out about this a few years ago over a dinner with lots of wine. I now understand when dad always protested my desire to leave out hay for the reindeer, since it would be a PITA for santa to have to hand feed carrots to the reindeer when he was clearly on such a tight delivery schedule.

My cat refused to let me sleep this morning.

Violent retching is not a good Christmas tradition.

This is why i hated visiting grandmother. I've managed to outgrow that tradition, what with the no longer eating nasty things like venison and beef :)

All of my grandparents were thousands of miles away, so they weren't part of the Christmas tradition. At times I'm kinda thankful for that. Also most of them had passed away by the time I was five.

We opened one present Christmas Eve, then Christmas morning we were not allowed downstairs until my mother woke up. And we were not allowed to wake her up. When we went downstairs, we could peek in our stockings and check things out, but did not open things until after breakfast, which Dad made - scrambled eggs, sausage, toast, hot chocolate.

My niece has been doing the early morning thing at Christmas for years now. The present I would like the most is to just sleep in on Christmas morning.

Kind of funny immediate family Christmas/Holiday tradition story.

Last Christmas we spent at my brother and SIL's. When making food/menu arrangements, my SIL asked my dad to make his famous cinnamon rolls. My dad was very confused, and informed my SIL that mom makes the cinnamon rolls, so she should ask mom.

SIL was very apologetic and said, "Well I'll have to change that in the family cookbook. Ben told me that you [dad] made them."

Dad: I just make the frosting.

Mom and Dad tended to be up late finishing up things for Christmas, so Ben never actually saw who made the cinnamon rolls. He just new that on Christmas morning, Dad made the frosting and frosted the rolls. So, clearly Dad must have made the rolls.

Mom LOVES to tease my poor brother about this, and we now call them "Dad's Famous Cinnamon Rolls."

Our stockings, whether from Santa or Mom, were designed specifically to keep us occupied and let the grownups sleep a bit. We got candy, tiny knickknacks, and always, always a book and some little puzzle-type object. We couldn't wake anyone else up or open wrapped presents before everyone was up, but the stockings were fair game and there was always something in them to keep us occupied for at least an hour.

The present I would like the most is to just sleep in on Christmas morning.

We do that...and have for years. I'm always the first one up and wait till at least 10 a.m. for everyone else to get up. If you look at pictures from the last several years, I'm the only one dressed for stockings and breakfast.

I imagine that will change in the next couple of years, as we now have a little one.

Yeah, my niece was born my senior year in High School, so we had a few years off from the early morning stuff, but not nearly enough. She's started college this year, so it hasn't been as bad the past couple of years, but she does tend to be up early. Also, due to custody issues, she's only been with our family until noon, then her dad picks her up and gets her for the rest of the day. I have no idea how that will play out now that she's over 18.

This year we'll be in Ohio with my sister's kids, ages 3 and 5. We're also staying in their guest room. I'm very excited! I anticipate getting woken up early.