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Wow, all is very quiet at the board. Hope everyone is well and no doubt rushing to get everything done in time for the main holiday season. I am very much in frantic mode particularly because all the family is coming to me this year - not just for Christmas Day but for Boxing Day as well. After that our house will go deadly quiet - or at least that's my intention so that I can write, write, write. Then I'll be heading off to Tasmania, which is where I know I will achieve the peace I need and arguably where all my best writing occurs anyway.I am doing the traditional roast turkey and all the trimmings this year, as I do each year, because I love the rituals of Christmas. It takes me back to childhood and somehow all feels very assuring. My mother makes the pud each year because she is a bit of legend at it and she combines this with lashings of brandy butter, vats of rich custard and there's always cream and ice cream lurking. I have made my own Christmas cake this year too because it made me feel like I was getting into the mood. Try though I might, summertime has never worked for me at this time of the year. I need Christmas to be cold but that's simply because of the hemisphere I was born and raised in. I know my kids sniff the air around the end of November and say "mmm, smells like Christmas".I like going to Midnight service and then coming home to wrap the gifts while I chew on mince pies or chocolate. I barely get more than an hour's sleep on Christmas Eve because I'm falling onto my pillow around 3.30am and getting up again before the birds to get my turkey stuffed, sewn up, prepped and into the oven. I seem to do it with a smile on my face because I love Christmas and fairy lights, all the treats, everyone so happy, etc. I like the overdose of good food and then all the promises never to eat again and yet by the evening everyone's looking around for turkey sandwiches or some bubble and squeak. I love falling into bed that night feeling utterly exhausted but knowing everyone had a great time and drifting off to sleep as the Christmas tree winks and sparkles with colour.I could go on....but how is everyone else's Christmas shaping up? What are your plans? What are your rituals/traditions for the festive season?F

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Fiona, wonderful to hear what you love about Christmas.

Yes, I have been itching to get back to the forum to see what everyone has been talking about.  Just been busy with work and life and family.

We too have a hot dinner at Christmas.  Even tho' we are Aussies in the hot humid heat of Sydney, we can never quite bring ourselves to part from it.  Nowadays, having a hubby who is english - he would feel even more homesick if we didn't I think! LOL

I am looking forward to the family, the smell of turkey cooking and veges, the masses of paper everywhere from the kids opening their gifts, the smell of the powder from the bon bons!   The sound of the fans blowing the tinsel, the smell of pine tree or the plastic tree LOL!

I have had one white Christmas in Canada in 1992 - it was minus 27 degrees celcius - and I was very homesick it didn't feel the same! LOL  I had thought it would feel better or more appropriate ... but alas, Christmas is more about childhood ... rituals ... traditions ... so I understand what your boys mean - the smell in the air on a humid day as we approach Christmas - particularly if I can smell Australian Christmas Tree blooms - is definitely the smell of Christmas - because it is the memories of my childhood!

Merry Christmas to everyone on the forum here! I'm so glad I found you and met you all this year.  All the best for a wonderful 2010 filled with lots of Fantasy books in your lives!

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Our Christmas starts the day after my girls' ballet concert (at the beginning of December every year).  We travel to a Christmas Tree Farm and choose our tree and I splurge on some new decorations.  You just can't beat a real tree for Christmas.  My husbands mother is German, so on Christmas Eve we have a dinner and give presents. Then, on Christmas day we head off to the Salvos for a Christmas service, then head home to prepare the feast!  We are hosting this year, Mum is cooking the roast (pork and chicken, no turkey), and I provide the vegies and dessert, etc.  Of course we will overeat, but I always leave enough room for dessert, because I love my pudding and custard and only get it once a year!  Boxing Day is a big clean up day for us, usually followed by a trip to the beach or a catch up with friends.  Funny how Christmas day is for the family, but you can't wait to catch up with friends later. 

Have an awesome Christmas Fiona and fellow forum members, and all the best for 2010 - pursue your dreams with passion, and never take the gift of life for granted!

Liz D.

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Christmas is such a fun holiday. I remember being a little gumper who couldn't even fall asleep on Xmas eve because I was too excited to see what Santa was going to bring me. I'm not sure I have a better memory than flying down the stairs on Christmas morning ,wearing those pajamas with the feet in them, to rip open packages of goodies and toys. Add in the fact that you follow that up with turkey and mashed potatoes and it really doesn't get much better than that. I hope you all have a very good holiday season that is filled with special memories of your own.

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It is nice to be important but it is much more important to be nice.

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For many years now, I've been the chief cook and bottlewasher for our big Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.  That traditionally meant a big Turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, green peas, creamed onions, cranberry sauce, gravy and at least pumpkin pie for dessert.  My son-in-law likes ham as well, so I've occasionally thrown one of those in too.  It's also a very easy meal to put together, so that helps in the hectic days of celebration.  This year I'm breaking a bit from the typical; I'm not cooking turkey, but a standing rib roast. That may be my favorite cut of beef, and I'll cook it to medium rare. Individual portions will be cut about three quarters of an inch thick at the table.  Just melt in your mouth goodness.  No dressing, of course, as that would have cooked inside the turkey.  But I will make a gravy from the pan drippings and a horseradish sauce.  Probably add another vegetable like brussel sprouts (though I hate those suckers) for my daughter and her hubbie.  We'll open presents Christmas morning and eat about 2:00 PM.  I put our tree up yesterday and will string the lights this morning.  My daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter arrive tomorrow afternoon from their home in Ashevill, North Carolina, and we'll add the ornaments and finish decorating the tree that evening.

I've already sent off two big boxes of gifts to my brother's family in Connecticut amd have a lot of wrapping ahead of me here on the home front.  I couldn't possibly do it in one evening, so, I've already started.  I'm just not happy if I don't see gifts piled high around and under the tree!  Some may feel that comercializes the holiday, but I don't do it out of obligation; I do it out of the joy of giving!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and happy holidays to all of you.

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Hello all

I grew up in an English/Aussie household, so Christmas was Midnight Mass and would wake in the morning for the presents Santa had delivered sometime between about 2 and 6am (my poor parents).  Turkey, ham and roast veggies for lunch, followed by a pudding, an afternoon nap and leftovers for dinner.

My husband is Chinese and so we have yum cha for Christmas lunch (which will be bought from one of the local Chinese retaurants).  We might buy some prawns on Christmas eve as well.  We also now have a beautiful daughter and will have the family around for lunch.  We haven't done the traditional dinner for a number of years now - always preferring to either eat out at a restaurant or bring in food to share. 

I have presents, but I doubt our daughter is going to appreciate them too much this year.  Will have to wait for next year when she has a vague understanding of what is happening.

Merry Christmas everyone and best wishes for the New Year.

Mdx

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I have really enjoyed this thread! Thanks to everyone for posting!