Any family Christmas stories?

[IndyBob]

Here's one -

This happened when I was about 4 or 5. I'm still suffering emotional scars.

It was Christmas Eve at my parent's house. Both sets of Grandparents were over for the night. Tradition was, after everyone arrived and some chatting had been done, Santa would visit and then gifts would be opened.

My folks insisted my brother and I take a bath before Santa arrived. Not long after climbing in the tub, we heard sleigh bells and a loud "HO HO HO". Santa's here, but being naked, we could not run out to see. This was my dad of course, but I didn't know this at the time.

All of a sudden my dad starts yelling very loudly - "Hey fatso, get your damn reindeer off the roof! They're messing up the shingles!" He ranted at Santa for a while, with a few "HO HO HO" replies from Santa thrown in.

My brother and I were in a total panic. "Don't yell at Santa, you'll scare him away", we cried. Got dressed as quickly as possible. Ran out to the living room where the tree was.

The tree was surrounded with gifts in wrapping. Santa had left the presents despite dad's behavior.



Hmmmmm. If I had kids, it would be awfully tempting. My dad still pulls stunts on me and my brother. He's now 71, and still works 32 hours a week. He and I spend a week fishing in Canada every year. Great man.

[Lyric]

1. The Year That Santa Slept In

Or alternately, how my poor 7-year old sister traumatically learned the truth about Santa.

You know, I think the title really says it all. No need for much explanation. :rofl:

[EFerrari]

2. My first mil used to buy presents for my kids that required assembly

made noise and hurt like hell if you stepped on them in the dark. :evilgrin:

We used to stay up half the night on Xmas Eve putting the New Thing together -- one of us cursing and deciphering badly translated instructions, the other one cursing over missing parts, batteries and stripped screws.

It became sort of a tradition. The kids always loved whatever Lady gave them. She's been gone about ten years now but we still miss her every single day, especially on Christmas Eve.

That was one cool Lady.

[dropkickpa]

3. Mom cancels xmas every year

She also cancels Thanksgiving annually and tells us we're getting hot dogs.

An xmas tradition we always have is someone gets designated the "garbage elf", gets to wear a santa hat, and gets to stand there holding a garbage bag gathering up all of the wrapping detritus during the festivities. They are subject to yells of "Hey garbage elf, you suck!!" :rofl: while being pelted with wads of paper and bows. Sounds bad when I write it out, but it's actually pretty fun and we all laugh a lot (including the GE), and we all take turns (except for my parents and the now 3 grandkids). There's six adult children, so each person gets 5 years off before doing the duty again.

I started a thing with Dropkid where I have her convinced that Santa and the Easter bunny are best friends who talk on the phone all the time, so I get occasional spurts of good behavior from Thanksgiving through easter :woohoo: . We actually AREN'T religious in the least, this is the kid who yelled out at a christening "Who's that lady with the baby?" while pointing to the 2 story tall mosaic of Mary holding Jesus. But I love the wonder and fantasy it all has for little kids, so we sort of celebrate.