Home-schoolers, what's your Christmas like?

Question

Ok, so at my house we get presents on New Years eve, not Christmas. We don't have a tree, stockings, or Santa. Is this weird? I know only two other families that do that other then us. My dad doesn't believe that we should get gifts when Christ was born. Do you agree? Thanks!

Answer 1

We homeschool so we take 2 weeks off. We bake cookies and spend lots of time with family. On christmas eve we have dinner,dessert is a  happy birthday JESUS cake. Then we go to church. In the moring we read about JESUS' birth.Our children then open presents. We spend the afternoon with my in-laws and the evening with my side of the family. We explain to my children st. Nick is a person who lived long ago and because of JESUS gift to us , he gave gifts. We tell the children santa is pretend and it's ok to see movies and read about him. We do stockings and a tree.

Answer 2

We have a birthday cake on Christmas Eve. We use this time to worship Christ. On Christmas Day we go all out crazy with presents and food and fun. We enjoy our family,which I believe honors Christ. We celebrate and party in Thanks to our Savior.

Answer 3

Everyone is different.  Our family goes to church on Christmas Eve.  We do stockings and gifts Christmas morning, but we don't play up Santa but we don't completely omit him either.  My children know that Jesus is the reason we celebrate and the rest of it is just traditions.  I've known people who didn't celebrate though.  Does your family not celebrate at all?  That would be weird for Christians because Christmas is one of our most holiest days and to treat it like any other day of the year would seem.... wrong, to me.

When I was younger we did Christmas on Christmas morning.  When my parents divorced we had to adjust to having it twice;  once on Christmas day and once the week after.

I personally think it's a wonderful idea to exchange gifts on Christmas as a symbol of Christ's gift to us.  It becomes wrong when it's ALL about the gifts and Christ gets pushed out of the picture.

Answer 4

Many people exchange gifts on January 6th which is Epiphany/Three Kings Day/Twelfth Night.  Some families I know who homeschool and are Christian give gifts of: "gold, frankincense, and myrrh" - gold for a present the receiver really wants; frankincense - something for the body; and myrrh - something for the spiritual life.  They may also have small stocking stuffers, but the three presents are "it" for the holiday.

We've never pushed the Santa thing around here.  Mostly b/c DH didn't want to lie to the kids.  My son figured it all out (and the Easter Bunny & Tooth Fairy) at age four, and my DD doesn't care.

Some Christians do not like Christmas trees because of the pagan traditions.  I assume that's where your father's beliefs fall.

Answer 5

I am pretty much anti-Christmas.  People  put too much emphasis on the shopping.  We will not have a tree this year because we are in middle of renovation/decorating project in our home.  It is too much trouble to pull it all out and put it all back up again.   We can enjoy other people's efforts and save our time for other things.

Our gift giving this year will consist of gift cards or money.  I do not know of anyone who does not have more than they need.   Take a look at yard sales, even in the poorer parts of town...people have way too much.  

So, I think that gift giving is a good way to show people that you love them, but it is ok to spread it out over the year.   There is no need to spend in December and spend the next 11 months paying off the credit cards.  That is not smart.

Answer 6

I think everyone has to do what they feel is right by God. I know of one family that does things exactly as yours does. We do not celebrate santa, but we do celebrate christmas and have stockings, gift exchange etc. I think that it is great that your dad has provided and alternative celebration that he feels good about partaking in. Other people might find it stange, but that's ok, everyone has their own traditions anyhow! And besides you can save money by buying gifts at all the after christmas sales and if you have to return anything you'll have missed all the hectic lines and December 26 right??!

God Bless

Answer 7

My family is italian, and though we aren't really religious, we do have our own family traditions. On Christmas Eve we have a big fish dinner at my grandmother's house... Grouper, baked clams, antipasto(not sure of the spelling) Something else traditional I can't spell...basically thin noodles in a sort of olive oil dressing, chessnuts, lots of good stuff, but no meat (excluding fish) until after midnight. We also get to open presents from grandparents after dinner. ANd when I was very little, my grandfather would take me out to say merry christmas to the neighbors and bring some cookies or something to them. At night when I was supposed to be sleeping, (back at our house) my dad would take bells and go ring them under my window so I would wake up and think it was Santa flying away. Then on Christmas morning we'd eat breakfast, open presents, and just relax and have fun the rest of the day. This year my dad isn't with us, and my brothers wont be coming with us to Grandma's, so the feast wont be as big, and it will just be mom and me. No presents on Christmas eve. Then on Christmas day I will be packing in the morning, and in the evening Mom and I will bake gingerbread men. The following day I am leaving town to spend the rest of the holiday break with my boyfriend and his family up north, and of course bringing presents for all of them, and a batch of gingerbread men.

Answer 8

We do Christmas like most people except that we don't visit any one. We do all of our extended family visits before or after the 25th. We get together with my father about mid December and we call it thanks-mas. because we do a Thanksgiving type dinner and Christmas presents. We have a cousin's party where we get a baby sitter and have a celebration with just the Cousins on one side of the family usually with a gift switch game. This year the theme for gifts is something from your home you don't use! We are not allowed to spend any money on it! But Christmas day is reserved for the immediate family. Me my husband and the 3 kids. We have a birthday cake and sing happy birthday to Jesus and open the presents!

Answer 9

ummm what does ppl who r homed school got to do w/ this?

nope we give gifts cuz we believe it reps that Jesus gave his life for ours and to show the joy that we have for our loved ones and friends along with god and Jesus

Answer 10

I'm the parent. We celebrate Christmas on December 25th, with the exchange of gifts, the meal deal, and so on. We have a tree with all the bells and whistles, stockings, and so on. No Santa though.

I know of no one who waits until after the 25th.

I think that everyone has to work out their own observances and traditions. It wouldn't seem the same if we celebrated on another day, but that's my take on it.

I hope you enjoy your holiday, whichever day you observe it on.

Hope I helped. God bless you. †

P.S. I hadn't noticed your name! I LOVE the Sims! I recently added University, because my children are all getting older. I hope to add a few more expansion packs soon: Nightlife, Seasons, Bon Voyage, and Teen Style.

If I am not on Y!A, I can be found in Pleasantview!

Answer 11

If you don't mind me asking what does being home schooled have to do with it? I shop in the same mall as any one else. I buy food at the same grocery store as everyone else. I don't go to that one grocery store called home schoolers only.

But for Christmas we do the whole tree thing with the stockings, and all we do not wait until christmas to actually open the presents on Christmas Eve.

Answer 12

We're not religious so Christmas isn't such a big deal for us.

We make and put up our own decorations. We're definitely going to put up some lights this year cuz my baby brother just *loves* looking at anything lit up. We usually have something like Turkey for dinner. We get presents but nothing extravagant and usually it's something you need anyway - I'm getting some T.shirts this year (from my mum). We only do the essential jobs round here on christmas day. But sometimes we're like: "Is it christmas today? or tomorrow? Or was it yesterday?"

I've never heard of having presents at New Year's instead of Christmas but my cousins in Europe get their presents on 6th December instead of the 25th. That's because December 6th is the feast day of St Nicholas.