Holidays and tradition go hand in hand: Thanksgiving feasts, Christmas trees, menorah lighting, New Year’s Eve kisses.
But some traditions are more quirky and idiosyncratic. I knew a family who decorated a chair every Christmas instead of a tree. My own family spends every Christmas morning watching The Godfather (parts one and two – not part three). And Mariah Carey, the queen of Christmas, once said she gets “one or two horse-drawn sleighs” for her family and friends to go “riding in the snow under the stars”. Sounds nice!
We asked Guardian readers to share their unusual holiday traditions. Their answers were a reminder that the holidays can be whatever you want them to be.
A romantic Thanksgiving viewing of … The Shining
My husband and I have been together for 13 years now, and every Thanksgiving, we watch The Shining. Right after high school, when I was working a part-time job, I went on break and saw that I had 17 text messages. A guy from school had repeatedly texted: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” Liking scary movies, I recognized the line and texted back. We went on a date shortly after, and have been together ever since. So now we always play that movie, because we’re thankful it brought us together.
Serena, Arizona
Burrito Thanksgiving
We have Burrito Thanksgiving. I’m vegetarian, and no one in the house likes Thanksgiving food, so instead of cooking food no one likes, we gather for days to prep the most elaborate burrito spread we can imagine.
Anonymous, North Carolina
Tossing the Christmas lampshade
My adult kids, son-in-law and I circle the Christmas tree and take turns tossing a battered yellow and orange flowered lampshade to see who can land it in its place of honor atop the tree. It started about 10 years ago, when we decided against the rather generic angel we had been using. My oldest son rescued the lampshade (an old craft project of my daughter’s) en route to the trash, and our tradition was born. The first year, I was very aware of its incongruity. At this point, I can’t imagine our tree without it.
Heather, Ohio
Luxury shopping on just $5
A day or two before Christmas, my mom and I would dress to the nines and go to Beverly Hills. We’d have lunch in the lobby of the Beverly Wilshire hotel (often near Zsa Zsa Gabor), then shop on Rodeo Drive for items under $1. After a decade, we raised the stakes to $5.
Usually, we’d find things like a thin slice of fruitcake or a rubber-band ball. But no matter – it gave us an excuse to go into all the fancy shops we could never afford.
Carrie, California
Leap-year Christmas
We only celebrate Christmas every four years. We got married on a leap day, so we have an anniversary every four years, and we decided to do the same for Christmas. (We don’t have kids; it’s not really feasible if you do.) We look forward to the year we do Christmas, and we do it up big!
Suz & Micah, Oregon
Christmas-morning Lego races
Christmas morning, I hand out identical Lego sets to all family members over the age of six. Then, while a breakfast of popovers, eggs, bacon and fruit is readied, they race to see who can finish their set first. It started when my kids were six, to keep them occupied. They’re in their 40s now.
Sheelagh, Virgin Islands
Activities instead of gifts
Our family does not exchange Christmas gifts. We came to this decision after years of stressing out over what to buy people and wasting a lot of time and money.
I was the first to rebel. The year I turned 50, I suggested that nobody buy me anything for Christmas because I didn’t want anything else to clutter up my house. Instead, I asked that they give me a holiday card and, in it, suggest something they would like to share with me during the coming year. I did the same for them.
Within a few years, most of us were opting out of gifts and thinking of ways we could connect with each other on a one-on-one basis. My best friend treated me to lunch at a beautiful restaurant. My brother-in-law took me to an art museum for an afternoon. My neighbor took me to hear the music of my favorite composer. Now, the only people in my family who get physical presents are children.
Susan, Georgia
Christmas day reading contest
For years, my younger sister and I exchanged books as Christmas gifts. Because we’re competitive, it became a race to see who could finish theirs first. Twenty years ago, she enlisted her most well-read friend to judge the contest. In November, he circulates a longlist [of potential books to read]. We eliminate the books we’ve read, and then he selects the CRDC (Christmas Day reading contest) title and sends it to us. Reading can start at midnight on 25 December. Finishing first wins you points, but the victor is crowned in the new year, after the judge has marked our answers to his questions [about the book]. Creativity and humor count! In theory, the loser donates to the judge’s charity of choice. In practice, we both do so we can double the donation.
Elizabeth, Nova Scotia
Bringing turkey to the ER
I have always cooked the Thanksgiving turkey. After my divorce, I would cook a large turkey with stuffing. I would eat a bit with a friend, then take the rest to Mercy Hospital emergency room for the nurses. The year I retired as a physician, I got a call from the ER: “What time are you bringing the turkey?”
Tony, Iowa
The magical growing stocking
When I was a child, each year my dad would purchase a new stocking for my mom. Each year, the stocking got bigger. About five years into this tradition, the kids started contributing to filling the stocking. We would all buy small things – perfume, makeup, socks, candies – and then wrap them and give them to dad to put into mom’s stocking. By the end, the stocking was about 5ft tall and 4ft around. It had to be specially made just for her by a friend of the family, and it took about an hour for her to empty the stocking and open all the gifts.
Mark, California
The delicious Thanksgiving meal that’s easy to clean up
One year, we spent Thanksgiving painting the bathroom. Come dinnertime, I went for what was in the fridge: eggs, green chile and bread. It was so good that for the past 25 years, nothing else will do. When people ask: “How was your Thanksgiving?” and I tell them that we celebrated with an egg-and-green-chile sandwich, they do a double take. Then, they say: “Actually, that sounds great.” It is. And cleanup is a breeze. Adam, New Mexico
Wrapping the kids in their rooms
Every year, I “trap” the kids in their room with varying degrees of difficulty. I have two sons, and when they were young, their dad left us and we were very poor. I wanted to make Christmas memorable without spending a lot. They had these cardboard bricks, and I stacked them in the hallway so that when they woke up on Christmas morning, they were stopped by a wall. They had so much fun breaking through. The next year, I thought it would be fun to do something new. I taped up streamers across the door frame, and stuffed balloons between the streamers and the closed door. When they opened the door, the balloons fell in on them. The babies are now in their 20s, and still excited to see how they will be “stuck” away from their gifts. I think they enjoy it more than the gifts these days.
Katie, Georgia
