What is your favorite Christmas tradition?

I'm not sure if this is an exclusively Canadian-American tradition or whether it was something that evolved as a polite game in the 1920s or 1930s throughout America, but all of my relatives on my mom's side used to get together for Christmas for a big gift-giving game.

Each person is asked beforehand to bring 3 or 4 low-cost wrapped gifts. Before the game starts, all the gifts are put in the center of the room in one or two large piles.

The game involves two decks of cards and a caller. The caller brings the first pile of gifts to a spot in the center of the room, and deals out all the cards to everyone in a circle. It's okay if some people get one card less than the others; what matters in the game is who has the caller's last called cards.

Once one deck is dealt out, the caller shuffles his own deck of cards, and starts drawing a card at a time. Whoever has a matching card from the first deck of cards gets to go up to the gift pile and take a gift back to his or her seat. If the gift pile is gone, then that person can steal someone else's gift! When the second deck is completely called through, everyone gets to open their gifts. If someone gets something that's really not his or her style, s/he can trade with someone else who wants it.

What makes this game fun are the wacky, odd-shaped and inexpensive gifts that get stolen over and over. One of the most swiped gifts from a past game turned out to be a wrapped roll of toilet paper with a can of tuna placed on top of it... the unique appearance made it such a conversation piece and we all got a big laugh out of seeing what made up the mystery shape.

I'm not sure how old your grandchildren are, but in the past mothers could play the game for their kids and give their kids the gifts they won. Sometimes it was priceless watching a mom send her kid toddling across the floor to steal a gift and come back with a great big smile.

Whether you can use this tradition or not, a very merry Christmas to you!

As you can see on my hub, I love tradition I've kept alive most of the Christmas traditions in my home passed to me by my family but I have made a couple of traditions that I have passed to my children and am sure it will pass to theirs as well. One is of course going out and seeing all the lights around town but we took it one step further several years back and that's to go to the Fantasy in Lights celebration held over in Georgia at Callaway Gardens. It's a yearly event that we love to attend. The other tradition is mentioned in my hub. It's to set up the Christmas village and each year we all by a new piece to add to the village, be it a new building or trees or cars ar people. It has gotten quite large. Soon I will split it up and send half of it to my daughter's home and half to my son. They can then set it up in their home and have their children add to it as well. It's something that will be passed from one generation to the next. I love to think that my great great great grandchildren will have be enjoying a family tradition that started in my home. I wish you, your daughter and your grandchildren a most joyous Christmas and I have a feeling that just having them back in your home will make Christmas an extra special celebration. Make memories!...Love and Many Blessings to ya'll

Sumosalesman that is a very interesting idea! Thank you for sharing that with me. I can picture remaking that game to fit for the grandkids! Sounds like it would be fun! My grandaughter is 7 and my grandson is 5. And a very Merry Christmas to you as well!

EagleHeart thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. We have a light display as well in a park about 45 minutes from home. Actually, I haven't seen it yet. That would be a treat! I like the idea of starting a Christmas village. As a child I use to love just putting up a small creche with all the little animals. Perhaps we can build a village in and around a small train set. And thank you for the blessings!

Thanks to both of you for answering my request! I will be stopping by shortly to sign on as a fan and check out your hubs. I hope you'll consider doing the same.