Advent Calendar 2017 - Day 1/2 - Holiday

[Gift Giver]

Advent Calendar 2017

Day 1/2

Holidays

Greetings Everyone and welcome to the 2017 Advent Calendar. Today is December 1st (Or at least it would have been if I posted it on time!), the first of many days in this huge contest. But today is something simple. Something easy that anyone can participate and everyone can win. No need to start off with this incredibly difficult task on the first (Second) day!

Nope! Today is just a simple writing task. Being that the first (Second) day's theme is "Holidays", I want to hear what you do for the Holidays. Doesn't matter which one you celebrate. Just let us know how you do it! Could have some family traditions, or just your own personal touch for the holidays. Don't celebrate a holiday? There's nothing wrong with that. Just tell us how you put up with all those crazy holiday people, and let us know what you like to do during this month.

Here are the rules for this event!

[li]Write based off of the topic! There are two possible topics here. 1) Write about your personal and/or family traditions for whatever holiday you celebrate. 2) If you don't celebrate a holiday, let us know how you put up with all of this craziness![/li][li]This is a ONE DAY EVENT! That means that 24 hours from the time of posting, this event can be closed. Will it be closed immediately after that point? Nope! The thread isn't closed until I say that it is. So if I haven't posted saying it's closed, you can post![/li][li]There has to be some sort of substance to this. Everyone has some sort of thing they do around this time. So I can't accept "I don't do anything" as a response.[/li][li]If you have a problem with any of the rules, PM Me! I'm an easy going guy, and if you waiting on a PM from me prevents you from entering this event, no worries. I will give you an extension equal to the amount of time you were waiting on me to respond.[/li][li]Make sure to follow the four rules I listed in the main thread. Here's a link for convenience sake. (LINK)[/li][li]All submissions are to be posted here in this thread![/li][li]FOR THIS EVENT! PLEASE LINK THE ACCOUNT YOU WANT THE RYO ON!
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Now for the fun part... The prize! The prize for Day 1's event is... 15,000 Ryo for every person who participates. Because of the nature of this event, there is no winners or losers. I can't judge you based off of what you do this time of year. So everyone who posts up what they do this time of year will receive 15,000 Ryo! And, as with all entries, a chance to win one of five grand prize packages at the end of the event. Plus, remember that you have to participate in all events to receive a special prize package at the end! This is by far the easiest one to participate in. So let us know what you do this time of year, and start this years Advent Calendar off strong![/font]

[Deleted]

My family waits till thanksgiving dinner to end after watching some football. The Dallas Cowboys always play on thanksgiving. After the game is over we all go and pick out our chirstmas tree late at night. Me and my sister argue over which tree is the best until he find a good 15-16 foot tree for our living room. The family loads it up in a vehicle (its always my truck) and I carry the tree into the house. That is my only contribution to decorating. I loathe decorating for the holidays. 

[Master Game]

Ah... Christmas. It has to be my favourite time of the year, only rivalling my birthday. On Christmas eve everything goes smoothly, we prepare and put up the decorations and the Christmas tree. There's quite a lot of hype in general. After that and the "Looking good in front of the adults to get good gifts phase", we head off to bed. On Christmas day it's a riot, we all jump out of our beds and gun it for the big old tree in the living room. In my family we'd have to wake up our parents first or they'll get steamed with the amount of disrespect.
After that it's all like a dream. We pop open the presents, take pictures, eat chocolates and spend half of the day watching Christmas specials on tv. Then my dad would finally take out a chocolate cake from the fridge and we would eat to we all got fat, maybe after then we would still go out and attend whatever Christmas party a relative is having. Then we would say our thanks to God since we're all christians and that pretty much sums it up.

[Skulking Shinzu]

Not an awful lot I’m afraid. Not a very Christmasy family – but we do try to get into the spirit. I tend to shop around and buy gifts for close members of the family and friends which we exchange whenever we manage to find the time to meet up. Usually small gifts with a tiny budget everyone has to stick to, so it ends up being troll presents. This is the first year we all decided to raise the budget, so actually had to be pretty thoughtful this year (grrr). Other than that, I pretty much just enjoy the days off work doing mundane stuff like watching shows and movies with the family.

Skulking Shinzu

[Marii K. Kazeraikou]

Christmas is probably one of the holidays I enjoy the most. It's one of the biggest holidays in my home country as well. Since Norway is so far north, the days are very short in November and December. Having such a happy holiday like Christmas literally brightens up everything. Especially the decorations that most people hang in their windows. My family is not an exception. My mother hangs stars in the window and decorate the mini trees we have outside. In addition, we have a wooden santa that my (now dead) grandfather made.

We usually split the chores between us since we're a big family. I usually do the vacuuming, dusting plus cleaning the bathroom sink. My family puts up the tree at December 23rd. In Norway, Christmas is celebrated on the 24th. I watch the Disney special plus "Three wishes for Cinderella" in the morning. After church, we eat rib roast with vegetables. My grandparents always joins us for the celebration. Afterwards, we have a Christmas quiz where each person asks ten questions. Last but not least are the presents. I usually hand out one for each person.

[Karui Kibo]

Oh Christmas one of the many wonders of the year for me and my family. My family's tradition at Christmas is that we first wake up early in the mourning and hand out presents to one another. Then we proceed to talk about what we did in the year and what we are currently doing. After talking we would generally wait for some of our other relatives to come over. When they would get here we would all start having a massive supper with Turkey mashed potatoes and other food items anyone really choses to make. After we all finished eating supper we would go into the basement to play games of pool until we end up getting tired enough that we have to go sleep.  

[Spectre of the Falls(Kuroki)]

For us it is Halloween that we really celebrate. Both me and my wife have late year birthdays and had to many birthmas stuff. So we dress for Halloween, eat pie and candy, and watch a nightmare before Christmas. We also do all sort of spooky themed decorations and sometimes go out to parties. We usually choose among our fandom as what to wear. I favor combat oriented stuff while she favors casters. Since its just the two of use and our pets we are pretty free flowing with it.

[kinko]

Christmas is one of the few times a year that I get to see my mother. During the break from school it is usually a time for me to unwind and start finalizing my plans for next year. Relaxing and spending time with my family while also reflecting on myself and my ambitions in life. Not to mention the delicious seafood I rarely get to eat once every blue moon. There is also the presents which I get to indulge in.

[Blue]

Christmas a time to celebrate, a time to rejoice the happiest time of the year for some people, but not everyone family is the happy holiday type. Most people love christmas for getting out of school some for all the present's, to be honest my most favorite part of christmas is presents sent from one person to another with love coming from the strongest Area in the heart.

[Nira]

Holidays are crazy, but I've got a nice and crazy family to match. The plans for this time around are the best in a while, I'd say. Super relaxing.

I'll cook the turkey, they'll do the rest. We'll make a pretty dinner and eat till we're nice and sleepy.

Then it'll be a night of games and movies. I'll be in my blanket burrito and I'll snuggle with whoever looks the softest at the moment. Hot coco is a must. Tissues on standby in case of coco disasters.

Nieces and nephews get red envelopes with lots of cash, as is tradition.

Take out every and all blankets and back up blankets. Last person asleep is the loser who makes sure no one is sleeping bare in the cold. That's usually me. I'm great at pulling voluntary all-nighters.

[tiki]

My first major holiday thing is actually today!

I'm going to have a big Thanksgiving-esque dinner with a whole bunch of friend tonight. My friend's apartment is super cozy, and I'm sure its going to be a really great time.

As Christmas gets closer I'll probably spend some time with my family, see if I can't get some older friends to meet up with me for a meal or two if they're coming from far away to visit their folks. All in all, the holidays are a pretty good time.

[Lianaly Fox]

Christmas used to be a really warm and fuzzy time of year for me. My Dad would decorated the house with banners and ribbons, there was always lovely smelling incense in the air, and we all had fun putting up the tree and lights outside our house. We would always go to our grandma’s house and meet with the family, spend time together and eat a nice dinner before collecting our gifts. Then once we get back home we played Christmas music on the radio and sat together near the tree just enjoying ourselves until it was time to open the presents. That was how it used to be, but since the passing of my grandma it started to look a little less fun, since she was the one who called our family together, nobody else really bothered to meet up for Christmas any more.

It was still a nice day, where I can probably get my mom to buy me a new game or two, but the presents became less extravagant after my dad became ill and could no longer work. So we just used what we could to put something together, we stopped decorating the house inside and out, but still put up a tree every year. Then my Dad passed on new year's day not too later, and really Christmas hasn’t been much of a thing for us since then. Now we just try to eat nice when we can afford and try to give at least 3 things to each other, sometimes that was hard because at some point I stopped caring about gifts because there was simply nothing I wanted. The tree still went up of course, but it really isn’t as meaningful as it used to be. Honestly I’m surprised that we still try to celebrate each year, my Mom and Brother aren’t really into Christmas anymore.

I honestly just do nothing but sleep and laze around for most of the holidays. Don’t really celebrate Christmas anymore, don’t celebrate New Year’s besides being happy that we made it to a new year, don’t do anything on Easter or Valentine's, and all of those minor celebration days too. Really the only holiday I enjoy anymore is Independence Day, but that's only because there is a Church open every year that does a big free party, I get to do all sorts of fun things every year. Like use their Chalk to draw large pictures, heh. I suppose I could mention Halloween, but I don't really go out unless there is an event happening (Like when I was in College).

I think that covers everything I can think of right now.

[~Emi~]

My family has never been celebrating thanksgiving more than a little extra fancy food during the past two years. It has been a day for tacos, something is eaten in basically only one way here.

The christmas on the other hand has been celebrated almost the exact same way since I was small. We meet up around 1 PM and talk for a few minutes with quite basic small talk before we gather around a massive table with all kinds of food. There's almost always the same kind, some meatballs, small sausages, potatoes, brown beans, red salad, jansons, christmas ham and some normal salad to name a few. It usually takes a little over an hour until everyone feels finished and then the candy is brought forward. It's mostly so everyone has something to snack on while we watch at donald duck and his friends at 3 PM. The show is the same with just a few scene changes over the years and it usually makes the family to collectively complain about the new censorships in the video. Then afterwards we play some games or when were younger shared presents for an hour or two before it is yet again time to eat something. This time its rice-porridge and sandwiches.

After that meal it usually doesn't take that long until people start heading home and do whatever they feel they have the energy to do.


~Emi~

[Deleted]

Christmas at the Ioshi's place. Me and my fiancee and our little boy will be spending our 1st christmas as a "family" this year. Just recently moved to anew city so everything is a little different. Me and my family used too decorate the tree back on november 1st so that shit is already up. Then we used to sing christmas carols and dance around till about december 1st and then everyone is completely over the Christmas holidays XD but it's all merry and fun for the lot of us

@newguy <--- this account plox

[Cadoc]

My mother enjoys putting up Christmas decorations, so we generally put them up a few weeks in advance. She had a particular interest in 'words' so we normally have a few variations of 'noel' around our house.
As for our Christmas traditions, I guess they are relatively similar to everyone else, we open presents at our house build the toys etc, our divorced grandfather comes around early in the day spends his time with us, we have our dinner together.
Then he generally leaves to go and see his own friends, and we travel to our grandparent's house where we meet up with quite a few family members and enjoy the rest of the day.
Best part is my grandmother's desserts!

[Kinzoku]

It's the MOST wonderful time of the year~

Being hispanic, my family celebrates Christmas, but we celebrate the night before. It's called Noche Buena or good night. During this day, we all go to one of my family member's house and have a giant feast. After this, all the kids gather around a chair and are read "Twas the Night Before Christmas". Then Santa either makes an appearance and hands out gifts or we hear a jingle and the gifts magically appear under the tree. It all depends on the age group of the kids on what we do lol Christmas day is actually spent playing with whatever gifts were received or for those of us that work, double time and a half at work

[neko bo beko]

oohh I'd have to say Thanksgiving is the biggest holiday for my family. We generally go to a few different places for it because my family is huge and not all of my family gets along with the other side, et cetera. We go to my mom's step-mother's house the week before the actual Thanksgiving, and we eat with her first. We also have to help her carry her decorations up and downstairs, and her basement stairs are old and terrifying and I honestly hate doing that bit. She has... like, over fourteen boxes of decorations... for Christmas alone. But she's festive, so whatever. After that, we usually go to my nana's for the actual day, or I go with my boyfriend to his mom's house for it. If we didn't have it at home, then we do the next week. It's a few weeks of nonstop turkey dinners and cranberry sauce, so I'm game for all of these feasts.

neko bo beko / neko

[Tetsu]

Honestly, I don't do a lot for the holidays. I live in my own, have only a few friends, and most of my time is spent training or doing school work. One thing that I do do every year though is that I go to my grandparents house for breakfast on christmas and then go to my girlfriend's parents house in the afternoon to spend time with them on the day of Christmas. Not really religious but I do enjoy spending time with people and enjoying the fellowship!

[Gift Giver]

Thanks for the Stories!

The following individuals have received 15,000 Ryo on the accounts they posted their story on, as well as an entry into the final drawing at the end of the Advent Calendar event! If you go by a different name that I might not know, please shoot me a PM so that I can keep track of it properly!

snowflake
Master Game
Skulking Shinzu
Marii K. Kazeraikou
Karui Kibo
Spectre of the Falls(Kuroki)
kinko
Blue
Nira
tiki
Lianaly Fox
~Emi~
@newguy
Cadoc
Kinzoku
neko bo beko
Tetsu

Any stories posted here following this post are not eligible for the prize or the drawing entry, but if you see it and want to share your holiday season stories, you are always welcome to do so!