'We call each other by our middle names on Christmas Eve': 20+ Weird holiday traditions that people thought were normal, but were actually unique to their family

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Dec 15, 2023 11:00 AM EST

Every family has their quirks, especially when it comes to creating holiday traditions. 

Even though Christmas specials on TV depict the day the same way, every family is quite different with how they celebrate the special day. On TV, the family might gather around the tree and open presents on by one. Seems pretty straightforward, right? 

Well, one person in this thread wrote that their family loves to let the kids open just one single present per hour. They get to open a gift, and then wait a long time until they can pick something else. That's an interesting idea, though that probably would take up an entire day. And imagine they open a pair of socks or a toothbrush — they now have to wait 60 minutes to try for a more fun gift. 

U/TheJackal8 was curious about the "weirdest holiday tradition your family has," and over 1,800 people commented to share their favorite ones. 

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  • Check out all of the interesting anecdotes below. You might even get some great ideas for your own holiday gatherings! I love the idea of the family who turns on the ceiling fan and tosses their wrapping paper at it, letting it fling across the room. It seems harmless enough, and it's fun for the whole family. 

    Next, this person's ex disagreed with how he was handling their apartments bills, but she didn't know they were actually in her name. 

  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 9851232512
    via Jonathan Borba on Unsplash
  • 02
    Holiday Megathread 4: What is the weirdest holiday tradition your family has?
    via u/TheJackal8
  • 03
    snugglefiend We have a present wrapping competition most years, where we select one gift and try to wrap it extra fancy. Last year it was themed "any time or place". Some submissions were themed Jurassic Era, Seattle, the garbage bin and the bathroom. The best submission ever was my brother and his girlfriend on the very first wrapping comp where they conveniently mis-heard and submitted a christmas rap. They wrote and recorded a christmas rap about the family and it even had backing music.
    via u/snugglefiend
  • 04
    midshipmen89 Has to be an orange smashing contest at Christmas eve dinner. Not the chocolate oranges like normal people, but real oranges. Everyone at the table gets one, and gets one hit to do as much damage as they can. My grandma is the judge, and the winner gets to open their present first the next morning.
    via u/midshipmen89
  • 05
    Donkeyshrek Last one I swear. When I was born my mom was on this show called "Supermarket Sweep". (bad Canadian game show) however, no one knew about this until one year my older brother spends 6 months taping reruns of the show trying to find it. He found it and then showed me. Since this was the early 90s you can bet my mom was in a matching purple sweat pant suit, with permed hair.
    via u/Donkeyshrek
  • 06
    Anyway, found he tape and decided it would be perfect to surprise my mom with at our big family dinner on Christmas. It was hilarious and we now bring it out every Christmas because we can and it never gets old watching my mom answer questions about groceries
    via u/Donkeyshrek
  • 07
    Over-Analyzed My family and several other families in my Church would sometime after Christmas, gather all the Christmas trees and have a Christmas Tree Bonfire on the beach. It was perhaps the best thing ever. Till my Church was busted for throwing 3 trees onto the fire at once causing a huge magnificent 20ft flame to erupt. The Fire Department was called. Our tradition pretty much ended after that.
    via u/Over-Analyzed
  • 08
    Mediocre-raptor It's not really special but... We try to disguise our presents in different size boxes, and try to make it as ridiculous and hilarious to open as is possible. My favorite example was 2 years ago, my brothers present to me was (at first) a box that was roughly the size of a printer. Then it was several boxes within a box (all boxes were wrapped of course), and then in the very last box was a deodorant stick.
    via u/Mediocre-raptor
  • 09
    Then I had to unscrew the deodorant all the way until it popped out, and underneath that was a plastic bag that contained a gift card. Yeah, we waste a lot of wrapping paper., but it's hilarious seeing all of us get frustrated trying to figure out what the present is.
    via u/Mediocre-raptor
  • 10
    tigris1427 My uncle received a prepackaged and extremely unappetizing fruitcake as a Christmas present when he was about seventeen. As a joke, he wrapped it up and gave it to my grandmother (his mother) on Christmas day. The next year, my uncle opened his final Christmas present from my grandmother. It was the fruitcake, still uneaten and still unwrapped. A legacy began.
    via u/tigris1427
  • 11
    Every Christmas, the current bearer of the fruitcake gave it to the other in increasingly ludicrous ways. One year, my grandmother asked my uncle to pour the orange juice on christmas morning. Inside the carton was: the fruitcake. Another year an anonymous gift of gourmet jello arrived at my uncle's door. Suspended within was the fruitcake. The next year, my uncle baked the fruitcake into a loaf of bread. While my grandmother was cutting the bread, she cut the end off of the fruitcake.
    via u/tigris1427
  • 12
    She nailed it back on with a roofing nail. Often, third parties are coerced into assisting with the delivery. When my mother married my father, her initiation process as the new daughter-in-law was the present my grandmother on Christmas with: the fruitcake. My grandmother retired from the school board one Christmas, and her confused supervisor's parting gift to her was: the fruitcake.
    via u/tigris1427
  • 13
    The fruitcake arrives in decorative wreaths. It is found in a daughter's doll house. It is lowered from the ceiling with twine during Christmas dinner. The fruitcake is 36 years old this Christmas. We have yet to unwrap it. TL;DR-36-year-old fruitcake with roofing nail is an annual family Christmas gift
    via u/tigris1427
  • 14
    EdmDantes Me and my brother used to watch Band of brothers, all 10hours, on Christmas Eve. It's weird when the battle of Bastogne reminds you of Holly jolly christmas cheers.
    via u/EdmDantes
  • 15
    barnaclelips We call each other by our middle names on Christmas Eve. I have no idea how it started.
    via u/barnaclelips
  • 16
    Emmahlee20 Chocolate for breakfast on Christmas day, because who needs a balanced breakfast! 338 Share The Jackal8 OP Christmas is essentially opposite day.
    via u/Emmahlee20
  • 17
    nomadbishop Decorating the Christmas tree at Dad's house while listening to death metal.
    via u/nomadbishop
  • 18
    spovz When we are opening our presents, we turn the ceiling fan on high and throw crumpled up wrapping paper into it.
    via u/spovz
  • 19
    Oreo Sundaes I love this tradition but most people find it really strange. On Christmas morning we aren't allowed all our presents but rather we get one present every hour. It's brilliant the anticipation lasts all day and you get to really enjoy each present. It's also scary because as a kid you knew you were bound to whatever gift you picked for an hour so it was often a heart wrenching decision!
    via u/Oreo Sundaes
  • 20
    thatonechickshescool Watching A Muppet Christmas Carol, putting up the same decrepit artificial tree (26 years old, parents bought it for their first Christmas) that is missing branches and leans East for some reason, and Santa gets a big can of Mountain Dew and a slice of devils food cake. Hella yeah.
    via u/thatonechickshescool
  • 21
    woodstock6 We all have to hear the lamest joke my dad has heard in the past year before we can open presents
    via u/woodstock6
  • 22
    lucybluth Even though my siblings and I are all moved out of the house, when we get to my mother's house on Christmas Day she makes us wait at the top of the stairs so she can get a picture of us running downstairs to our pile of presents under the tree. We are all in our twenties.
    via u/lucybluth
  • 23
    nice8888888 On New Years we find traditions from every country we can and do them really quick. Like running across the street with a suitcase, singing a traditional song, watching the ball drop, and eating 12 grapes.
    via u/nice8888888
  • 24
    On Christmas eve, after all the wrapping paper was off, my whole extended family would have a wrapping paper-ball fight. It usually would last until one of my aunt's would get hit in the face and become grumpy. Then sometimes my Grandma would laugh and throw another ball at Aunt
    via r/AskReddit
  • 25
    rafiki530 we used to burn all our wrapping paper in a big bonfire, we live in a suburb and would just burn it in the street, yeah that's about it. We would also throw our old calendar in their too. Something about burning our past.
    via u/rafiki530
  • 26
    priceisalright I know this is the wrong holiday, but every Thanksgiving we do the "Burning of the Napkin" where my uncle lights a napkin on fire using a lit candle from the dinner table and slowly lowers it into a glass of water while the whole family sings the Super Bowl theme song. It dates back about 25 years.
    via u/priceisalright
  • 27
    EDIT: Just talked to the uncle to get a bit of history. Apparently this started when my aunts and uncles and my mother were children and sat at the "kid's table" during Thanksgiving. They would run their fingers through the flame of the candle at the table cus they were bored children, and this slowly escalated into running various items through the flame. My
    via u/priceisalright
  • 28
    uncle did it with a napkin from the table and it caught fire and he quickly dunked it in a glass of water. I guess they did this every Thanksgiving since and the Super Bowl theme song got adopted at some point along the way.
    via u/priceisalright
  • 29
    lethargicpoison We watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. We exchange pajamas on Xmas Eve. Newly made tradition is guessing how many gifts our Grandmother gave herself. Last year, she had about 7 gifts under the tree...all to her, from her. She wrapped them too.
    via u/lethargicpoison
  • 30
    ✪ [deleted] We used to do find the pickle in the Christmas Tree but don't really anymore since everyone has grown up and I'm in college but I stillwanttoplay
    via u/[deleted]
  • 31
    MaxPowerNz It's not a party unless my Mom and Aunt are ripping newspaper to Tchaikovsky's first Piano Concerto.
    via u/MaxPowerNz
  • 32
    Symphonic Diem My sister-in-law's dog is a little person, I swear. She loves to feel included. Every Christmas, they buy her a new toy and wrap it. It's always the same one, just a different color. The wrap it and set it under the tree. The kids open theirs first, then he adults, then Bitsy. When she realizes there's a present for her she acts all surprised and shy, and as we encourage her, she opens it. Like a people. First she opens one end with her front teeth and then goes down the tape
    via u/Symphonic Diem
  • 33
    line and unfolds the paper with her little paw hands. She always loses her over the toy, it's her favorite kind. They don't buy her another one like it when it wears out until Christmas, so she freaks out. It's so cute that it hurts my insides.
    via u/Symphonic Diem
  • 34
    RestoreFear Every Thanksgiving my family eats Cinnabons and grapefruit while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV. That's the strangest tradition we have I guess.
    via u/RestoreFear
  • 35
    wordsonascreen When I was a kid, we would go bowling on Christmas Day. Not a lot of competition for the lanes, and was one of the few places that was still open.
    via u/wordsonascreen
  • 36
    510 anuncommontruth My family has two expired canned hams that someone in the family gets as a gift every year. We've had to replace one as it was very old and apparently was placed in an area of high heat and, well, blew up. I guess the hams supposed to be good luck to whatever family member is
    via u/anuncommontruth
  • 37
    lucky enough to receive it. Or something. I dunno its weird. The year I got it I treid to throw it away and my parentsw threw a fit and made me keep it next to a baseball trophy in my room until next xmas.
    via u/anuncommontruth
  • 38
    [deleted] Christmas was a big deal in my family growing up. My mom spent the entire month decorating, baking, and cleaning. Every year, like clockwork, she would get mad because no one was helping her enough and would decide that Christmas was cancelled.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 39
    Eventually we realized she would always come around after we made a big show of apologizing and putting extra effort into preparations so the whole thing became a running joke between me and my sisters. We would try to laugh as quietly as possible as we took boxes of decorations back up to the attic and quickly feign mourning when mom was around.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 40
    kibbles252 We don't really do anything weird. My mom does let the dogs open their presents before me though.. and they do get more expensive things than me..
    via u/kibbles252

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opinion ask reddit christmas funny stories christmas special christmas tree traditional askreddit merry christmas family funny holidays opinions siblings grandparents
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