Christmas Traditions

We reached out to you, in Auburn, Opelika and Lee County, and asked what your favorite traditions are at Christmas. Of course, there are the normal ones, like decorating the Christmas tree, wearing Christmas pajamas and setting out cookies and milk for Santa.

But, for some of you, you have some pretty weird traditions. And some of you have traditions that give back to others.

Sarah Cambron Dorough: We have had a tradition in our family for years called the “Chimney”. Every Christmas we have huge boxes wrapped in brick wrapping paper which makes a fake chimney. All family members put presents in the chimney and Christmas night after dinner we all sit together and pass out presents from the chimney. Sara Gottlieb Bragdon: We have Christmas Butterflies because my kids are TERRIFIED of the idea of someone coming into their house when they’re asleep. Amanda Michelle Brogdon: We do not buy items for stockings until Christmas Eve. We will go to Walgreens, Dollar Tree or Dollar General. We draw names to see who we shop for. We shop and hide from each other in the store. There is a $20 limit. We take turns on Christmas Day opening our stockings and try to guess who bought for us.

Samantha Mendoza: We use a D-20 (die from the game Dungeons and Dragons) to determine the order to open presents on Christmas morning. And we have a separate tree for our “nerd” ornaments (Harry Potter, Star Trek, Disney, etc.) Sharron Sharpe: Santa never wrapped his gifts, so one year I wrapped a box of chocolate-covered cherries in expensive paper with a big bow for each child. They were excited to receive a wrapped gift. Thank goodness they all like candy so they were happy. It has become a tradition. When my granddaughter invited her boyfriend for Christmas, his eyes lit up at the beautifully wrapped gift. She told him, ‘don’t get too excited, it’s candy.’ Jenny Scott: I do so much cooking for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, we took an idea from “A Christmas Story” … we always order Chinese food on Christmas Day. No stress!

Jordyn Dawson Mills: Riding around looking at all the lights! We call it the “tacky Christmas light tour”. Jeremy Crowder: We have a Blue Santa! An organization that supports families with Autistic children sends Santa in a Blue Suit before Christmas to bring presents. John Brooks: When I was a kid, my grandparents would come over on Christmas Eve and they’d all fix up a big buffet style line on the dining room table with everybody’s favorite finger foods (meatballs, braunschweiger with little pumpernickel slices and Triscuits, pigs in a blanket, etc.) Then we’d all sit around in the living room eating our plates and opening presents. Christy Nolen: Grilling steaks on Christmas Eve. Everybody gets tired of ham and dressing. Andrea Bailey: We make a plan on Thanksgiving for everyone to bring a themed dish (Mexican, Italian, etc.) and mix it up each year so we don’t eat the same thing as Thanksgiving. Kasey Gibson Trombley: We have “Christmas Adam” on Dec. 23. Growing up, it was four girls and one boy in our family and we always got to open a gift on Christmas Eve (pajamas). One year, my brother made the argument that Adam came before Eve and it wasn’t fair that the girls got a holiday and he didn’t. Well, Christmas Adam was born in our family, and is still being celebrated probably 40-plus years later. We always got a small gift to open that day. When my kids were growing up, it was always their favorite. They preferred it over Christmas Eve and Day. I think it was because it was just us and I would search for the silliest gifts for them to open that day. That would be the only gift under the tree that had their names on it (I did specific paper for each person and only I knew who’s was who’s.) They would feel and shake that gift for weeks trying to figure it out. Some of my best memories of my kids growing up are Christmas Adam memories. Robyn Askew Darby: We always make traditional Brunswick Stew for Christmas Eve dinner! Family recipe obviously. When my youngest brother and I were little, we would always open “family gifts” on Christmas Eve ... Oh, and matching onesies for the whole fam. We wear them ALL DAY Christmas Day. Wendy Michele Patterson: Our family gets together, we eat, play dirty Santa and then we have our annual Mexican train domino tournament. It gets very competitive but the laughter is what makes it worth it. We laugh until our sides hurt. Richard Smyer: Santa leaves underwear or panties on the Christmas tree. Maggie Lawrence: We decorate a tree at the end of our drive with giant ornaments. McKenzie Harris: My family goes to Waffle House every Christmas Eve!

The LIVELee Staff Celebrates Christmas

Now that you’ve read the community’s Christmas Traditions, we also wanted to share ours as well. So, if you keep reading you’ll find the LIVE Lee staff’s family Christmas traditions and fun memories.

Wil Crews’ cookie Last year’s winning cookie

Wil Crews: So, myself, my Mom, step-dad, grandad, cousins, siblings, brother-in-law and everyone’s furry friends all gather on Christmas Eve and we decorate Christmas cookies. It begins not long

Michelle Key: We always open our gifts on Christmas Eve leaving Christmas morning to enjoy gifts from Santa. Stockings are a pretty big deal in our house. I cross-stitched a personalized one for each of us, starting with my husband’s while we were dating. I always enjoyed filling everyone’s stockings with little things that I thought they would enjoy. My husband was responsible for finding things for mine. Stockings were always filled after everyone went to bed, to be explored on Christmas morning. As my kids got older, they started sneaking into the living room to add stuff to each others stocking and sometimes, they even added stuff to mine.

Hannah Lester: I love so many things about Christmas, but one of the best parts is getting together with my after people arrive, as the restlessness of beginning our creations is too much to bear. We start with raw sugar cookie dough and craft a shape with stencils, utensils and anything you can find that has a sharp edge, honestly. After baking in the oven for a few minutes, everyone’s cookies are hopefully — and I have to stress, hopefully, because mine rarely come out as intended — look like the shapes we have all crafted. The next step begins the real fun as everyone shares different colors of icing to decorate their cookie. When the smoke clears, the dust settles and the occasional family-friendly sabotage is over, my Mom takes pictures of all the cookies and post them to Facebook to have people pick the winner. Although I have never won (probably haven’t even sniffed the podium), I always cherish this family tradition. And even though my cousin and sister got the artistic genes of the family and typically win, I believe last year was my best cookie yet. So, I’m eagerly awaiting this year’s contest and look forward to a very merry, cookie-filled Christmas.

extended family. My dad grew up with four sisters, so when we all get together it’s, on average, 20 of us for a few days for holidays.

That’s a lot of relatives to buy gifts for, so what we tend to do is stocking stuffers. Half the time, these are well-thought-out gifts that you know the recipient will use or enjoy. The other half of the time, the stocking stuffer is silly, absurd or far-out crazy. We’ve received gadgets that sing, chickens that squeak, mustaches to wear, wigs, candy cigarettes, fake teeth and so much more.

For a family that loves to laugh a lot, these are the perfect gifts. Plastic baby hands have shown back up year after year. If you can find something that references my dad’s or aunts’ childhood you can pretty much guarantee the gift will be a hit. You’ll find our house full of laughter on Dec. 25.

Robert Noles: When I was growing up, we would wake up to the presents under the tree, eat a big breakfast, then Dad and I would go somewhere to hunt, walk in the woods or just target shoot. It was all about family being together. Also, the family would go on a road trip up Hwy. 29 the Sunday before Christmas to visit and spend the day with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins in Stovall, Georgia.

As I left home and started a family of my own, we still had many of these traditions. We would always get up, open presents and I would make waffles for the family. We would make a trip to see parents and grandparents. But it was always about family and food.

Now, as the family has changed with parents and grandparent who have passed away, we have continued many of the traditions, including the children coming to the house with their families and visiting, eating and enjoying each other. Of course, now we focus on the grandchildren opening and playing with their presents. Once again, we all enjoy the late morning breakfast of homemade waffles and the family around the kitchen table as the grandkids play with the Christmas presents.

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