Growing up, there was a Christmas morning “rule” in our house that no present could be opened until my mom had her coffee. Not surprisingly, my sister and I quickly learned how to make my mom her much-needed cup of coffee, so we could open presents as soon as possible.
Over the years, our morning tradition evolved into making my mom her mug of coffee, delivering it to her in bed, and bringing our Christmas stockings into her bedroom to open immediately while my mom looked on and sipped her coffee. We’ve had this same Christmas morning tradition as long as I can remember and we still continue it year after year.
Also part of our Christmas morning is eating Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast. I realize that cinnamon rolls are not the most nutritious breakfast (they receive a 2 on the NuVal scale), but it’s a fun, once-a-year tradition that we all look forward to participating in.
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Leave a comment about a Christmas morning tradition that you look forward to every year.*
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I look forward to exchanging cards and presents with my husband on Christmas morning.
I look forward to my Dad cooking breakfast for the entire family.
Coffee and cinnamon rolls when my MIL and FIL come to watch the kids open their gifts.
Un-wrapping gifts while sipping on mimosas and coffee and while a creme brulee (there is not one redeeming quality in this dish!) french toast bakes away in the oven.
Mmm Christmas! My mother makes her world famous coffee cake! Can’t wait to have it again!
I look forward to watching movies and eating Chinese food! (I’m Jewish)
My dad makes this delicious breakfast strata with sausage, cheese, eggs,& bread. It’s so good and yet so bad for you, which is why its a nice yearly treat.
Eating my mom’s homemade caramel rolls WITH butter…yumm!
Enjoy!
I look forward to getting to open 1 stocking gift after church on Christmas Eve.
I love Christmas morning because my sister always makes delicious apple cinnamon french toast!
I look forward to opening presents with my family on Christmas morning. Unoriginal, I know, but it’s honestly what I look forward to
Every Christmas morning my family goes to my grandparents house for my grandmothers famous breakfast. Its something we look forward to every year!
I am not going home this year so there isn’t anything to look forward too. However when I do go home for Christmas, I always look forward to my mom’s homemade 7 layer cookies!
Even though my sister are older now, we still love waking up early and dividing all the presents up to see who’s pile is bigger =P
Our family Christmas morning tradition: scones and mimosas! And we always eat them BEFORE opening gifts!
my sister and i follow the same routine every year- whichever one of us wakes up first wakes the other, we both open our stocking stuffers, and then we alternate opening our presents : )
Making christmas morning breakfast has become a family tradition that i LOVE
We always have lobster on Christmas Eve after church. And we open our stockings last.
As a little kid my brother and I would wake up at night and go look at our gifts. After we would go back to bed and never tell our parents.
My dad and I always, always go shopping for my mom on Christmas Eve. It never fails. He refuses to buy her anything until Christmas Eve. Also, on Christmas morning, everyone takes turns opening gifts so everyone can admire each other’s loot. So much fun.
Going to Christmas Eve service at church!
I’m normally the first one up on Christmas morning. So first I go downstairs and turn on the Christmas lights, let the dog out, start a fire or turn on the yule log. Once all that is done…I wake up my sister/kids and then lastly my parents!! While we are waiting for the padres to get up we open our stockings!
I enjoy cooking all day with my mom and my sister for a lovely Christmas dinner. We play music and dance while we cook.
My family and I sit at the top of the stairs Christmas morning, and my dad goes down stairs to see what “damage” Santa has done. Even now that me and my brother are married, and our spouses sit with us, there’s an unmatched anticipation sitting up there waiting to see what awaits us!
After the presents we always eat Monkay Bread
I look forward to listening to the same “christmas present” music that we listen to every year while opening presents!
We always got to open one present on Christmas eve and now that we are older I get to watch my niece and nephews share in that tradition and on Christmas my sister’s and I still get a gift from Santa so that is always openned first.
oh my god. my tradition is EXACTLY the same as yours. creepy. no presents before breakfast is finished (except the traditional christmas eve present from your sibling) and breakfast almost HAS to be pillsbury cinnamon rolls.
they’re just so easy and delicious. you cant resist a tradition that lets you eat them..
My siblings and I always wake up super early and go look at the presents, then we go tryy to wake up mom and dad. It may take a while, but we cant start without them! (of course)
We eat Pillsubry cinnamon rolls too! I look forward to it all year.
hehe, my favorite tradition is opening our stockings! no matter where we are, or where we’re going, we always save those for christmas morning
We typically wrap our presents early in the year, right after we buy theym, and so we forget what is what, and it’s always a surprise every Christmas morning, even for the gift-giver. We often end up saying “Oh yeah…I DID get you that, haha.”
Someone in the family always gets a new DVD in their stocking every year, so after opening the last of the presents, we sit down together and watch the new family movie.
Stockings when everyone is up…. orange rolls… the rest of the presents and then usually a breakfast that is too big.
I love cinnamon rolls! My favorite Christmas morning tradition is just hearing everyone I run into say “Merry Christmas” and the hugs!
Well, I’m Jewish, but I feel like I should still be able to enter! My in-laws like to get together on Christmas (they celebrate the holiday) for cinnamon rolls in the morning (we’re twinsies!), presents, and dinner. Oh, and we watch football… of course…
We normally do cinnamon rolls too! This year, though, the oven is on the fritz and the handyman doesn’t think he’ll have time to fix it, so my sister and I are planning on making stuffed french toast instead. I love breakfast and stockings in pajamas and then opening presents!
We always open our stockings first and then eat a breakfast casserole afterwards. Then drink coffee and snack on the candy we got in our stockings!
I look forward to eating a delicious breakfast and then opening presents with my husband. Each year we plan a special breakfast. This year, it’s cinnamon toast using homemade raisin bread, with a side of deli sliced applewood smoked bacon. Yum!
Itll be an interesting year for me….i just got married and will be spending the morning with my husband…i really am looking forward to new traditions!!
I love opening the gifts in our stockings…
My mom puts my dad in charge of stockings so you never know what’s going to be in there. We always get a laugh out of opening lint rollers and silly putty.
My first Christmas in a new house with a new husband. Hopefully we will start some new Christmas morning traditions!
Retweeted @SamanthaAngela
Christmas morning and my house generally consisted of my brothers and I being awake and the crack of dawn and trying to wake up our parents. As we got a little older my parents got a little smarter. The rule became we could wake our parents up at 8:00am. We were also allowed to open our stockings which included one wrapped gift (which was usually something that would occupy us long enough for them to keep sleeping.)
Since I’m no longer living at home and my brother will be married and out of the house next Christmas, I think we’re starting a new tradition this year. I’m going to me making breakfast/ brunch at my parents house.
In my family we always open presents on christmas eve night, so I always look forward to sitting by the fire with hot chocolate and my family opening gifts that night!
It used to be all about the presents, but now I enjoy that quietude in the morning and drinking coffee with my family. It’s the simple things that really make the holidays special.
Breakfast casserole with my family after opening Santa gifts.
Our Christmas morning tradition is to open stockings, then to eat French Toast (a very special recipe which involves orange peel and “marinading” overnight) with our champagne&OJ, and then to open presents once we’ve had breakfast. I love it.
Mmmm peppermint tea + dark chocolate is a match made in heaven.
PS I tweeted about it.
I love going to midnight mass and waking up Christmas Morning to a nice spread of homemade breads baked by the neighbors.
I look forward to Cristmas morning breakfast. We open stockings whilewe drink coffee/tea/eggnog/mimosas(take your pick), and then have a great breakfast. We then open presents and just enjoy family time.
My favorite tradition is the one my husband and i started when we got married – we go to the nursing home christmas morning and pass out gifts dressed in our best clothes
Our entire extended family (50-60 people? 70? !!) does “Rounds.” We start at one family’s house for snacks and drinks, and move from house to house, eating, drinking, checking out everyone’s new presents – great fun!
Warm polish bread that my mom bakes in the morning while we open our presents!
It’s so funny to read about your holiday tradition because mine is almost the same. My brother and I had to turn on the coffee pot Christmas morning and my parents wouldn’t wake until it was brewed. We could only open our stockings and had to wait for them to have coffee before opening the other gifts. I may follow this rule when I have children seeing as though I love my coffee
Happy Holidays and safe travels!
Enjoying eggnog coffee & my MIL’s sweet bread while we open presents.
I just love going over to my parents house early, making some coffee, and opening presents while we listen to Christmas music. My favorite part about Christmas is the time I get to spend with my family
I am obsessed with Celestial Seasoning’s Christmas teas. I buy as much as I can and use them all year long. I cook a ham and we have a quiet Christmas dinner in my house.
I’m an only child, and growing up, it was just me and my parents on Christmas. It was small and cozy and lovely, and some of my happiest memories are of me and my parents snuggled up on the couch, watching the Charlie Brown Christmas special.
We always watch It’s A Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve before bed!
We used to eat those same buns! So good, no matter the nutrition facts. Now we get up, open presents together, have a nice breakfast at home and go to the movies. I think we’re going to see “Sherlock Holmes” this year!
My family watches Charlie Brown’s Christmas in the days leading up to Christmas.
Christmas morning starts with walking the girls (my two dogs). The Christmas Story marathon on TV then gets turned on and presents opened!
Well, I’m Jewish…but to be honest, my family does have a Christmas tradition… a movie & Chinese food! I’ve been doing it since I could walk and I don’t see it changing anytime soon!
I look forward to pumpkin pie for breakfast on Christmas!
Our tradition also includes opening our Christmas stockings first! Also, when we were much younger, we would each pick one present and bring it to our parents’ room to open right after we’d woken them up!
Growing up, the rule was everyone in the house had to be up before presents were opened. The exception to the rule was that we could get into and open the presents in our stockings by ourselves. That was a blessing for the years when my brother was so excited for Christmas that he’d wake up at 3am!
Now I do that with my own daughter… she can open the presents in her stocking right away but everyone has to be up and around to open the other presents.
I have the same rule with my kids…nothing happens till I have coffee:) After the presents are open, I make brunch with french toast, bacon and sausage. While we eat, we watch the parades on tv.
Waking up waaaay too early to open presents and have a yummy breakfast!
A tradition in our family is having a delicious Christmas breakfast with, of course, an excellent cup of coffee!
My favorite tradition is oddly similar. Me, my brother and my sister wake up, make my parents their coffee, and then the five of us gather in the living room to drink coffee, wake up, open our stockings, make breakfast, and then exchange gifts:)
I look forward to cooking and decorating my mom’s amazing sugar cookies.
My favorite christmas morning tradition is my Grandma’s homemade coffee cake. My mom (who is 48) has never had a christmas without it, and neither have I. It’s rich, flaky, with melt in your mouth icing and cinnamon sugar.
I look forward to opening presents with my family and sipping hot chocolate!
Getting ready to go to grandma’s and eat my little heart out. And stockings of course
Every year we wake up really early and open presents in our PJs. We stay in them until lunch time when we have a special meal
My family always has the pillsbury cinnamon buns also! But we also have the cresents too. This year we decided to do fresh bagels instead. I bet someone in my family breaks out the pillsbury rolls though! It must be something about christmas!
You, your mom and sister are so darn cute. I love your tradition.
Mine is more of a Christmas eve tradition – my family has a special buffet dinner where everyone gets to choose one favorite food for my mom to make and put on the buffet. It’s always a little gluttonous, but delicious and fun.
We always have to get the Christmas music on, and coffee for all before we start unwrapping packages!
Our tradition is similar — Dad has to get his coffee & then he hands out the presents in rotation one at a time.
Funny, but my christmas morning traditions are very similar. Mom and dad NEED their coffee first, and now that I am older, I cannot blame them! Coffee, christmas music ON, stockings first while coffee is being consumed, opening up the presents under the tree and then a HUGE breakfast :0
My family always wakes up, eats breakfast, and then opens presents!
Even though we had already been up for hours, my dad would me, my brother, and my sister go upstairs, and he’d have to video us coming down the stairs every Christmas morning. We got so annoyed with it that my brother started pretending to fall down the stairs every time, and eventually all of our Christmas morning videos were of the 3 of us falling and rolling down the stairs.
I look forward to seeing what “Santa” left me under the tree on Christmas morning! Yes, even at 24 my parents still do this!
I follow you on twitter and I tweeted. I am @butterjessfly
Every Christmas, we sing a round of Christmas songs before trading presents.
every year my family (who owns a little hicktown tavern) closes down the bar on Christmas Eve night and everyone brings appetizers and desserts – we play cards, do a white elephant/gag gift exchange, and just spends time together until the wee hours of Christmas morning – i love it!
My family wakes up, eats cinnamon rolls and opens presents
My tradition happens on Christmas Eve–my family watches National Lampoons Christmas Vacation every year!
i don’t have twitter, but I linked back to this post on my facebook status – hope that will count
Thanks for the opportunity! Mine is going to mass with my family! We always have a wonderful church service and the decorations and music our my favorite!
The “kids” are not allowed to go downstairs until the parents are awake. We do stockings first and then make breakfast (usually pancakes)!
I’m so excited for Christmas with my family
We open presents while the breakfast is baking (my mom makes a crazy delish breakfast casserole). So we can’t start until it’s in the oven and we’re done right in time!
My favorite Christmas tradition actually takes place on Christmas Eve for us. In Filipino culture, we go to midnight mass and then when we get home, we enjoy a REALLY late night meal called the “noche buena.” We eat ham, Filipino bread, but my favorite is the cheese we get from Holland (don’t know why from there…but it’s tasty!) and it comes in the shape of a ball. We call it queso de bola. And my other favorite is the hot chocolate.
I look forward to having coffee with my mom and husband and waiting for my sister to get up to open presents
game night!
A Christmas morning tradition that you look forward to every year: Having breakfast with the family, including the traditional breakfast casserole which we call Jive. It has a layer of bread at the bottom, eggs and milk whisked together, sausage (soy crumbles in my vegetarian version), and cheddar cheese on top. It’s a pretty easy casserole but for some reason the only time anyone makes it is Christmas morning. Makes it special!
I have eight siblings- and we each open one present at a time starting with the youngest, until all the presents are gone. I didn’t always like this tradition-when I was really young-but it helps everyone see and appreciate everything because the process takes longer.
My dad makes his famous homemade cinnamon rolls every year. I am sad we aren’t going to be in Illinois to enjoy them. Here is the recipe:
http://twopeasandtheirpod.com/christmas-breakfast-and-brunch-ideas/
I am sure they are negative on the NuVal score, but like you said, it is a special treat and tradition. Happy Holidays!
Christmas morning = coffee, stockings, BREAKFAST (omelets, mimosas and fresh bread), dancing due to too many mimosas, presents, nap… in that order, always.
LOVE IT CAN’T WAIT!!!!
Growing up my favorite Christmas morning tradition was sneaking into the living room before my parents woke up to see if Santa had arrived. My sister and I would look for the letter he left us every year and once we found it – we’d wake up my parents.
Now that I am married, the hubby and I have started the tradition of opening our stockings and then go down to his brother’s house to watch our nieces receive their gifts. I am sure we will form new traditions next year when our daughter arrives!
My favorite tradition is swapping christmas presents on Christmas Eve. We are the only ones that exchange on that night so it’s just a special thing between the two of us.
My husband and I wake up early and make some hot chocolate. Then we sort of just stare at the tree in a daze until we are fully awake. We open our gifts from each other then go back to bed for a morning nap. Relaxing!
we arent allowed to walk into the living room until my parents are all ready, set up and waiting w/ the video camera. prior to that, we all gather in their bed and watch some of ‘a christmas story’ until they cue us in. the we unwrap like mad : )
My kids are not big enough to make me coffee – yet! I will surely teach them as soon as the time is right. In the meantime, they know that they cannot start opening until Mommy and Daddy have coffee in hand.
My husband and I each sneak downstairs separately and fill stockings, then we sit in the floor in our PJ’s like kids and pass out our gifts to each other. If we don’t have to travel, we make a brunch including mimosas. This year brunch and mimosas will be shared with my mom and sister!
We still have the same tradition that we have had since we were kids. We get up at around 4:00 in the morning, open our gifts. Clean up while breakfast is being made. Take a nap and then eat Christmas lunch. We do this even though we are in our 30s and 40s! My father who’s 84 is like a kid on Christmas. It’s amazing.
I love waking up, eating some pancakes, drinking hot cocoa and then opening gifts! I love it!
I tweeted!
Meeting everyone in the house downstairs for bacon, eggs, pancakes, and presents as they’re passed around.
My family always has the coffee brewing immediately, but the kids are not allowed downstairs until my mom and dad and two uncles are downstairs adorned with hats and outfits. Even though I am a college senior I am still a kid on Christmas morning.
I look forward to opening stockings with my family! They are always first and the most fun
We open one present on Christmas Eve, and then save the rest for the next morning!
It is not on Christmas morning but is Christmas Eve.
My husband and I take my mother-in-law to Cracker Barrel for breakfast in the morning of Christmas Eve. This started way before my hubby found me, but I am now included in the tradition
@Heidi: Dad’s in charge of stockings is great
watching christmas movies with my family is always lots of fun!!!
My family is so big on stockings, and almost no one I know IRL does this. Glad there are a few people here who do! The stockings are filled to overflowing, with smaller gifts, all kinds of random fun things, candy, etc. plus the traditional orange. Now that we’re adults my sis & I, parents, drink our coffee, open gifts, then make a big breakfast, then stockings are last. I started filling my BF’s stocking once we got together and it made him so excited – not a tradition in his family! I’m glad I could pass it on.
On Christmas Eve every year my family loads into the car to go to Christmas mass. When we get home we each get to open one “family present” (the ones not from Santa). It’s one of the few times we all get together so it’s a nice tradition
My favorite Christmas morning tradition is having brunch with my family after we open all of the presents.
I actually like Christmas Eve better because my whole family gets together and my mom makes a huge dinner.
I tweeted!!
We have the same tradition of eating Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls on Christmas morning too! Although, this year my husband and I are having the family to our place for Christmas so I’m changing that tradition slightly by adding an egg souffle (prepared the night before) and probably a fruit salad. It is fun to be starting our own traditions!
First of all, that simple giveaway is SO me. I love both those products. Anyway, I look forward to our tradition of waking up bright ‘n’ early Christmas morning, opening our stockings (first of course) while eating our traditional coffee cake that our family friend makes for us each year =)
I look forward to opening all the little trinkets in my stocking…even if i did buy them!!
That’s like a Colorado love package
We have a tradition of taking it easy and going with the flow. It keeps everything stress-free. Pajamas are worn late into the day as well
having hot chocolate and christmas blend coffee with breakfast while chatting about the the past years events, opening gifts, and listening to Christmas music!
LOVE!
xoxo Happy Holidays!!
lol – we have the same christmas memory! no presents until my parents get their coffee!
We have Christmas morning buns too, which is my favorite tradition! They are semi-homemade and we make them Christmas Eve with frozen bread dough and a few other ingredients. They rise in the fridge overnight and then take only about 20 minutes to bake. Yum. Perfect with a big glass of milk and some coffee.
We always go to my grandparents and they make a special holiday punch every year
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I enjoy a nice brunch on Christmas morning with the family. When I was younger my cousin and I would organize our presents all over the living room before opening them and then count who had the most haha
We always visit our grandparents and have dinner together. Happy Holidays!
For Hanukkah we always played board games after opeing our presents of the night!
My family and I always go to Christmas Mass together in the morning and then head to my mom’s side for Christmas brunch and presents
waking up at grandma and grandpas to have a breakfast preview of dinner: MEATBALLS !
we wake up and open santa presents and then my mom fries up tamales from the night before… not healthy, but sooo worth it!
On Christmas morning my parents and I would watch a Banco Popular video (christmas music video with puerto rican musicians. they have a new one each year), and open up our presents!
Our Christmas morning tradition is to have a large “breakfast feast for lunch” We munch in the morning over presents but then have a large brunch with homemade waffles, scones, muffins and eggs. Each family member contributes their “speciality” and it is something I look forward too all year long!
On Christmas morning I look forward to cheese eggs and toast! I treat myself once a year and it’s divine!
I’m Jewish, so we always do the typical chinese food + movie on Christmas.
I love christmas eve when we go to church and then we come home and open our christmas eve baggies and get pajamas, a movie, and some kind of treat!!
I twittered about the giveaway!!
Tina, we also make those cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning! I know not healthy but with all the cooking and baking around the holidays, and the excitement of Christmas morning what a great gift to give yourself a special and easy breakfast tradition
besides hanging with the fam, I love eating my dad’s breakfast casserole on christmas morning for brunch. he makes a delicious egg casserole with all the fixins! I look forward to it every year!
On christmas morning my sister and I always try to make some elaborate breakfast that never works out quite how we envision it. Fun times though!
We enjoy the smell of monkey bread baking while opening gifts Christmas morning.
Our Christmas tradition is similar to yours, my mom and dad need a cup of coffee before any presents can be opened. I am always the first one up so I get the coffee pot started and make the coffees when it’s ready! We open gifts and then make a super breakfast with eggs, bacon, canadian bacon, hashbrowns, toast, etc!!
We get to eat cookies for breakfast
Cinnamon rolls in our house too!
Eggnog in my coffee, waffles, and hanging out with my family in my pajamas all day
PJ’s and presents baby!:)
I look forward to going to the Christmas Eve candlelight service at church and then having a shrimp dinner afterwards!
My family enjoys a Cajun Kringle (Praline flavored pastry) that my mother buys for us every year.
Opening one present on Christmas Eve is a tradition everyone in my family always looks forward to!
Unwrapping gifts definitely!
@tcarolinep follower and tweet.http://twitter.com/tcarolinep/status/6987315837
My mother making some sweet fried dough…
I’m looking forward to sharing dinner with my family and boyfriend. My parents are down from WV, my cousin and her son are joining and my boyfriend, his daughter and her boyfriend are coming over… it went from 3 to 8 in 2 days and I’m delighted.
I follow you and tweeted
http://twitter.com/LisaSVance/status/6989011997
Stockings first, presents next, then watching our cats jump in the empty boxes and play with the wrapping paper. I can’t wait! : )
My dad always makes buckwheat pancakes for Christmas breakfast. I think it’s a tradition his granddad started. I’m guessing it’s a little higher on the NuVal score
My family doesn’t really celebrate Christmas (we used to when I was a kid just for fun) but some traditions have still stuck. My dad and I are bound to play a game of scrabble and maybe a funny twirly (like mini-table top) hockey that lives in the back of our closet about 364 days a year and (not morning but…) we have homemade pizza for dinner– topped with sliced potatoes, pesto, caramelized onions and goat cheese. DELICIOUS!
hot cocoa!
[...] a quick blog post to pick the winner of yesterday’s Trading Up Downtown giveaway for the holiday prize pack. Thanks to everyone who [...]
I enjoy a lazy Christmas day with the kids & my sweetie.Christmas eve is the “hectic” day for my family, with 2 gatherings minimum for a few hours each. Lots of over-eating but mixed in with laughter! So Christmas morning is our “down time”… I toss the ham in to bake, peel some potatoes & sit them in the water to just turn on when we’re ready and then our favorite part is seeing what Santa put in the stockings!
Our stockings have become such “big” deals that as the kids become adults we forgo “gifts” and just see what Santa put in the stockings. He generally seems to be able to fit some amazing gifts in a very tiny space! From gift cards to dvd’s and homemade candies to local chocolatier treats!
Our Christmas mornings are always exciting due to candy for breakfast! I know, another totally unhealthy holiday tradition, but chocolate is huge in my family and our stockings (opened before breakfast) always contain a chocolaty treat!