Well? What about it? Will you be visited by Santa, Per Noel, Kris Kringle or Father Christmas? Will you and yours celebrate Christmas, Boxing Day, Yule, Chanukka, or Winter Solstice? 
Whatever happens at your home, I wish you and yours the best for an enchanted Christmas season and a bold New Year!
This Kris Kringle and other equally mangled spellings is getting totally out of hand: itās Christkindl, Southern German diminutive name for the Infant Christ
As far as Iām concerned, Christmas is above all about family. Will be wallowing mellowly in the warmth and affection of my wife and three not-altogether-unlovely daughters (cf. Cutie-Pie thread a few gigazillion posts back), together with my mother-in-law and brother-in-law and his family of whom I am also very fond and who are all coming to stay with us over Christmas.
Hope you and all other Chiffsters have a lovely holiday time in accordance with your respective traditions, beliefs and/or lack of same.
And then a few days later weāll probably see the first of the Valentineās cards in the shops, then itāll be Easter eggsā¦
Iām learning the āChristmas Eveā reel, which isnāt very Christmassy, but itās fun.
An interesting year here, as Chanukah and Christmas fall on the same day, and we remain mired in a transit strike. We have much to be thankful for though, and will celebrate the eight nights of Chanukah, my daughterās well earned acceptance to Williams College, and our familyās improved and continued good health. We will also celebrate, as is our longstanding tradition, Christmas day with our friends.
Best to all of you - good health, happiness, and much merry music!
Philo
That always happens after one beer too many 
Best,
Dave
I will be celebrating Chanukah myself. I will also have to play Chirstmas Eve just becuase it happens to be a favorite tune of mine kind of ironic that being a favorite tune of mine. I will be catching up on some needed sleep during the week off. Like PhilOās Family does mine also has friends and relatives over on Christmas day, what else would us Jews do?
We always try to cover all the bases. We always get a Christmas tree the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Got an absolutely fabulous concolor fir, incredibly full, and the house reeked of that unique citrus/conifer smell for a good two weeks after we got it. We light the menorah, too. We always have on display a Samoan totem and a happy Buddha.
I donāt have a religious or spiritual bone in my body. I donāt deny it, just donāt feel it.
Iām trying to learn the Christmas Eve reel, too ā saw Helicon play it last weekend. Christmas day ida morninā is another good flute/whistle (or dulcimer, which I learned it on) tune, too.
My husband and I and our two kitties are heading to northern Minnesota tomorrow. We rent a little cabin up there every Christmas for about a week. It is on the edge of a beautiful frozen lake. There are very few people around. We donāt have a tree, but I put little candles outside on Christmas Eve and make a wish for peace. We do a few gifts and have a nice dinner, play with the kitties, keep the fire going, try a little cross-country skiing, and read or knit or take naps. Itās my idea of paradise. (Although the packing can be just a tad trying!)
I hope everyone has a peaceful holiday season.
Well, let me see:
On Christmas Eve afternoon, Iām setting up at church for the 3:00 childrenās service. Then Iāll come home and make our traditional Christmas Eve dinner (homemade pizza!). After that, weāll light all the candles on the Advent Wreath and put the infant Jesus in the manger. Then our daughter gets to unwrap one present from under the tree.
By 9:00 Iāll be heading back to church for choir rehearsal. We lead congregational carols starting at 10:30, and then mass starts at 11:00 (we have a total of four anthems and a fanfare to sing, so it will be a challenging service!). Mass usually gets over about 12:30, but I always bring a couple of bottles of champagne and some goodies so the choir can share a bit of Christmas cheer before going our separate ways.
When we get home, we have to hustle our daughter off to bed so we can play Santa. Then itās off to bed and hopefully a few hours sleep before we get woken up by the first family phone call. Once weāre all up, we pass out the goodies from under the tree and take turns opening, so everyone gets a chance to see what everyone else got (and enjoy their reactions).
Once the wrapping paper is cleaned up, my hubby will make our traditional Christmas breakfast: Gingerbread waffles (mmmm!). The rest of the day will be spent calling family and playing with our new toys until itās time to make Christmas dinner (Tempeh Millenium in a Chianti reduction sauce, with rosemary roasted potatoes and seasoned riceā¦double yummm!). Iām making a new dessert for us this year tooā¦that āKentucky Pieā that someone here mentioned a while back (only Iām making it with Irish whiskey, so I guess that will make it a āBushmillās Pieā).
I love Christmas!
Redwolf
Kris Kringle, indeed a corruption of a Germanic term for the Christ Child, is a term which got attached to Santa Claus (itself a corruption of a Netherland Dutch term) a long time before most of us were even born. These corruptions of Old World terminologies and traditions were part of a trend in 19th Century America that derived from the Knickerbocker stories and the like. It was intended in good humor, I think.
Weāll be having extended family over for the noon meal.
Go to a movie, then out for Chinese foodā¦ ancient Hebrew Christmas tradition.
Actually Char and I wonāt be doing either of those since she will have just returned from the hospital following her gastric bypass (doing very well indeed). Probably a movie at home, and sipping chicken broth for her. My Mom is coming up to babysit Charlene for most of next week since Iāll be back at work, which will make for a nice visit.
Whatever yāall celebrate, I hope itās joyous and meaningful.
Is Chris Norman still in Helicon? Man, heās KILLER good! Did he play his recorder variations on Lo, How A Rose Ere Blooming? I really want to learn that.
Theyāre really not a group any more (Robin Bullockās living in France, although Ken and Chris are both still in Baltimore), but get together for the Solstice concert every year. Two sold-out shows with audiences of over 1000 at each.
Each of the members did a solo set, and I was hoping Chris would do Lo, How. . , but he did something from his new winter album.
I celebrated solstice yesterday by watching the sun set on a gorgeous afternoon.
Tomorrow Iāll drive to my folks, wrap last minute gifts, catch up on sleep, learn some tunes.
Christmas eve will feature a combination of stressing out, decorating, helping to bake cookies, eating cookies, running last minute errands, and probably a walk around the neighborhood. I may go to midnight mass if feeling religious.
Christmas day my sister, legal brother, 2 nephews, 2 nephewettes will join us. Iāll get to play with their toys!
Monday morning I fly up to Maine to visit my brother in Portland. Weāll exchange gifts, play videogames on his X-box, drive to some lighthouses, maybe have a snowball fight. I love Maine
Letās see, Christmas Eve afternoon getting together with friends for a brunch session at a local eatery, to my sisterās place for dinner with her and her husband and our brother. Home to change for church, Iāve been asked to play the Huron Carol as a flute solo, then the Fairy Child and What Child is This latter in the service.
Then off into the Stilly night to a friendās place for a house session and very warming eggnog!
MarkB
Being Pantheist, I get to spread a little appreciation and respect around in several ways. 
I acknowledge the Winter Solstice with quiet. I spent the solstice alone, just in a quiet place most of the day. Cleaned my place, and oiled and polished all my whistles and flutes. Ready for the lengthening days. 
My ex-wife and one half of my family celebrates Christmas, so I will spend Christmas Eve with my son, stepmother, and any other steps that come along. We partake in the ancient tradition of Hometown Buffet. The adults donāt exchange gifts - instead we give them to the kids only. The magic is in the giving and not the getting anyway. But we do reserve the right to give ourself a gift. 
The other half of the family celebrates only Old Testament Hebrew Holy-days, so they already celebrated Sukkot (Feast of booths). My mother, sister, sisterās husband, and their six kids all go away somewhere every year, so I donāt get to play along. 
Then the third half of the family celebrates Hanukkah. So on the 25th I will be celebrating with them, at their home with the blue Hanukkah lights and the Hanukkah bush. 
Wish you all blessings and peace,
Well, Iāve stuck my nose in your business, but didnāt share myself! 
We do the Holidays at my in-laws place, here in the greater Los Angeles area. This involves a 3-ring circus act which sees all three daughters, their lawfully wedded spouses (thatās us), 3 long-haired mini Badgerhounds, at least one parrot (there are six or soāitās a matter of how much can you take!) and 7 kids coming home to roost, as it were. 
We celebrate until we dropāand the next day, thereās LEFTOVERS! 
Wo0t! Wo0t!
Merry Christmas!
A little follow up.
I gave my 16 year old son his first gift early today. A non-tunable Water Weasel in D - and dot notation of āSilent Nightā and āGod Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.ā
I used to sing him to sleep every night many years ago - before he became a teen and outgrew it. He always asked for āSilent Nightā every night, all year 'round. He was playing Silent Night in a clumsy yet passable way within an hour.
Heās getting himself a didgeridoo for Christmas. Weāll see which becomes his favorite - the Water Weasel or the didgeridoo.
your son must have been very exited to recieve his first gift but donāt you think somebody should have gotten him something sooner?
I made the stollen yesterday, am baking Italian bread for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner, which is cheese, fruit, yummy bread, pickled herring, smoked salmon, olivesā¦
My wife and my 2 kids went to visit her mother 2 days ago and will be arriving back home todayā¦I had to stay in town and work, but now I am off for the next 6 days.
The kids each will unwrap 1 present tonite, probably after the Unitarian service we may or may not attendā¦
Tomorrow morning dawns with homemade Chelsea buns, umwrapping gifts, and watching the cats play in all of the gift wrapping.
Tomorrow night is dinner with baked red snapper, asparagus, potatoes, maybe (for sure) some wine.
Merry Christmas everybody