This Christmas I was reflecting on the family tradition of lunch on Christmas Day.

It is a day when everyone who is available on my Dad’s side of the family comes together and celebrates Christmas.

The tradition started before I was even born as out of my cousin’s, I’m the third youngest but this tradition has been going for over 60 years with my older cousin’s.

When I was born, we’d go see my Mum’s family for Christmas lunch and then go to my Dad’s parents, my Grandparents house, for Christmas Dinner, which was always a bbq cooked by Grandpa and being Australia, we would eat outside in the backyard and then after eating some Christmas pudding (Grandpa would put sixpences in the pudding too) and custard, we’d even get a bottle of Coke from Grandpa to drink in glass bottles, not plastic bottles like now and you needed a bottle cap opener because there was no screw top cap. After we had our bottles of Coke, my cousin’s and I would go for a walk around the area and wish everyone we saw a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year as we walked the streets going to one of the many playgrounds in the area. Thank you Daylight Savings time as well for the play time at the playground!

As time went on and Grandpa and Grandma got too old to host the family Christmas Dinner, an Aunty and Uncle took over. They only lived 3 doors down from my Grandparents home, which was convenient as their fridge was used to store some of the food to be eaten on Christmas Day.

As the years have gone by, the family Christmas Dinner has now become the family Christmas lunch with everyone who is available comes for lunch.

My Uncle and Aunty, they hosted all of us for Christmas Dinner, which one year turned into Christmas lunch and from that Christmas to now, it has remained Christmas Day lunch, for many years before my Aunty decided she had enough and felt someone else should take it over.

Another Uncle and Aunty, they hosted all of us for 3 Christmas Day lunches before one of my cousin’s said they will hold Christmas lunch at their house.

So now Christmas lunch is rotated around the homes of 3 of my cousin’s as they have the indoor space and backyard space to have us all there.

When my second cousin’s were born, that started new traditions in the family as they grew and embraced what is family Christmas lunch and now they are adults, I hope they continue keeping the lunch as a tradition, especially when they meat future partners and start having children of their own.

Over the last 53 years, the time I have been alive, we’ve had loved one’s pass away, there has been family breakdowns and family separations where some members of the family no longer come to family Christmas lunch but I still think about every single person not there joining us.

I think about the people who have passed away; Grandpa and Grandma, both my parents, 2 of my aunties – one of them passed away earlier this year and this is the first Christmas without her, a “cousin in law”. I think about those who don’t come to Christmas lunch even though they have a long standing invitation but don’t join in – family breakdowns can be a bitch but in this situation, I completely understand why and I hope all the people involved are happy with their chosen families, that’s all I ask for.

On Christmas Day, I love cracking open a bon bon to read the bad jokes, wear the paper hat and see what crap toy there is. I love eating Christmas pudding with custard and ice cream, I love singing along to the music playing as we gather and getting into a singing war with who can sing a song better, my cousin’s and I or the younger generation, especially the song, Do they Know it’s Christmas?

I remember when my Aunty and Uncle took over from Grandpa and Grandma having the family at their house for Christmas Dinner and all the cousins, we’d be in my cousin’s bedroom singing along with the songs playing loudly on her record player. Do they Know It’s Christmas? was a favourite when it first was released all those years ago and we cousin’s sang it loudly.  Sorry Next Gen Cousins but we’re always going to sing that song better than you ever will!

I hope that when my cousin’s and I are no longer around, that their kids and future generations keep the tradition of Christmas family lunch going and I know they will because they are tight and best friends.

What family traditions do you have at Christmas time? Let me know in the comments.

Merry Christmas everyone from my family to yours.

Until next time

Kaye x