What are some of your wackiest or most memorable Christmas experiences?

My husband poking his eye on a needle of the tree as he was putting the lights on. He was stuck with a patch on his eye that holiday. argh

Oh! I’ve got another Christmas tree ruining story!
I was 8. My cousins were 13 and 16. We were wrestling over who got to sleep in the top bunk.
We were in our Granddad’s cabin, so the beds were the best things ever, considering they were made out of wood and they had sliding doors on them, so we could shut ourselves in for more warmth.
WELL. Out of nowhere, a snake crawled out from under the tree, the boys pushed me out of the way, but into the tree while doing so. The tree fell over and into the fireplace, which set the entire thing on fire.
My aunt decided that throwing our dinner the potatoes, the ham, the casserole, everything.. on the fire would be the best option in that moment, so not only did we lose the tree and part of the living room, we didn’t have dinner.

Granddad came in with the fire extinguisher and put it out, so we didn’t cause too much damage to the house, but it was probably the most memorable Christmas ever because of how ridiculous it was. And my aunt still can’t go a year without being reminded of throwing our dinner on it.

That’s hilarious @rangerr! Sounds like a sitcom scene!

My sister and I were in China for Christmas 1979. It had recently been opened to Wesren tourists but they had no Christmas celebrations, so it was a bit odd. Our tour group was international, and after attending a musical program on Christmas eve we were on the bus going back to the hotel when the two German gentlemen in the group started singing “Stille Nacht”. There wasn’t a dry eye on the bus as we sang along in three languages. Very surreal.
Our guide was a bit perturbed until we told him it was a holiday for us.

@jonsblond

Ouch!
I’d rather knock over the tree than see a loved one suffer.

My most memorable Christmas moment is not wacky, but it is totally awesome. When I was nine my sister was born on Christmas Eve. I will never forget my father picking up my brothers and sisters and me up at our grandmother’s house and telling us we had a brand new baby sister. We went home and went to church, got to bring the gifts up to the altar, and the priest announced the birth in front of everyone. I was so proud and so excited! I still adore my little sister, she is my best friend in the world and she is having her own holiday baby in a couple of weeks!

@SuperMouse Awww, that is so sweet. We have four holiday babies in our family, my second grandson was born on the 22, my nephews on the 15 and 27th, and my brother on the 28th

My most memorable was when I lived in Japan. My family regularly attended services at a small Church of England chapel inside a mission to seafarers. My dad and I were asked if we would like to join the small group for Christmas Caroling and thought it sounded like fun. We couldn’t imagine the Japanese appreciating us knocking on their doors, but figured the priest knew something we didn’t. He told us to dress warmly and we met at the appointed hour at the mission.

We were then taken down to the docks where we were all put into a small launch. The launch took us from ship to ship. We would go aboard, sing a carol or two, and move on to the next ship. I will never forget the spread of food on board one of the Filipino ships (exotic fruits, most of a pig, etc.). We stayed plenty warm and the biggest challenge for me and my American dad were the British tunes to words that were familiar to us. Best Christmas Caroling ever!

My cat fell off the roof one Christmas. She was sleeping on the windowsill of the upstairs bedroom and rolled over, expecting a screen. It was a balmy day and the window was open, so she rolled right out. We heard her claws sliding down the metal roof and heard a thud. It hurt her pride a bit, but she was fine.