Ho-ho-ho! Christmas is just around the corner, and here at Bright Side, we’ve decided to write an article that shows the unique ways people prepare for the holiday season. Trust us, there are some heartwarming stories and others so wild, that even the Grinch would be amazed.

• “My family didn’t have much money, so Santa didn’t visit us very often. This always ruined the Christmas spirit. So my mother decided to create the Christmas Elephant, which would bring us small homemade gifts. This went on for years. Until one day I dropped it and it broke. In the middle of the pieces, my sister and I saw a tiny, folded piece of paper hidden inside the elephant’s hollow body. Unfolding it, we discovered a note in my mother’s handwriting: ‘For when the time is right, the magic will find you.’ Below it was a small map marked with an X, leading into the woods behind our house.

  Curious, we followed the map into the snowy woods. At the marked spot, we unearthed an old wooden box. Inside were letters addressed to ‘The Christmas Elephant’s Helpers,’ along with a note from my mother. It explained how she had used what little she could save to quietly help people in need, buying them food and spreading small acts of kindness during the holidays.

  Reading those letters, filled with gratitude from neighbors and strangers, we realized the true magic of the Christmas Elephant—it wasn’t about gifts but about giving hope. From that day forward, my sister and I made sure the Christmas Elephant’s tradition continued, honoring our mother’s legacy during the holidays.”

• “My parents were broke when I was a kid, but you’d never know it from Christmas. They always went all-out, put money on credit cards, etc. One Christmas we were particularly broke, but Dad went out and spent (probably most) of his paycheck on last-minute gifts.

  When we got home, my mom had been with us all day and since there was no money, she hadn’t gone food shopping. All we had were some cheap hot dogs and canned beans.
  My parents put the beans in a pot over the fire, grabbed the hotdog cooker from when we went camping and threw the dogs on over the fire too. My sister and I loved it so much, that we did it again the following Christmas.” KyussSun / Reddit

• “When we were younger, my parents had a tradition with us. We would always go out into the front yard with my dad to find the ‘perfect’ pine cone. Maybe a week or two before Christmas, we planted the pine cone in a pot and watered it. Then overnight, it would become this magnificent, huge (to my young eyes), and fully decorated Christmas tree. It only worked in December and we were always told it was the Christmas magic. Then my sister and I figured it out when we found pine needles in my parents’ car.” theatrekid96 / Reddit

• “My best friend and I started a tradition of celebrating Christmas Eve Eve together (the actual day is a little loose on interpreting based on life). We switch it up each year but we always dress up in Christmas outfits, have dinner, some kind of activity, and a movie. At dinner, we also exchanged a book we picked for the other that we wrote a personal note inside. Then afterward, we create a magnet for each other of our favorite photo from the night.” Unknown author / Reddit

• “I always slept on the floor in my little sister’s room on Christmas Eve because, when we were little, I didn’t want to be woken up by Santa coming to the main level of our house. On Christmas morning, we’d wake up early and wait on the stairs until my dad went downstairs, got his camera ready, and gave us the okay to come down. Best Christmas memory ever. Now that I’ve moved out and gotten married, my sister still misses when I used to sleep in her room on Christmas Eve.” ilikehockeyandguitar / Reddit

• “Last year I had no money for a tree or anything. I sold all of my records just to buy a couple of ‘Santa’ gifts for my son. My working hours were cut from full time to barely working the month before Christmas so I was barely making enough to feed myself let alone room for extra. I went to the local food bank to get a small amount of food when the director noticed my real needs. She ended up not only getting me the regular amount of food for a month but proceeded to provide a full Christmas dinner for my child and me.” the_new_radicAL / Reddit

• “During a time of financial desperation for my family, after my father left, my older brother, who was about seventeen, saved up some money that he’d earned busing tables at a fancy restaurant in town and made sure that my mother, my sister and I all got some very nice gifts for Christmas.

  We got up Christmas morning expecting to exchange just little token gifts like socks and scarves and things, and my brother came into the living room with a big pile of gifts for all of us.” STUN_Runner / Reddit

• “The first Christmas my (now ex) husband and I spent together, we decided to buy a real Christmas tree for our apartment. To cut a long story short, it transpired that the tree was covered with tiny black worms that fell out all over our sitting room floor.
  In all my Christmasses I’ve never seen worms on a tree like that before, it was honestly horrible and I don’t mind bugs or wormy creatures. We had to get rid of the tree asap, it was too stressful thinking of the worms continually dropping off the branches onto the floor.” Unknown author / Reddit

• One year, we were decorating the tree, and my little brother thought it’d be funny to climb it. He got to the top before the whole thing came crashing down. There we were, surrounded by broken ornaments and pine needles everywhere. My dad just looked at him and said, “Well, at least you got your Christmas cardio in.”

• “We spent hours hanging up lights outside, making sure they were perfect. Then, when we plugged them in, nothing happened. Turns out, the extension cord wasn’t plugged into the outlet. My dad was ready to blame the weather, but we all knew the truth.”

• One Christmas, my niece saw me putting presents under the tree and yelled, “Uncle, you’re not Santa!” I froze and tried to play it cool, saying, “Santa lets me help sometimes.” She stared at me for a second, then whispered, “Well, you need to work on your beard.”

Before you go, make sure to check out our other article where we share over 20 fascinating and fun facts about our favorite Christmas movies — you won’t believe some of the things we missed the first time around.