Christmas Traditions

Homemade chili, hot chocolate, pudding, the movie Polar Express and my family. This is one of the traditions we had started a few years ago. I know everyone has their many different traditions some more traditional than others. My husband kicks off Christmas season on Thanksgiving day right after the meal by watching National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. He will watch this movie at LEAST once a week until Christmas Day and then put it away until next Thanksgiving. Me, I like to make chili, pudding and hot chocolate and sit around and watch Polar Express with everyone snuggled up on the sofas. The girls of course have to watch all the cartoon Christmas specials like Charlie Browns Christmas and Rudolph and Frosty the Snowman...The classics.. I would love to know your Christmas traditions.. the traditional and the not so traditional.. When I was growing up on Christmas Eve we use to open one present and had to wait til Christmas morning to open the rest. I remember how hard it was to leave those other presents alone, It was like a huge tease and torture! And the one present we got to open was always socks or undies.. Pretty sure they knew what present they were handing out ;-) So when I had my girls I decided I wouldn't be cruel and let them open anything on Christmas Eve only on Christmas morning.. To their mind it is all cruel knowing presents are there and they can only look but not touch! But the fun is in trying to rattle the boxes without my husband or I catching them (smile) We are also adding to our usual traditions. My daughters and I have started the tradition in the last 4 years to bake sugar cookies and decorate them. Santa of course gets the best cookie from one each. The rest of the cookies we give to family when we visit or save for when they visit us. It is fun and a lot of giggles can be heard from my kitchen. The most important tradition we have started is reading the story of Jesus every Christmas Eve after the story 'Night Before Christmas'. I want to make sure they understand why we are celebrating it and they wont forget why. I hope to hear of your Traditions, So until next time Merry Christmas!