(ended)Countdown contest: 36 Days Till Christmas

[toystoryduo]

On Christmas Eve, we go to my MIL's house for dinner and gifts. We have shrimp cocktail and cheese and crackers as appetizers and we have prime rib and crab legs for dinner. We play games, read the Christmas story, and everyone heads home around midnight.

[zoodoyle]

We try to be together with family on Christmas Eve - it's the anniversary of my Grandmother's death, so it's a bittersweet day for us. Usually we will have a nice dinner together, and the kids each get to open one present. Our big celebration is Christmas morning!!

[amarazas]

On Christmas Eve, we keep it low key during the day because our evening is quite full. My Mom comes down and stays overnight with us. We have dinner at 5pm, and then we get ready to go to the 7pm Church Service. On our way home from church we take the *long* way home to look at all the Christmas lights. Then when we get home, the kids get into the PJs, and they go outside with Nana to 'call for Santa' with Reindeer Food and glitter. Then we get read "The Night before Christmas" and off to bed they go... and then a little magic under the tree. And the evening is complete.

[spring]

Christmas Eve, DH and I usually get together with my Sunshine Rewards DD and her family, have dinner together (frequently Chinese), then drive around to see all the Christmas lights after dark.

[JOLAROCHE]

We go to my best friends house who happens to be married to my husbands best friend and have the traditional Italian fish dinner. Our sons are 15 months apart in age and they always put on their pjs and then we sing happy birthday to Jesus. We all open gifts and then head home No pjs for the last several years as are boys are now both in high school.

[stacieps]

we get together with my parents, all my brothers and sisters (there are 6 of us) and all their children--this year we have a new addition, my first great-nephew, so there are quite a few of us. We sing Christmas carols, have some simple foods like finger sandwiches, veggies & dip, etc. Then we open some gifts.

[jo93]

We go to my Mom's for Christmas Eve. She and my brother make Pirogies and she always makes Poppy Seed and Nut Breads. The kids always read the Christmas Story before we open presents. Everyone takes turns reading a page. My mom always buys the kids pajamas and they change into them right away. Even the teenagers. She told them last year that she wasn't going to buy them pajamas anymore. She thought they were getting too old. They told her that she had to because it's tradition.

[mmm611]

My family has almost always exchyanged presents on Christmas Eve. When my brothers and I were younger, my parents told us they'd called Santa and asked him to come early because we would be travelling at Christmas and wouldn't be home. It was very cool, because at that time we never knew which day Santa would come. After we moved back to Ohio in 1997, I think all of us kids thought that tradition was over. Christmas Eve 1997 came and Santa came early again, even though we weren't travelling anymore at Christmas. We've continued that tradition ever since, with a few modifications in scheduling due to work committments or having a new puppy and trying not to overexcite her too much in one day. Apparently, this tradition was started before I was born just because my parents couldn't wait to open presents!

[memanana]

Christmas Eve we go to my brother's house Usually between 30--40 of us Depends who all come home. Some from Scranton,Pa. Hershey, Pa. St. Louis, Mo. Florida and Hawaii. We have a meal and then my parents pass out their gifts to grandchildren and greatgrandchildren and of course us (their kids) We remember about other Christmases and the ones we have lost and the fun things we did those years with them It is nice remembering those times. We then go back to our own homes and get ready for the big day. If I am lucky my girls come home ( Scranton and St. Louis) and stay with us and we get to watch our grandkids open what Santa left for them at Grammy's Of course they always ask How does he know we are here and not at our own house??

[TtownAnne]

After dinner we drive around the neighborhood with Christmas cookies and travel mugs of hot chocolate to look at Christmas lights. We put reindeer food on the lawn (glitter/oatmeal/etc. mixture) and DD gets new pajamas to look cute for pictures the next morning.