my family is busy busy busy during Christmas! Both sides of my family are huge and they like to celebrate. On Christmas Eve we have christmas with my mom's side of the family, and usually at our house! We decorate the house so it's very festive and fun (i love that part!)
People usually start arriving around 4. Everyone mingles, has drinks (grandma's egg nog - YUM!) and appetizers. We ALWAYS have italian food for Christmas eve. I don't know why, maybe because there's so many people, but we've been doing it since i can remember. Garlic bread, bruschetta, lasagna, meatballs, italian sausage, big salad, eggplant. Lots of food
After dinner the little kids go crazy because they get to open their presents. We do a grab bag, so everyone gets a present. After all of the little kids open theirs, everyone crowds around grandma and grandpa because they have a pile of presents in front of them! We watch them open and ohh and aww when appropriate (lol, one year grandpa wanted some odor eaters!!)
We have dessert, the little kids play with their toys, and there's always people playing cards or something. A lot of my aunts or uncles with little kids slip out to go put their presents under the tree (so santa has been there) because we all go to midnight mass together. When we were little and still thought Santa was real, we always got to open one present before bed after mass!
On Christmas morning my family gets up, has a huge breakfast with the fancy china and silver. Then we light a fire and open presents! Then we bum around the house for a few hours before heading over to my dad's side of the family. We usually have ham, turkey, and all the fixings. Again we open presents and all that hoopla. Christmas is fun