our family tradition is that my grandmother is dictator of christmas.
we always have either ham or turkey, depending on what we had at Thanksgiving (we alternate), homemade mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, just a lot of good homemade food that my grandma won't let us help make. we don't get to open presents until AFTER dinner, which usually starts at 8 pm. grandma decides who gets to pass out presents.
we also have other small things, like we always put up our "family tree", we always put up the nativity scene the night before christmas, we always get ornaments from grandma.
it's nice.