When I was growing up, we'd go to Mass on Christmas Eve. Dinner was fish (which is traditional). We'd have a fire in the fireplace (which we were always careful to extinguish for Santa's benefit
).
I would get one gift to open on Christmas Eve, which was always my Christmas nightdress. I had some cute ones; my favorite was a red flannel nightie with white lace trim.
We opened the rest of our gifts in the morning. I always got a few little things in my stocking plus a few larger gifts. I usually spent the morning assembling my new Lego castle/spaceship/town/whatever.
Then family came over and we'd have a huge Christmas dinner. Turkey or ham, stuffing, potatoes, veggies. Plum pudding for dessert, which my mother usually tried to flame, with varying degrees of success.
We had a nativity scene, which we'd set up a few weeks before Christmas with everything except Baby Jesus. On Christmas morning we put Jesus in his manger.
We did an Advent wreath too.
Now, we visit my parents for Christmas, exchange gifts and have a big meal. My mother still hasn't learned how to flame the plum pudding.
