Christmas is on the way!

Enjoyed the Thanksgiving holidays with family part 1 on Thursday and family part 2 on Sunday. Lots of good food (ate way to much!!!!) and enjoyed the time visiting with family. But Thanksgiving is behind us and Christmas is on the way! Got most of my shopping done, but still have a few things to buy. Trying to get it all done and wrapped so I can spend time with the kids and out of town family. Will probably bake cookies, make candy and watch all of those sappy Christmas movies - Miracle on 34th (my favorite Christmas movie), White Christmas and whatever else I can find to watch on Netflix or Hulu. We usually shut down a few days before Christmas, when the kids are out of school (high school & college) and reopen after the 1st. Nice break but always lots to do when we reopen!!!! One of our traditions is to watch all of the old Christmas favorites like Frosty The Snow Man, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, Little Drummer Boy, etc. the week before Christmas. Another tradition is on Christmas Eve. We go get something to eat, drive around and looks at lights. When we get home, we have a birthday cake for Jesus and read the story of his birth from a huge old family bible. Then we watch "Christmas Story". Then it's off to bed for the kids (our oldest, (and middle daughter this year) will come spend the night so they're here for Christmas morning. When they wake up, the chant "We want up!" With the advent of cell phones, they now call us too with their chant" On Christmas morning, after the chanting, Dan will get up and get a shower. Then he has to go see if Santa has come and get the camera turned on to record the carnage that ensues. After that, we eat some breakfast and get ready for Christmas part 2. For as many years as we've been married (27 coming up + plus the Christmas before we got married), we have gone over to Dan's moms house for Christmas part 2. The last couple of years though, we have gone over to one of his brothers, who has MS, and do Christmas there. It makes it easier for him not to have to drive 45 minutes to their moms house. Christmas part 3, with my family could be anytime after Christmas. Sometimes it's the middle of January, when my nephew comes home for a visit from Japan (he teaches at one of their universities and is a perpetual student - has his doctorate, but not totally sure in what - linguistics, I think.) What are some of your traditions for the holidays? Happy Holidays to all!