Holiday Traditions

Since Christmas is just three days away, and Tito and I are now celebrating our 9th Christmas together this year (our 5th as a married couple) :) we have meshed our family traditions together to make our own, and I know this will continue after the baby is here and beyond. Here is what we do...what do you do?

Tree:
We get a fake tree. Yes, we've had a real tree (surprisingly enough when we lived in Florida we had a live tree!) but the mess with two cats and having to vacuum around it everyday because of the needles was too much work. So we decided to have a fake tree and bought one about 4 years ago, our first year in Washington State. We put the tree up on the day after Thanksgiving, along with all of the decorations and ornaments. We play Christmas music while we do this, and sometimes enjoy some cookies and hot cocoa.

Theme:
We don't have a theme tree. As much as I wanted one, I've grown to love our mish mash tree. Each year, Tito and I get one another an ornament. Also, if we travel, we get ornaments from those places to put on the tree if we can find one. I love the ornament tradition and plan to continue it with our baby and future children.

White lights or colored lights:
We do both. Our tree is pre-lit with white lights but we add two strands of colored lights.

Tinsel or no tinsel:
We don't do tinsel that drapes on the tree since we have cats and they would eat it. However, we do the tinsel that wraps around the tree. This was Tito's tradition, not mine. I'd prefer ribbon, but we compromised.

Christmas Dinner:
We follow Tito's tradition and eat Christmas dinner at midnight on Christmas Eve. This is what he does back home in Peru, so we have done this since we have been married. We start cooking, go to mass, come home and have dinner, and then go to bed. In Peru, Tito and his brothers would go outside and set off fireworks, but since those are illegal here, we don't do that. When he used to spend time with my family for Christmas we got sparklers and set those off which he liked and was surprised with the first year we did it. Might be something we continue with our children. We have turkey, mashed potatoes, veggie sides and Tito usually makes a beet salad that is his favorite from home.

Christmas morning:
We wake up sort of early (usually around 8am or 9am.) I know these days are gone as soon as our little one arrives. We'll open presents while sipping hot chocolate and then make breakfast. We can't wait until our children are old enough to "get" Christmas because seeing it all through the eyes of a child is really the best.

Stockings:
We open the stockings first. I get really into the stockings and finding things that are not only favorite treats but also favorite things to put into them. We also do stockings for our cats which are usually filled with a new toy for each (they have their own type that they like), wet food (which is a special treat) and treats for one of our cats because only one likes treats.

Must haves in our house for the holidays:
1. Hot chocolate
2. Panetton (this Italian bread treat is enjoyed by Tito mostly, as I don't like it but we always have it.)
3. Christmas music/CD's
4. Christmas movies (some of my favorite must watch ones are: It's A Wonderful Life, White Christmas, Holiday Inn, Love Actually, A Christmas Story (we watch it on TBS with the 24 hour marathon on Christmas Eve), Elf, Christmas with the Kranks, and Miracle on 34th Street (original version). I'll also watch various other movies throughout the season that happen to be on tv...I really love Christmas and Christmas movies so none are off limits!

What are some of your holiday traditions?