Traditions!

I read a cute blog the other day and it posed the question:

Does Santa leave the presents wrapped or unwrapped at your house???

This was fun for me to think about! When I was a child, Santa left our presents unwrapped! It was a big display!!! It was awesome!!! He also left a few presents wrapped but it was the big display that got all the attention. However, Santa always left Cass' presents wrapped. So our tradition with our kids will be that Santa will leave both wrapped AND unwrapped presents. However, I don't want it to be all about the presents. So I want to make sure that we have other traditions...cookie baking, going to see Christmas lights, spending time with both sides of the family, cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles. Now that I'm older it is SO fun to think back about traditions when I was younger and spending time with the family, playing games, etc, are always my favorite!!!

Tiffani, Tommy and I would always sleep in the same room on Christmas Eve. We always had the hardest time falling a sleep because we were SO excited. We would play ABC category games (pretty sure we invented it!) and listen for ANY sign that Santa was in the neighborhood! We would lay awake until wee hours of the morning and wake up before the sun...seriously, 5am. My parents loved that I'm sure!! We would go slowly down the stairs and I remember the anxiety and excitement.
When we got older, it was the weeks leading up to Christmas that were exciting. Christmas shows on tv, decorating the tree, shopping, yummy treats in the house!!! We would sit around and play games and laugh and play.
Now that we are all grown and in different places, we still make sure we get together. This year Tommy and Tiff can't be here at the same time. We still play games, watch movies, and just hang out and enjoy each other.
For me, my love for this time of year came from a VERY young age, probably even before I had the ability to 'remember.' That is why I am trying to create fun memories and traditions for Nathan NOW. I want him to always have Christmas spirit!! For him, it might be about Santa and toys but I know later on he will understand that Christmas is much more than that.

What are you memories as a kid? What traditions did you have that you want to carry on with your family?