Traditions or Things we do??

Our Christmas Traditions:

1. Around Thanksgiving time we put the number 1-4 in a hat and each child draws a number beginning December 1, that is the advent calender opening order.  The order is written on the calender so if there is a question/argument it can be easily solved.

2. On Christmas Eve we have an open house.  We invite all of our friends, family, people who would rather be with us than with there family, Our "homeless" friends (they are not truly "homeless" there family just lives far away and they can't be with them at Christmas).  We eat snacks and visit, people leave, more people come it is a very relaxing and fun time!  Sometimes we give out little bags of treasures to the kids, sometimes Santa has been known to show up.  We have had guests from as far away as Japan and as close as next door.
3.  We don't shower, get dressed or leave the house on Christmas Day, we nap, watch movies, read books play with new toys and eat leftovers. It is one of the quietest laziest days of the year.
4.  Our Christmas Dinner happens the weekend before Christmas, sometimes it is just us and my parents, and my brother sometimes it includes close friends.  It all just depends on how it falls together.
5.  The kids stay up late on Christmas Eve and that means they sleep in on Christmas morning, I think there has only been one year that we have been up at some ridiculous hour of the morning.
6.  Jim and I always watch "It's a Wonderful Life" together at least once.  Last year we watched it Christmas Eve after all the children had gone to bed.  It is one of those movies that we should watch once a month all year long to remind us that it is a Wonderful Life!
7.  Since we have 2 birthdays right out of the blocks in January the tree usually comes down within a day or two of Christmas being over.
8.  We celebrate Grandma's Birthday on January 1st, So she can have a roast beef meal and then on her real birthday (which she shares with Ben) Ben picks the meal and dessert.
     I have never thought of these things as "Traditions" they are just "things we do" but now that I  have had time to think about it, a tradition really is something that you do.  I can only hope that some of the "things we do" will be carried on by my children when they are older.