As kids:
Christmas Eve: Big party at the Aunt and Uncle's place down in Bonavista. Skating on the lake, my Aunt's fantastic food, probably 12-15 kids there and 20-30 adults. Phenomenal party, mad games of mini-stick basement hockey.
Christmas Day: Wait upstairs until everyone is up (7:00 when we were little, 9:00 when we were older). Rush downstairs, kids get to open stocking presents first. Once all of those are open, we designate one person to be "Santa" who then pulls presents one by one out from under the tree, we watch each person open them and proceed until all the presents are opened. Then Dad cooks pancakes and bacon, we all hang out and play with presents 'till dinner time, and then full-on Christmas dinner.
As grownups:
Christmas Eve: Go see either a Tolkein, Harry Potter, or Star Wars movie.
Christmas Day: Wait until my siblings and their spouses arrive at my parents place (where I stay when I'm in town). One person is "Santa" and hands out presents one at a time. Everyone is expected to buy everyone else one present, Mom usually can't help herself and gets people two or three things each. After presents are open: pancake breakfast and then Christmas Dinner just like when we were kids.
The tree is always real, always from the Scouts. The house is covered in Christmas stuff, my mother loves Christmas. We even had those little bell-guys who would play 19 different carols when you plugged them in.
This goes for Christmas when the whole family is home in Canada, when we're in Europe there's no gift-giving (as the trip to Europe is the present to each other).
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