One of the great things about the holiday season are the traditions. Christmas is symbolically known for family time. In my family there are plenty.

One of my favorite things to do is to go light seeing. When I was a little girl my grandfather started taking his grandchildren all around town for the night. We had about three or four favorite spots. We would walk up and down the streets really slow to admire every decoration. The night ended in a Dunkin Donuts run for some steaming hot cup of cocoa.

My second tradition is on christmas eve. Christmas eve is where my family opens up all our presents from each other after dinner. We gather around a huge fish feast and eagerly move to the living room. All of us kids pick our designated spot and wait for our gifts to pile up around us. Were then okayed to open and tear everything apart. But it doesn't stop there. We rip through our gifts so fast because we know santa is on his way! Santa comes and leaves us gifts for being such wonderful children! He comes with a bag of presents hidden somewhere in the house.

On my dad's side of the family on christmas eve we always play chinese auction. We pull numbers and take turns picking presents. We pick our theme for the night during thanksgiving. One of the rules for the game is to purchase two gifts someone would enjoy and one gag gift. Gag gifts in the past have had us belly laughing all night. They are some of the funniest silliest things. We have a great time playing all together.

The last thing I do happens on christmas morning. Christmas morning my brother and I wake up at the crack of dawn and sit at the top of our steps. We are not allowed to go down stairs until my parents are fully awake and check to see if santa came. By the tenth time of trying to convince us he has not come we come rushing down the stairs to find all of our presents.

All of these little tidbits of my holiday traditions bring me a lot of joy. Im thankful for my family and being able to get together every holiday season. Having a very close bond with my family makes me very happy. We have a blast every christmas eve and I wouldn't trade it for the world. What are some of your traditions?