Christmas Eve is my favorite.

I love the anticipation of the day, the excitement, the traditions and the time to just be together as a family.

We have a few traditions, some that only happen years that my husband doesn’t work, and some that we make happen every year. The first is that the kids open their gifts to each other Christmas Eve morning. We started this the first year they actually bought presents for each other with their own money. Since they didn’t have much to spend, and the presents were pretty small, we decided to let them open them on Christmas Eve so the gifts wouldn’t get lost amidst the Christmas haul. The kids love it, and they really get a chance to appreciate what the others picked out for them.

Some years we’ve gone on a Christmas Eve hike and out to lunch, and some years we’ve visited a train garden. Most years the kids pick a Christmas video to watch in the afternoon. Two years ago I had to force them to watch “Miracle on 34th Street.” Maggie was sure she would hate it (don’t ask my why) but now it’s one of her favorites.

We always go to church in the evening and have dinner after. This will be the first year we are actually planning to get together with family for Christmas Eve dinner. That is — unless the little virus that’s been bugging our family doesn’t go away.

Then we will come home and check where Santa is on the Norad Tracks Santa Web site. If you’ve never seen this, you have to check it out. It actually tells you were Santa is at any given time on Christmas Eve and provides a little information about each place as well. The kids totally love it.

Finally, there’s the reading of “Twas the Night Before Christmas” and off to bed to wait for Santa.

We at Maryland Family hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!