What's Your Favorite Holiday Tradition?

In my house, Christmas Eve is the real celebration.

By Christmas Day at noon, I am tossing the cards into the recycling bin and deciding what Champagne to buy for New Year's Eve.

Perhaps it is my family's ethnic background. We never, for example, have a formal Christmas dinner. Instead, there are Portuguese seafood dishes, a ham and a roast beef, served informally, buffet style, starting at sundown Dec. 24.

And the evening culminates with gift-giving around 8 p.m.

What is your family's favorite holiday tradition? Share it with us in the comments section.