As a kid, we had an Advent calendar to count off the days, or we did something else along those lines. I remember one year I had a picture of Santa and we put a cotton ball on his face each day so that he had a full beard by Christmas.
Back in the old days, before Tivo or even VCRs, it was an *event* to watch the Christmas specials - Charlie Brown, Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman, etc. I miss that it's not such a big deal anymore. I used to count the days as a kid.
We opened only one present on Christmas Eve, it was always a new pair of pajamas. The rest we opened on Christmas morning.
The coolest tradition in my family (I think), is one that my stepmother brought to us. She had married young and, by the time she was 20, was divorced with two young children. Strapped for cash one Christmas, she took toys that my brother and sister already had and rewrapped them. They were too young to know the difference and Christmas was saved. Every year after that she always took something from their rooms (and then ours as well after she married my dad) wrapped it up, and put it under the tree. As we've grown older (and moved away) she's had to get more creative with it. One year she gave me the candy bar that had been in my purse when I got to the house.
It's a nice reminder that Christmas isn't about what you're getting, but what you already have.
