The tradition continues

It's a family tradition that we spend Christmas eve with my in-laws. My mother in-law cooks a feast for all of us and we open all the Christmas gifts. What's most important is that each wrapping paper from opened gifts needs to be thrown all over the living room, just to hear my mother-in-law raising her voice and stating that who does that again will be washing the dishes. Both my in-laws and us were away last year, so it has been a long time since we had such evening.

The house of my mother in-law is completely transformed with all the decorations 

She even has a cute village set up

The gift giving takes a large part of the evening

Eating and drinking covers for the rest of the evening.

The compulsory Christmas turkey which was really juicy and delicous

The caramalised potatoes were really good

Did you notice that my in-laws have the picture of the Dwejra window in Gozo (Malta) in their living room? My Maltese influence is all around!

A cute photo of latest addition to the van Uffelen family.

My fiancee  deserved this kiss!

My nephew who was not very amused at being awake so late in the evening

The night was a success! The morning after it was quite difficult to get up for even more food and gift unwrapping!

Opening the gifts

When I was young I loved the period around Christmas. Our home was always full of decorations and my mum was always preparing nice desserts. The streets were all lighted up, creating a unique atmosphere and obviously all the presents one gets as a child makes the experience just better.

Growing old you kind of discover that Santa doesn't exist and the magical experience diminishes. As a young adult Christmas was quite stressful, having to buy gifts for friends and family from a tiny student salary, having to attend the best party on the island and also spending hours to find the best outfit for the event. Let's just say that the magic was not there anymore.

Our tree with some of the gifts

Lately though I feel that I'm re-living the magic I once experienced as a kid. Three years ago we started visiting the Christmas markets in Germany. There I usually get my first taste of Christmas of the year. Literal taste in the form of mulled wine coming out of ceramic boots. How cute is that! Once Sinterklaas is over we get our real live tree, because God forbid I try getting the tree before Sinterklaas is over. Living in Malta one never gets real tree for Christmas, everyone has the plastic version of the trees. For me choosing a live tree (dead by the time we take it!) is so much fun!

What is exciting nowadays is the gift planning. I feel excited scouring the web and shops for the perfect gifts. But the best part of it all is that on Christmas eve we have a gift giving party. This is exactly what we had as kids but now we're all adults!! The evening is just perfect, I feel like my 5 year old self again.

So it seems that one can still enjoy Christmas once you discover that Santa doesn't exist.

What about you, how do you celebrate yor Christmas eve? Do you wait until Christmas day to open the gifts?