My parents host a party every year a couple days beforehand, so I always help out a bit with that and dress up for it. On Christmas Eve, my parents always go to church in the evening - I'm not religious but usually go just as a kind way to support them. Past couple years I have been spending part of Christmas with my boyfriend's family though, so I haven't been going to the church service. Christmas morning it's always been that we open presents at my parents' house and I always enjoy digging through my stocking for chocolates and small things like nice pens, lip gloss, etc. The past two years we have spent the morning with my boyfriend's parents and come over to my parents around noon to do some presents since my mom always cooks a Christmas 'dinner' (1-2 pm lol) with ham and sides. We often have some family time playing games after, such as Catan.
I've tried to work on spending money on gifts more mindfully - my friends and I have scaled back our budgets for each other which I'm pleased about, and I try to truly get something I think the person could enjoy and use, rather than trying to meet a certain dollar amount. For me, Christmas is more about thoughtful gestures and time spent with loved ones. I love the meals together, the ambiance of the tree, the beautiful lights, the meaningful movies, the games, the laughter..
This Christmas, a funny and really sweet thing happened. I had commented / lightly complained a few times about my boyfriend's towels (they are rough and old and could be replaced - on some, the tag has all but disintegrated) and had offered to buy some. He had then found a brand online with really good reviews to hopefully last longer (apparently the ones I offered to buy are the same he has that are now super bleh and sad), but were marked with higher prices to reflect the quality. When I asked about the verdict a week later, he said he wanted to wait until the spring after our finances had recovered a bit from the holidays. Totally fair!
Well during the night on Christmas Eve, he goes into the bathroom and is just... in there. For like a solid 10-15 minutes it seemed. I was asleep but I heard him get up and I had enough functioning brain cells to note that I never heard a flush and for a half moment ponder if maybe he was plunging the toilet or something, haha. Too asleep to properly wonder much beyond that, I went back to sleep. Well, in the morning when I went in there, it turned out he had bought a set of the gorgeous, luxurious new soft towels, had already washed and dried them while I was gone the day before, and had set them up in the bathroom for me to see on Christmas morning. He was sitting in bed waiting for my reaction when I came out.
First I blubbered about him being a sneaky little a**hole and then full on cried. It was so incredibly sweet of him. He laughed at my ridiculous emotions but I think he liked it.
That is probably my current favorite memory.
The end.
PS - if you need new towels, these are really nice!