I always liked Christmas as a kid. My family had traditions and we stuck to them with rigor. We always opened presents before dinner, we always had fish and even later when my brothers and me had girlfriends we still came together on the 24th to be a family. I think a part of us wanted to keep the childlike wonder we associated with Christmas Eve.

This year it’s different. It wasn’t a sudden change though. As we built families of our own, moved to distant places, we still met on the 24th at least for a few hours. But 2018 I wanted to break with tradition. A lot has changed. So this year we took my parents and my mother-in-law to a mountain cottage away from the city. My younger brother, his wife and his in-laws joined us and we will break a lot of traditions. It feels refreshing and I am having a great time.

Whether you are traditional or you want to do things differently – spend this time with people closest to you. Can’t go wrong with that.

Merry Christmas!