Christmas is all about spending time with the people you love. There are far too many Christmas traditions to list in one program, so I will tell you about the ones I grew up with. Churches have many events before Christmas, such as Angel Trees and Christmas Pageants. An Angel Tree invites people who may need some extra help during the holidays to hang “wishes” on the tree, telling others what they would like for Christmas, such as clothing or books. Other people can then take that wish off of the tree, buy the present, wrap it up and put it under the tree. A Christmas Pageant is where members of the church get together to rehearse and perform a Christmas play or musical for the church. There are always costumes and songs and usually a few hilarious speaking errors! On Christmas Eve, or the night before Christmas, there is a special church service. All of the lights in the church are turned off, and everyone is given a candle to hold as we listen to the Christmas story and sing our favorite Christmas hymns. After the service, some families head home to open the presents that have been waiting under the tree. In my family, we wait to open our presents until Christmas morning. When Christmas morning comes, we are up at the crack of dawn to open presents, eat breakfast and hop in the car to head to my grandma's house. All of my extended family gathers at my grandma's house for a big meal and a couple days of relaxing. One of my favorite memories of university is all of the Christmas parties I had with my friends. Almost every organization, company and social group organizes Christmas parties (that’s why most people gain 10 pounds over the holidays!). Some parties have gift exchanges, where people bring a wrapped present to exchange in some sort of game. “Secret Santa” gift exchanges are also fun; that’s where you put everyone’s name in a box and have people secretly draw out a name. Then, when they bring a present to the party for that person, the person has to “guess” who his Secret Santa is.