I'm not big on traditions, generally. Around the start of December each year Shannon wants to make a list of all the Christmas things that we need to do - places to go, things to see. She's a champion list maker. I don't really care much one way or the other if we watch certain Christmas movies and TV shows (Charlie Brown, Elf, etc.) - with the exception of the Muppet Christmas Carol. I enjoy pretty much all Christmas junk food, but there's no particular one that I find vital to capturing the Christmas spirit.
There is, however, one Christmas tradition that I do keep, and that is to listen to Handel's Messiah, in its entirety on the last work day before Christmas. That's today for me this year. I've been doing this for at least a half dozen years. I've typically used up most of my vacation days for the year in the summer making long trips to Utah, so by the time we get close to Christmas, most of my co-workers are taking lots of time off leaving me in a mostly empty office. It's the perfect setting to crank up some tiny speakers and enjoy some fabulous music. There are several good recordings available on YouTube - I pretty much just pick one at random. So if you're looking for something good to listen to for a few hours you can't do much better than the Messiah, particularly around the Christmas (or Easter, or any other) season.
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