Christmas Eve has always been one of my favorite days of the year. Our family celebrates with an excellent meal, holiday treats, and a present for the littles usually in the form of matching pajamas. It’s a time to be together and have some fun and celebrate the year. I actually prefer it to Christmas day itself.

This year was no different. We are up in New England for 10 solid days of festivity and visiting our family and friends, and it’s been a blast so far with a few days to go.

I’ve noticed the best parts of this trip are focused on traditions – new and old, spending real time with the ones we care about (real time isn’t watching a movie together, it’s engaging on a direct level with active participation), and surprising each other with joy. Here are just a few of the highlights so far while we’ve stayed at my parent’s house:

• We colluded to surprise my wife by having her Mom show up unexpectedly and join us for a few days of festivities which has been exciting and sweet
• A nightly spades (card game) competition after the baby goes to sleep – we’re still fine tuning our strategy…
• An epic game of hide-and-go-seek with my niece and nephews.
• On Christmas Eve we had a raucous time when my brother-in-law took out his guitar, drums and tambourines, and began playing holiday songs that everyone sang along too and the little ones jumped and clapped and banged on drums and wailed maracas in the air.
• In general we had all of the excellent adults hosting each other with grace.

And this morning the adults all happened to wake up early and start our first round of coffee before our now 2(!) year old slept and had time to chat and reflect. There is something about having an early morning coffee after a night of festivities.

But the interesting thing is that when I go back and reflect on all of the best parts, none of them are related to consumption of any kind. Even the present opening on Christmas was like an adrenaline boost for the kids as they unwrapped each, and that turned into pure overload. The kids were great, but the focus had shifted. Away from each other and onto things.

We met my brother for lunch at a restaurant. Having a coffee and chatting before the meal and was great, and the ongoing conversation throughout was a nice catch up with plenty of laughs. But the meal was shitty and service was slow. I couldn’t help but think we could have gotten all of the benefits of this meal out with a walk together, plus that means less money spent, and instead of consumer crap food we would have exercised. In this case, consumption wasn’t just a non-value add, but it  actually detracted from our joy.

What experiences have YOU had this holiday season? Were they tied to spending, eating and drinking, or like me did you find that holiday joy does not come from consumption?