Ho Ho Ho!

In the Spirit of the Holidays, I was recently asked to share my Holiday Tradition(s) and or a Holiday Recipe. The request from a remote colleague was: "It would be nice to hear about how you spend your Holidays and what foods are near and dear to your heart or stomach. Of course this is all optional, but it would add some personal touches to the Holiday Season."

Here goes:
Ever since I was a kid, we have had Christmas Eve at my Mom and dad's. We still do that today and my dad always makes up a big batch of shrimp cocktail. Everyone brings a dish.
After eating some, we unwrap gifts, youngest to oldest, so the kids can go first. (Poor Mom--always last!) A few years ago we dumped the gifts and only did stocking stuffers. Made it less spendy now with all the grandkids and great grandkids.

We also have this YUMMY easy dip for pretzels:

Pretzel Dip
2 packages of cream cheese
1 bottle of Western Salad Dressing (use about 1/2 of it)

Using an electric mixer so there are no lumps, mix the two things together until it is a dip-like consistency. Great for the salty pretzels!

Christmas Day is very low key: Jammies till noon and go visiting to the nursing home to see Grandma. She passed last year so will likely do a visit to my brother's house

What do you do as a tradition?