A recipe for a perfect Christmas Eve: "...heavy on the cinnamon, easy on the cloves..."

It's Christmas Eve at our house.

It's our first as a "married" couple, the first with Boo, and our first without Boy Wonder. We're mixing this and that, my favorite Christmas tradition, with his favorite, a new one for the boys, until we get it just right. I'm sure it's a lifelong process we'll constantly perfect, but here's what we have so far.

1. Steamed Shrimp with Old Bay
This one's from P and his family. I can't remember what my family does for dinner Christmas Eve, but I am not a shrimp eater. I'm a shrimp buyer, for sure. But this one is all P, until the boys grow up big enough to love shrimp, too. Here's the recipe P adapted from the Old Bay box:

1 lb raw shrimp
1/2 cup water
2/3 cup vinegar
Old Bay to taste

Bring the water and vinegar and spices to boil. Add shrimp. Boil no more than three minutes, or until shrimp turn from grey to pink. Voila!

2. Mulled Wine
A new one for both of us. He's not the wine drinker, so this is my equivalent to steamed shrimp. I like it. It's warm and gooey. Clarence from "It's a Wonderful Life" is the one who requests his "heavy on the cinnamon, easy on the cloves." Indeed, Angel, indeed. Here's the recipe I used (delicious....):

Clarence's Mulled Wine

A bottle of red wine
water
sugar
4 sticks cinnamon
5 whole cloves
1 orange
1 lemon

Warm for 40 minutes, but do not boil. Nummmmy.

3. New Pajamas for the whole family
Once we're in from our yearly tamale party at our favorite Anchorage family's house, there are new pajamas waiting for all of us. This is something I remember my mom doing for us the past few years...though I don't know if it was something we did "back in the day." Either way, I like it. A lot. And so does P. He had fun picking his out. Boo? He had no choice.

4. "It's a Wonderful Life"
This one we'll watch while we're wrapping the last of the presents tonight. It's my absolute favorite holiday movie and it's one of my favorite Jimmy Stewart flick. (I really do have a love of all things Jimmy Stewart. More than I love zombies, and I think that's probably a good thing.)

So Merry Christmas to all...and what are some of your Christmas Eve traditions?