I can top that: We have 2.5 days of Christmas in Germany!
We start the festivities on the 24th, around 4/5 pm. What it comes down to usually is that on Christmas Eve morning, everyone is scrambling to get everything done, rushing to do last minute shopping and cleaning and cooking, then (at least in my family) you change into something nicer to wear, drive to pick up your grandparents, or drive somewhere else to visit family, or go to Church first, then family (usually families with smaller children will go to the afternoon services, if they're the church-going kind, whereas other people usually prefer the night masses, which usually start some time between 9 and 11). Starting from about 4.30 pm, it's usual to sit around, have tea or coffee, exchange presents, sing carols together and have a lighter supper (most common fare is potato salad and hot dogs or some sort of fish; my family likes to have salmon and roast beef on toast followed by ice cream). What my family then does is bring grandpa back home around eight (because he can't bear to be out any longer and likes to be tucked in by nine) and then have some champagne or similar bubbly (provided by my oenophile brother) and then play some boardgames. My mother and I used to like to go to Night Mass after that but we have a frankincense-loving priest these days who gives the most awful sermons, so we skip that. Christmas Day is the biggie food-wise for most families, with a big family dinner at midday. Usual are roast ducks, geese, turkeys or similar, most traditionally with dumplings and red cabbage, though there are variations. My family did grilled salmon this year, but had the traditional duck on Boxing Day.
Boxing Day (Second Christmas Day here) is also a holiday, so everything is still closed, and most people use the day to relax with the immediate family after the big celebration, or else to invite or go see friends to have a more casual get-together. My family usually does the roast fowl on Boxing Day, but leftovers is the more common thing for most families to do.
Oh, and I should say that when I say everything is closed, it really means everything. Gas stations and restaurants may still be open, but all other shops closed at about 2 pm on Christmas Eve and won't open again till tomorrow morning, so there was the most aweful crush in supermarkets on Monday and Tuesday morning. I was out with a long shopping list on Monday morning, hoping I'd still be ahead of the rush, but it was a vain hope. Loaded shopping carts everywhere, and filled as if people were buying provisions for a three-month sea voyage. Mine of course was no exception although I only bought a measly two cartons of milk instead of the six to eight other shoppers bought.
We start the festivities on the 24th, around 4/5 pm. What it comes down to usually is that on Christmas Eve morning, everyone is scrambling to get everything done, rushing to do last minute shopping and cleaning and cooking, then (at least in my family) you change into something nicer to wear, drive to pick up your grandparents, or drive somewhere else to visit family, or go to Church first, then family (usually families with smaller children will go to the afternoon services, if they're the church-going kind, whereas other people usually prefer the night masses, which usually start some time between 9 and 11). Starting from about 4.30 pm, it's usual to sit around, have tea or coffee, exchange presents, sing carols together and have a lighter supper (most common fare is potato salad and hot dogs or some sort of fish; my family likes to have salmon and roast beef on toast followed by ice cream). What my family then does is bring grandpa back home around eight (because he can't bear to be out any longer and likes to be tucked in by nine) and then have some champagne or similar bubbly (provided by my oenophile brother) and then play some boardgames. My mother and I used to like to go to Night Mass after that but we have a frankincense-loving priest these days who gives the most awful sermons, so we skip that. Christmas Day is the biggie food-wise for most families, with a big family dinner at midday. Usual are roast ducks, geese, turkeys or similar, most traditionally with dumplings and red cabbage, though there are variations. My family did grilled salmon this year, but had the traditional duck on Boxing Day.
Boxing Day (Second Christmas Day here) is also a holiday, so everything is still closed, and most people use the day to relax with the immediate family after the big celebration, or else to invite or go see friends to have a more casual get-together. My family usually does the roast fowl on Boxing Day, but leftovers is the more common thing for most families to do.
Oh, and I should say that when I say everything is closed, it really means everything. Gas stations and restaurants may still be open, but all other shops closed at about 2 pm on Christmas Eve and won't open again till tomorrow morning, so there was the most aweful crush in supermarkets on Monday and Tuesday morning. I was out with a long shopping list on Monday morning, hoping I'd still be ahead of the rush, but it was a vain hope. Loaded shopping carts everywhere, and filled as if people were buying provisions for a three-month sea voyage. Mine of course was no exception although I only bought a measly two cartons of milk instead of the six to eight other shoppers bought.