What made Xmas magical for you as a child?

[KindergartenKop]

I used to love waking up to see the stocking all bulgy and I loved getting new pyjamas (lion King with gold lame sun). What made it magical for you and what can I recreate for my kids?

My dad would always go downstairs first to check if 'he's been!' and switch on the tree lights, so we would go into the lounge and everything would be twinkling and gorgeous. We always do this now for our dc.

Feeling something crinkly at the end of the bed. Chocolate for breakfast. Christmas songs in the kitchen. Getting a tingle now tbh

No one ever argued. 4 D.C. never a cross word. My DGC never stop.

Feeling the weight of a filled stocking at my feet when I woke up.

Finding the stump of a carrot and the empty glass on the fireplace where Santa and the reindeer had come down the chimney.

Waiting for my mum to go and check if “he’d been”. The way Mickey Mouse wrapping paper c1992 looked under the multicoloured tree lights.

My dad used to climb in the loft on xmas eve and ring the 'sleigh bells'
But me and my sister started to realise that every time we heard them our dad was never there and got suspicious
So he recorded the sound of the bells and played it via a speaker in the loft
So when we heard them and he was there our minds were BLOWN
Now I'm an adult I realise how much effort that would have been and makes me love him even more for it!

Also my dad decorating the front room like something from a film and us sitting in a old fashioned chair listening to ''twas the night before Christmas' ahhhhh such fond memories