SeaSeeker, come on over to the dark warm and fuzzy side on the Christmas Board- you will find "your people"! 
Meanwhile, to keep you happy:
DD has an advent Calendar that DM made for her first Christmas (a sewn panel of pockets) - I put in a choc figure (I buy nets in Aldi in late Nov) and when she was younger, regularly it was free printable colouring and activity sheets from the internet, now there are some notes of what we'll do that day, some activity sheets, the odd lego minifigure and some days a treasure hunt finding clues around the house to a small present (something useful or a small activity thing to keep her busy).
Also for her first Christmas, we got a copy of "Twas the night before Christmas" and read that as her bedtime story on Christmas Eve. Even now at 12, that is the first story on Christmas Eve (she rarely gets bedtime stories anymore - but Christmas is special!). It may get read again in later days before the tree comes down, but it doesn't stay with the other Christmas books (which come out on 1st December) but in the Christmas Eve box with her stocking.
She also got involved in "making cookies for crèche" from her first Christmas - the fist year, she mixed eggs with a fork, added in the flour, and had a bit of dough with her own rolling pin to mangle (those cookies didn't go into the crèche bag!). But the same recipe was used for all 5 Christmases she was in crèche and she got more involved over the years. We had a set of small cutters (possibly playdough type) in shapes like mushroom, bird, car, plane, star, moon etc - which were just perfect for small hands and mouths.
On Christmas Eve, we have the Christmas Candle, an Irish tradition where a lighted candle is left in the window to show that there is room in this Inn for any weary travelers - although we usually have it on the mantelpiece. DD, as youngest, lights it, and we then have a family prayer to remember the good and bad things in the past year, and to remember family and friends who can't be with us due to distance or who have died.
Then we get out the Christmas Eve Box - a slightly larger than a shoebox size, with her plastic plate and glass, stocking, new pjs for all 3 of us, lush festive bath bombs for DD and I, nice hot chocolate to have going to bed, and the copy of Twas the Night before Christmas.
DD also always makes cookies for Santa on Christmas eve in the afternoon. Those are a different type - you make a log of dough (that can be frozen) and slice the cookies off to bake. So I always make sure I have a half batch in the freezer in case we don't have the time or energy to make them from scratch on Christmas Eve (many years we have done them properly, but a few have used the freezer batch). They go on her plastic Christmas plate (a set from Dunne Stores that has been much used!) with carrot for Rudolph and a glass of milk for Santa, and she lays out her stocking.
Then she goes upstairs for her nice Christmassy bath and new pjs, coming back down for her hot chocolate, and then we read the story in bed. It does help to make bedtime work smoother.
Christmas Day can differ depending on where we are spending it, but always starts with a stocking (presents, chocolate, loads of fruit, a book or 2, and some useful bits too). A nice family breakfast before mass, and then on to whatever visits we are making. We only open the presents under the tree when we get home in the afternoon - put the turkey on, cook a batch of M&S type nibbles, get things organized with the rest of the dinner, light the fire and get a relaxing drink, then we relax opening whatever is there (including something from us to DD - usually something practical like clothes). We tend to have dinner in the evening, but it can differ if we are eating elsewhere.
Boxing Day is DD's birthday, so after a decent walk in the morning, we have a relaxed "at home" in the afternoon for the neighbours and extended family (drinks and nibbles whenever you can pop by), when we are in our house for Christmas. DD gets a cake in the late afternoon and her presents.
We have a "Live Crib" near my office in town, and DD loves going to visit that in December. We always make time for a "Christmas Shopping" trip together, which generally has no shopping needed unless she sees something, its more about seeing the crib, getting a nice hot chocolate and a bun in a coffee shop, seeing the Christmas lights, and enjoying the festive atmosphere. I really try and organise my own shopping so I don't have to get things that day.
I also have a shoebox of strips of different coloured paper, and a roll of sellotape. DD can make paper chains for various places, at times that suit her, and over many sessions of 2 minutes to an hour (depending on her attention span that day) as it is one of the few crafts that can be picked up and put down again without spoiling (it lives in the shoebox so it doesn't get crushed) until its long enough.
I also have done lots of toilet roll and other crafts over the years - Activity Village and DLTK websites are great for ideas and also free printables.