My parents are Dutch immigrants so we celebrate Christmas starting on Christmas Eve. Our whole family comes together and we have a buffet and we open our Christmas gifts. We do this one at a time so the giver can enjoy the receipients happy reaction (we hope LOL) and the receipient can give thanks. This usually takes a few hours so at the half way mark we return to the buffet and refresh our drinks.
As a child we never did open gifts Christmas morning, but since I had my daughter, I didn't want her to feel Santa excluded her so there were always Santa's gifts for her to wake up to. We still do this tradition and she is 17. Do you think she still believes or is this her way of getting some extra gifts? Anyway, Christmas Eve always and still does feel magical with the family around.