For the last several years (I can’t honestly remember how many it’s been) my Christmas Eve has more or less accidentally slipped into the following tradition: watch Die Hard; wrap the Kinderbesten’s presents; finish the evening with a ghost story.

This year, I’m pleased to say we continued that tradition with one major change: the Elderbeast requested to join me and my friend for Die Hard. Talk about your rites of passage. This necessitated wrapping the presents a few days earlier (the benefits of a #childfree weekend), but we were more than happy to oblige. With the presents out of the way, this meant we were able to devote our full attention to Die Hard, instead of the 20% or so that isn’t occupied trying keep two bits of wrapping paper together while you hunt for the tape.

It’s a nice development: your kids growing up to share and participate in your traditions (no matter how ridiculous they are). And Die Hard, as always, was awesome. Perhaps even more so, given we were able to watch it rather than just have it on in the background.

Having sent the Elderbeast to bed, we followed up with A Warning To The Curious, the second story adapted for the BBC’s Christmas Ghost Story strand (all the way back in 1972). The strand was revived a few years ago, but I was sad to see that there wasn’t to be a new ghost story this year. Never mind, I have a DVD set of the lot and am always happy to pick through the oldies. There’s something about the blend of M.R.James’s stories and that old 1970s BBC style that really pulls every scrap of creepiness to the screen.

Overall, a perfect Christmas Eve. The only thing I got wrong was filling the Kinderbesten’s stockings with presents before placing them in their rooms–turns out they were both expecting empty stockings to be hung on the bed (which would, of course, be magically filled with presents by the time they woke up). Noted for next year …