You've gone out and bought your tree, dragging it on a hot day into position in the family room, and you've decorated it with tinsel, baubles and even a delicate drift of fake snow.
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Soon you'll have the presents laid out around it, the stockings hung for Santa and your Mum's old nativity scene set up on the mantlepiece.
It's Christmas - and those are some of the things we 'just do'.
But have you ever wondered why?
Origins from the Bible
Strip away all the trappings of a Western Christmas and you have a Jewish baby born in a Middle Eastern animal pen over 2,000 years ago.
It probably wasn't December though (those sheep wouldn't have been out in the fields), and the stable definitely wouldn't have looked as picturesque as in all the paintings.
The birth narratives of Jesus are found in the Biblical gospels of Matthew and Luke.
The two accounts agree that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, his mother Mary was betrothed to a man named Joseph, who was descended from King David and was not his biological father, and that his birth was caused by divine intervention.
The stories in the Bible are the source of many familiar Christmas staples such as the angels (announcing Jesus's birth), the star (that appeared in the sky over Bethlehem) and the three wise men (who came to meet the king that the star heralded).
The birth of Jesus is celebrated by Christians all over the world because of his later ministry and subsequent execution at the hands of the Roman Empire, and the resurrection recounted in the New Testamant, which Christians believe is evidence of his triumph over death and sin.
The date of December 25 came about after the early church, by about the third century, decided that Jesus was crucified on March 25 (based on calculations regarding the Jewish Passover). The idea that Jesus was conceived on the same day he was crucified had become popular and, of course, December 25 is nine months after March 25.
So where do the trees come in?
It's a long way from Bethlehem to the European fir tree in the family room covered in fake snow. So how did we get there?
As Christianity spread throughout the world in the centuries following the events recounted in the Bible, the church in the West - for a number of complicated reasons - eventually settled on December 25 as the date to celebrate Jesus's birth.
This being almost the date of the winter solstice (December 21), which humans had celebrated since Neolithic times, there was already a tradition of bringing evergreen branches inside at that time of year to symbolise life at the turn of the darkest season.
That's where holly, ivy and mistletoe come in as well.
Prior to Christianization, the Germanic peoples (including the English) celebrated a midwinter event called Yule. With the Christianisation of Germanic Europe, numerous traditions were absorbed from Yuletide celebrations into modern Christmas.
Fast forward to 17th century Germany and something like the modern Christmas tree had evolved, decorated with gingerbread and other sweets; it was later given a big boost in the popularity stakes when Queen Victoria (whose mother was German) and Prince Albert adopted the custom in the mid-1800s.
So while the Christmas tree origins were firmly pagan, its meaning as a symbol of new life was subsequently connected with the Christmas story, and decorations of candles, stars and angels link it further with the nativity.
And finally, what's the go with the man in red?
His red and white clothing may have been the result of a Coca-Cola ad from the 1930s (an urban tale that is somewhat disputed), but the story of Santa Claus (also St Nicholas, Sinterklaas, Kris Kringle and so on) goes back much farther to 4th century Turkey.
St Nicholas was a real Christian bishop from Myra, famous for his generous gifts to the poor, in particular presenting the three impoverished daughters of a pious Christian with bags of gold as dowries so that they would not have to become prostitutes.
During the Middle Ages, often on the evening before his name day of December 6, children were bestowed gifts in his honour.
As some versions of the story suggest St Nicholas placed the bags of gold in the girls stockings, where they were drying by the fire, Christmas stockings became the somewhat bizarre place to pop children's gifts.
Over the years, the historical figure of St Nicholas merged with the English Father Christmas, a robed figure bringing good cheer in the mid-winter, who himself owed much to the Nordic god Odin, who possessed a long, white beard, gave gifts to his people, and led wild hunts through the sky on a flying steed or reindeer.
Plum pudding or pavlova?
The merging of the biblical Christmas story and the celebration of the northern hemisphere's mid-winter was inevitable once the church calendar incorporated the December date, and people all over the world are still happy to tuck into a mince tart and wear snowflake jumpers in honour of the occasion.
It's hard, though, in the Australian mid-summer, to justify a lot of the snowy frills.
Christmas, for most Aussies, has come to mean gathering with family over seafood and cold ham, and I for one am happy to embrace a more summery celebration of Jesus's birth.
But if plum pudding floats your boat, by all means, get stuck in. I'll be having the pav.
