Peeling brussels sprouts. Pulling crackers. Watching the Queen's speech. Decorating the tree. Attending midnight Mass. Listening to Bing Crosby.
In our increasingly secularised and fragmented society, many of us still cling to the rituals of Christmas as a common and comforting bond. But there are also an ever-growing number of us who say "bah, humbug" to it all and head for the nearest airport in search of some winter sun.
According to the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA), an incredible 3.5m of us will travel abroad over this Christmas and New Year. Heathrow alone will handle - perhaps that's too generous a word - around 1.2 million passengers. We live, of course, in age where extended family doesn't just mean you might have an aunt who lives in Perth, Scotland, but rather Perth, Australia. But not all these journeys abroad are to meet up with distant relatives - far from it.
"Lucky holidaymakers will be swapping thermals for bikinis and turkey for curry or tapas, with the Canary Islands, Egypt and Goa topping the list," says Abta. "Many are also beating the Christmas sales rush by heading off to Dubai for cheap prices, great shopping and five-star luxury." It says that city breaks are also very popular at this time of year, too, with Paris, Amsterdam, Dublin and New York among the most visited cities by Britons.
The era of cheap flights has liberated us from having to spend a tense and dreary few days with the in-laws. Now we can escape it all and spend the time away, on our own terms. This is just one of the many reasons why more and more people choose to fly, not just in the UK but across the world, and why politicians are so hesitant to reign in this growth, despite the considerable - and fast growing - climate-change impact of aviation.
On Thursday, EU ministers finally agreed to the terms and conditions of how aviation will enter the European carbon emissions trading scheme. But under considerable pressure from the aviation lobby, the original proposals were predictably watered down. Instead of entering the scheme in 2011, aviation will now enter in 2012. Airlines will only have to buy 10% of the permits at auction, meaning that they are gifted the rest which, in theory, will enable them to make a considerable profit by passing on the cost to passengers. And the cap is based on 2004-6 emissions rather than the 1990 norm applied to most other sectors. With the US threatening a trade war if the EU actually proceeds with this scheme - it still needs approval from MEPs - it seems that aviation will forever be treated as the favourite child, getting far more generous and larger presents than any of its siblings.
Whereas most of the other major sectors responsible for considerable emissions - steel, concrete, power stations, car manufacturers, mining etc - are having to face up to a future of deep cuts in emissions, aviation is being treated with kid gloves, as it has always been when you consider its laughable tax liability.
The aviation industry is often heard asking why it is being singled out for attention by climate change campaigners. The reason is simple: it is the fastest-growing source of emissions and is displaying little attempt, like most other sectors, to tackle its emissions. It is also a source of emissions that can be classified as "non essential" - two-thirds of passengers passing through UK airports are leisure travellers, as opposed to business travellers or what the industry refers to as VFRs (visiting friends and relatives). We don't need to go on cheap shopping trips to Dubai, whereas we do need power to heat our homes and cook our food. With that in mind, aviation would come quite far down a list of necessary emissions.
But no one is saying let's lock up all the planes in hangars somewhere and throw away the keys. Aviation is clearly an important industry and we will continue to "need" to fly in some circumstances. But we, as a society, urgently need to have a debate about whether it deserves its current special status over and above all other sectors that makes flying so cheap that we can go shopping in Dubai for Christmas bargains. Surely it should be the same rules for all? And if any sector is going to be given special dispensation to pollute, it should be one that meets more of humanity's essential needs than aviation?
The simple and unpalatable truth is that aviation will have to become more proportionately expensive in coming years - whether emissions trading or oil price rises causes this first is open to debate - so that the kind of binge flying that is becoming habitual among many now is curtailed. If aviation is to be kept within the strait jacket proposed by the EU emissions trading scheme then flying can't be an impulsive act of whimsy any longer, but that of need. It is not the people who go on holiday to the Mediterranean once a year, or only fly to see a relative at Christmas, who are largest source of the problem. It is the still relatively small, but growing, percentage of flyers who take multiple flights a year - often to visit their second-homes, incidentally, but that's a debate for another time perhaps - because they can afford to due to such cheap deals.
If we are serious about managing emissions, we just can't afford to let flying off to grab a few days of cheap winter sun become yet another Christmas ritual.
