In many households or place wheres people establish significant relationships, people set up a Christmas tree, which they decorate with special lights, tinsel, candy canes, the figures of angels, and stars, with one star set on the tree's crest. Children take especial delight in Christmas Day because Father Christmas, or Santa Claus, the jolly old man who lives at the North Pole and presides over the spirit of Christmas giving, will visit each household at night. Santa will leave, whether under the Christmas tree or in Christmas stockings hung upon a mantle, presents sure to delight children's hearts.

Hence Christmas morning is the time when children rise eager to get to the Christmas tree to open their presents. After the exchange and opening of presents, the next most important order of business is the Christmas dinner, the most elaborate feast of the year. While those who prepare the Christmas dinner engage in the high-spirited work of making special foods, other members of the household entertain each other.

One special entertainment for children and adults alike has been, since 1983, the televised Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade, a lavish spectacle in which long favored Disney characters: Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck; and many others parade down Main Street, USA. Although many celebrities participate, the marching bands and community groups make this a special chance for average people to bring additional Christmas Day delight to the hearts of American children.