"I needed to come to church, you know it's almost like you don't have anywhere else to go,” says Victor Gamino, who says he missed on out church on Christmas Eve and wanted to make up for it. “So where can I go to feel better, and church is the place, and what better time of the year than Christmas?"
The Tapia family has attended St. Francis Catholic Church for more than a decade.
"I like to open up presents and then come pray for Jesus' birthday," says 6-year-old Jelitza Tapia.
David Tapia says Christmas over the years has turned into marketing mayhem. He wants his family to focus on each other on a day when many are focusing on gifts.
"It's definitely more commercial, when you have Black Thursday starting the shopping season, you really just need to spend the time on what's the real meaning of Christmas," Tapia says. “We know that giving is important but do we really need to spend Christmas Day getting ready to shop? I think if we treat Christmas as daily event instead of a once a year event, we’ll get more of the spirit behind the true meaning of Christmas.”
The Louden family of
Duncan Louden, spends the day with family.
"Well I got to open a lot of presents and look in my stockings and my grandmother came over," says 9-year-old Duncan Louden.
Louden says he likes that he gets to spend the whole day playing with the gifts he received.
"We have dinner together, open presents, watch movies and play.”
Many families make Christmas a day at the movies.
"It’s just a fun thing, there are so many good movies out right now that I wanted to catch up on them," says Brenda Evans at Maya Cinemas in
More than just seeing a motion picture, the activity is about spending quality family time.
"I think family, forgiveness, love, sharing, caring and everything that means everything to you is what Christmas is about," says Gloria Hill, who went to see Les Miserables with her two children.