Secular or religious, traditions are a key part of the holiday season for families.

They may involve the more common practices of chopping down a tree and hauling it back to the house, families faithfully attending church services on Christmas Eve, singing carols around the tree or reading the Bible's account of Jesus' birth.

And then there's Don Bacek, who decided to inject a little academia into the holy season.

"When I married my wife, Sharon, she had three teenage girls, and I remember the very first traditional Christmas morning we had, with lots and lots of boring gifts, as far as I was concerned," he said.

"And I decided to spice things up a bit for the next year, so I bought three special gifts and in order to get your first choice of the gifts, the girls had to answer a few questions," said Bacek, who runs Lily Creek Lodge in Dahlonega with his wife.

He gave them a 176-page world atlas and asked them to find some obscure cities, "and I timed them."

The children ended up not liking the three gifts and "they let me know ... that next year if (I) wanted to get them to play along, I had better spice things up," Bacek said.

"I decided, all right, I'm a New Yorker, so cash (would be the future prize)."

Today, the tradition is in its 25th year and has evolved into a test that takes four hours to complete.

"They still participate and the money is big," Bacek said.

Other family traditions are more intimate and less involved.

"My husband and I got married in 2001 and the whole commercialization of Christmas got to us," said Heather Crawford of Talmo. "We did the giving and receiving ... but we wanted to find a tradition that we wanted to start as a Christian couple to pay tribute ... to Jesus' birth."

So, Heather and her husband, Kevin, started by baking a cake or some kind of dessert on Christmas Eve, putting a candle in it on Christmas Day and singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing the candle out.

"And, of course, we'd say a prayer with it," Heather said.

"Once we had our son (Houston) - he'll be 3 in February - it was even more important to us that we had established this tradition," she said.

Last year "was really the first year that he was able to participate in it and we had pecan pie. We sang ‘Happy Birthday' and he blew the candle out."

The Crawfords wrote in an e-mail, "We feel it is imperative that our son knows the true meaning of Christmas and this is one small thing that we do to help him understand what Christmas is all about."

Tracy Rylee of Lula said when she was growing up, "my parents always had pajamas wrapped for me on Christmas Eve."

"I started it with my daughters, who are now 13 and 10, and they look forward to (opening the pajamas) every year," Rylee said. "My parents still do that for me even though I'm 37 years old.

"It's just something that's been passed through our family. I think actually that my mother's parents did that for her, also."

Several other readers sent e-mails to The Times describing their holiday traditions.

Brenda Nix of Chestnut Mountain said every year her husband's family and all the grandchildren and great-grandchildren (36 in all) gather "at my in-laws' house for breakfast and to open presents on Christmas morning."

"This has gone on for over 35 years," wrote Nix, a special education paraprofessional at Chestnut Mountain Elementary School.

"This past June, my dear mother-in-law passed away at the age of 79. Because of her love for her family and our love and respect for each other and her, we are going to continue that tradition this year," she continued. "We will continue to gather together and retell all the stories our kids and grandkids have grown to love over the years. ... Nothing is more important to us, except our faith, than our family and staying close."

Carol Bush of Oakwood recalled a tradition from her early years in New Jersey.

"We brought in a live tree right before Christmas Day. However, we didn't decorate it - Santa Claus did," Bush wrote.

"On Christmas morning, our mother would blindfold us and take us to the kitchen. She would shut the door so we couldn't see the tree and we would have to eat a good breakfast before we went into the living room, where the tree was.

"We were always excited to finish breakfast and finally get to see the tree in all its decorated glory, and to open our presents."

Bush said the tree stays up until Epiphany on Jan. 6.

"That day (marks) the visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus," she said. In the Catholic church, "it is considered bad luck to take the tree down before then."