Hopefully everyone has gotten most of their Christmas shopping done and made plans for who is cooking the turkey and desert for the big Christmas dinner.

If your family is like mine, Christmas is a time to get together, open some presents, stuff ourselves with food and generally enjoy each other’s company.

Oh, and of course watch a little bit of sports as well.

Nothing goes better with the holidays than some sporting events.

Just think about it. Almost every major holiday in America features major sporting events.

New Year’s Day brings us (or at least used to) the major college bowl games. The Fourth of July just isn’t the same without some Major League Baseball.

And nobody can enjoy a Thanksgiving without watching the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys playing some football.

And Christmas is no different. When I was a kid, we would always go up to my grandmother’s house to open presents and eat brunch.

Then, my dad would fall asleep in the recliner while I watched the Blue-Gray game on television.

For those of you who might not remember, the Blue-Gray game was a college all-star game made up of players whose teams were not participating in a bowl game.

The game was played on Christmas Day in Montgomery, Ala.

Unfortunately, the game was canceled several years ago after it lost its sponsorship.

After the Blue-Gray game was over, it was time to watch the Aloha Bowl from Hawaii.

We would usually leave my grandmother’s house about halftime of the Aloha Bowl and go home for a few minutes before heading over to the house of the other set of grandparents.

I’d try to watch the end of the game before dinner was served, sometimes being successful

Alas, the Aloha Bowl was also canceled several years ago after Jeep pulled its sponsorship.

There is another bowl game in Hawaii now, but it is played on Christmas Eve instead. It’s just not the same.

Now that there are no college bowl games to compete with, the NBA seems to have taken over Christmas Day.

There are two nationally televised NBA games on Christmas, one at about noon and one in mid-afternoon.

The mid-afternoon game always features two of the top teams in the NBA, which means the Lakers and whichever other team is good that year.

This year it’s the Miami Heat facing off against L.A.

With LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh making up the so-called “Big Three,” the Lakers and Heat will probably be seeing a lot of each other on Christmas Day in the future.

I’m not a big NBA fan, but I can probably find some time to sit in front of the television with my full stomach and catch NBA action on Christmas Day.

After all, it’s just not a proper holiday without some sports to enjoy with the family.