This story is the second in our series examining holiday traditions.
Jeff and Kristi Huston didn't know what to expect.
They were trying something new at the request of a friend. International students from Indiana University would fill their house for a party on Christmas Eve.
"We didn't know who was going to be showing up or what countries they were going to be coming from," Jeff says. "But, I think one of the most important things we wanted to do was just kinda show them some of our traditions and how we celebrate Christmas."
Close to five years later, the unexpectedness and anticipation have disappeared, replaced by a tradition as commonplace for the family as wrapping gifts or decorating a tree.
Jeff says his family strives to make the students feel welcome.
"We wanted to really host them because a lot of them have no family or friends. Their family is thousands of miles away," he says. "We wanted to make sure that they felt they were at home and that they did have friends here in the U.S."
Jeff and Kristi describe the party as a standard American Christmas celebration. There are carols to be sung, an array of sweet treats for snacking, games to play and, of course, a large, colorful tree.
While the Hustons say they always look forward to the event, Kristi says the students love it, too.
"Every time they're in our home, students are extremely grateful and just super excited—always cameras out, 'Oh, let's take a picture and capture this moment,'" she says. "They really want to create memories and just make the most of every moment."
Jeff says for many of these students, it's their first Christmas.
"They realize that this really is a major deal. This is a major holiday, and it really does impact our life," Jeff says. "We make a big deal out of it, so I think that's part of it for them––realizing that this is not just another holiday. This is, for us, the biggest holiday of the year."
And Kristi says hosting the students has become a tradition for her kids.
"I think it's easy at Christmastime to be focused on your own immediate family, and I think bringing all these additional students into our home just made us feel like our family grew," she says. "Being able to have people from 10 or 15 different countries in the world in our home was a very special thing, and now our children ask every year if we're going to have the students over on Christmas Eve, so I think it's very special to them as well."