Football has often been at thing on Christmas, but this year, the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day NFL games are off the charts. Have you seen the schedule? Some of the hottest games of the season are happening on Christmas Day. To start, Las Vegas is taking on Kansas City at 1 p.m. EST on Christmas Day, followed by New York taking on Philly, followed by Baltimore taking on San Francisco. Each of those games feature some kind of heavyweight team, from the Chiefs to the Eagles to the 49ers and Ravens. That last game, especially, is going to be a huge one. It appears the NFL is embracing the trend of NFL Christmas games.

I get it, and I kind of don’t. I mean, growing up a Detroit Lions fan, my family always had the Thanksgiving Lions game on in the background during our family get-togethers. But, Christmas Day was more sacred. We never had football on, and Christmas evening was spent driving around, looking at Christmas lights.

Now, I’m going to be watching football all day and all night on Christmas and even Christmas Eve. It works for me, because we had my family Christmas celebration last weekend. But, what about NFL fans who have obligations to be with their families on Christmas? I can’t think skipping the annual celebration to watch football would be a good enough excuse.

Of course, Christmas Eve and Day games aren’t entirely a new thing. In the 1970s and 1980s, the NFL really avoided such games. In fact, they experimented with Christmas games a bit in the early 1970s, and it didn’t go over so well. So, they kind of steered clear of holiday matchups.

But, that’s totally in the past. As I mentioned earlier, the NFL packed Christmas Day with some of the hottest games of the moment. The first game with the Las Vegas Raiders vs. the Kansas City Chiefs might not seem like an exciting matchup on paper. But, the fact Taylor Swift might be there will surely make it well viewed. I mean, if Taylor is there on Christmas, that just takes the whole Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce relationship to the next level, because it’s holidays-with-the-family time. Plus, the Chiefs really need this win. They’re struggling much more than expected this season, so even an “easy” win against the Raiders will mean a lot.

Next up is the Eagles vs. Giants game. This game is going to be huge. After all, Philadelphia has lost three weeks in a row. Nobody saw that coming. The Eagles need a change in momentum, and this Giants game could do it. If they lose, though, the Eagles are really going to be on a downward spiral.

Finally, it’s Baltimore vs. San Francisco. I believe this is the biggest game of the day. These teams are both leading in their conferences. Many people actually think the Super Bowl will come down to a matchup between these two teams. If I had to guess right now, I would put the Ravens against the 49ers in the Big Game. I’ve got my popcorn ready for this one.