The 16 Personalities on Christmas Eve

Flapping around trying to get everything done at the last minute or kicking back and enjoying the holiday while someone else does the work? The 16 personalities have different approaches to Christmas Eve, just like they do in everyday life. Their antics add spice to gingerbread; crackle to the fire. Here's how they're spending the most magical night of the year! Not sure of your type? Take our free test here. 

ESTJ: The Extreme Decorator

On arriving at the host family’s house, ESTJ spends a whole 3 minutes resting before starting his first inspection of the day, making notes of where the decorations need “tweaking.” He then launches into a frantic bout of decorating, rearranging the living room setup and replacing the much-loved family Christmas tree with a pre-lit, pop-up tree from Home Depot. Next to go are the dinky outside lights, which are exchanged for a massive LED portrayal of Santa’s sleigh. Unwittingly makes the host family’s house the cover of the local holiday magazine.

ISFJ: The Tradition Lover

Ignoring her family’s pleas, the ISFJ insists that everybody drives to the nearest Christmas tree farm to take pictures in the freezing cold because she loves hanging the photos in her office every year. The rest of her family begrudgingly complies, but only because she's doing all the cooking tomorrow. As a reward for their cooperation, the ISFJ bakes five batches of sugar cookies, pours everyone a cup of hot cocoa and puts on a classic holiday movie that everyone knows by heart—it's all about tradition.

ESFJ: The Gingerbread Master

Since at least the beginning of November, the ESFJ has secretly been buying cases of gingerbread and watching YouTube tutorials on how to build the perfect gingerbread castle. On Christmas Eve, she facilitates a “spontaneous” gingerbread house-making competition and wins, partly because her house is jaw dropping and partly because she is also the judge. She awards herself with a Gingerbread Champion medal that she made in anticipation of her victory—already with her name engraved on it, how convenient. Gloats for hours afterwards because she has “bragging rights.”

ISTJ: The Holiday Light Tour Guide

The night before Christmas Eve (which he affectionately calls Christmas Eve Eve), the ISTJ drives around town by himself, making note of which streets have the best lights. He maps a route for his family to follow on Christmas Eve complete with specific addresses and a schedule. It's not just about the lights, though—he also has hot chocolate thermoses ready for everyone to enjoy on the road with individualized flavors and mix-ins. The others try to argue for more spontaneity, but have to admit that their drinks are perfectly personalized.

ENTJ: The Choirmaster

Each year, the ENTJ spends the week leading up to Christmas running vocal drills with her children, all of whom have solos in the church Christmas show. She hands them mugs of hot cider to warm their vocal chords and shakes her head when they protest against the long practice hours, insisting that the family “has a standard to meet.” On Christmas Eve, the family carols from door to door in six-part harmony, receiving many compliments which the ENTJ shrugs off with an, “Oh, thank you so much! It’s just a natural talent, I guess.”

INTJ: The Gift Genie

Proud of being top of his class at Yale, the INTJ bets every one of his family members that he can accurately predict the presents on Christmas morning. He spends the evening meticulously measuring, weighing and shaking each gift, before comparing each wrapped box to the specifications of the items on everybody’s wish lists. Delivers his predictions in the form of a spreadsheet. Looks at everybody on Christmas day with an “I told you so” grin.

ENTP: The Entrepreneur

Stating it will be “fun,” the ENTP organizes a Secret Santa exchange and asks each family member if they would like to invest in a “unique gift” for their present: a personalized Christmas carol singing gram from him, all for the cheap price of $15 per song. He approaches everybody individually so that each person believes they are the only one gifting a singing gram. During the Christmas Eve gift exchange, the ENTP delivers a total of twenty versions of “Jingle Bell Rock.” By the time the other family members realize they have been played, he is packed and out of the house, $300 richer.

INTP: The Procrasti-Shopper

After spending the entirety of December reasoning that she would “just go shopping tomorrow,” the INTP wakes on Christmas Eve without having bought a single gift. Wearing sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat in case she runs into her friends, she scours the ransacked aisles at Target for last-minute gifts. Five hours later, she has a few discount cookbooks, some mugs and a Power Rangers action figure set in her cart. The INTP reasons that she can just make up for the bad gifts next Christmas – when she will definitely begin shopping earlier.

ISFP: The Christmas Caroler

Believing she is a fantastic singer—after all, she was waitlisted at Juilliard for undergrad—the ISFP goes “caroling” in the Target parking lot on Christmas Eve, where she performs only her original songs. She begins the night hoping that Simon Cowell will exit the store and sign her to a contract immediately. Soon becomes discouraged when disheveled parents urge her to “play something we can recognize.” Goes home, believing that people don’t understand “true art”.

ESTP: The Kid at Heart

Usually tired and worn out from work, the ESTP seems to come alive on Christmas Eve because that’s when he can see his extended family. He doesn’t care for the actual holiday, but he loves to argue with his cousins and turn into the kid he was 15 years ago. By 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve, he’s wearing footie pajamas and watching Hallmark movies with his wife. Joins the kids in leaving out milk and cookies for Santa.

ISTP: The Santa Claus

The ISTP is entrusted with being Santa every Christmas Eve—and while he would never admit it, he takes the job very seriously. Puts the costume on, even though the kids are asleep, and then heads outside to the pre-arranged “sleigh” (a 2019 Honda Odyssey). After stealthily moving all of the presents and eating the cookies that the kids left out, he pops to the chimney to stage snow marks from Santa. Goes back inside, changes into normal clothes, and heads to bed.

ESFP: The Most Wanted Party Guest

The ESFP is on every holiday party guest list from Halloween onward. His family rarely gets to see him and, because of this, he promises to be completely free on Christmas Eve to watch movies and bake cookies with the kids. But when he checks his calendar that night, he realizes he has RSVP'd to his boss’s Christmas Eve party. In an astonishing show of willpower, he turns off his phone and stays with his family, wondering if a third game of Monopoly is worth missing out on a possible promotion—or his boss's infamous artichoke dip.

ENFJ: The Olympic Baker

The ENFJ is in the kitchen from the moment she wakes up, preparing to bake her late grandmother’s famous pumpkin crunch pie in different iterations with varying levels of spices. She forces her family out of the kitchen, insisting that the pie takes hours to be perfect. The others cannot find it in their hearts to tell her that Meemaw uploaded her "secret" recipe online before she passed, and there are now tons of cheat sheets all over the internet. Including advice to buy pre-made crust.

INFJ: The Movie Buff

The INFJ doesn’t ask much from his family—just that they watch his reservoir of Christmas movies, the same ones he rolls out every year. From “It’s a Wonderful Life” to “The Holiday”,  every one of them is just the wrong side of schmaltzy though INFJ insists they’re “classics”. Secretly cries when he realizes his family would rather watch YouTube videos on their phones.

INFP: The Poet

The INFP spends the entire holiday season wondering what to get her friends and family for Christmas. She rules out buying materialistic things because they seem impersonal, and rules out food gifts because they do not last. Instead, she writes everybody in her life a personalized poem about how she feels about them because that is “so Beth March from ‘Little Women’”. She spends Christmas Eve at her writer’s desk, pretending she is the lead character in a Victorian novel. Rolls the poems up, wraps them in red ribbon and delivers them door to door.

ENFP: The Enthusiast

The ENFP is the distant cousin who—once the family has put on the matching sweaters he bought—reads “A Christmas Carol” out loud, acting out the characters as he goes. Nobody is really sure how he is related to the family, but there is a strange obligation to invite him each Christmas. After his voice breaks at the Tiny Tim impression, one of the kids asks his mother, “Why do we invite him every year?” “I don’t know,” she replies. “I just don’t know.”