High school basketball tournaments have become as much of a Christmas tradition as decorating a tree or endless viewings of A Christmas Story and It’s a Wonderful Life.

Almost every boys basketball team in the Herald-News coverage area will be competing in a tournament during their winter break.

The tournament with the most area schools is the Seneca Shipyard Showdown, a 16-team event that begins Tuesday and concludes on Friday and Saturday after Christmas. Competing in the event are Coal City, Dwight, Gardner-South Wilmington, Seneca and Wilmington.

The Pontiac Holiday Tournament is, according to its website, pontiacholidaytournament.com, the nation’s oldest Christmas time basketball tournament, dating back to 1926. Joliet West, Lockport and Plainfield North will play in that tournament, which runs from Dec. 29-31.

Also making a southern swing are Joliet Central and Romeoville, which will play in the State Farm Classic in Bloomington, which starts Dec. 26 and concludes Dec. 30. Heading even farther west will be Minooka and Plainfield South, which play in the Pekin Tournament from Dec. 29-31.

Staying a little closer to home are Lincoln-Way East and Plainfield East at the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic from Dec. 26-30. In the Large School bracket at the Kankakee Holiday Tournament (Dec. 26-29) will be Lincoln-Way Central, while Peotone will be in the Small School bracket.

Lemont will be the only area team at the Jack Tosh Classic at York (Dec. 26-31), while Morris is the lone area representative at the Plano Christmas Classic (Dec. 26-30). Lincoln-Way West will play at DeKalb’s Chuck Dayton Classic (Dec. 27-30), while Plainfield Central is at the Elgin Holiday Tournament (Dec. 23-27) and Providence is at the Maine East Holiday Tournament (Dec. 26-30).

Bolingbrook has been at the Jack Tosh in recent years, but this year, the Raiders went to the Iolani Classic in Hawaii, where they finished fourth.