What did YOU do on Christmas Eve when you were growing up? What about now?
When I was growing up, we didn't have many Christmas Eve traditions. I grew up Catholic, and at some point, we started going to mass on Christmas Eve so we didn't have to go to church on Christmas morning (in the Catholic church, Christmas is a "holy day of obligation" - a day you're supposed to go to church, even if it's not Sunday). At some point in the evening, my mom would get tired of our nagging and let my sister & me open one gift each. Said gift couldn't be one from them, so we would open one from our Aunt Ame or Aunt Ann, and that would satisfy our gift-opening craving until the next morning. Once were past "the age of understanding", around 10:00 or 11:00, my mom would tell us to go to bed b/c Santa was tired. When my family moved from SoCal to Marin, my parents began a tradition of holding a Christmas Eve dessert party. Neighbors and friends would pop in and out - some in jeans, some all dressed up b/c they had just come from or were heading to Christmas Eve mass. My mom kept a big bowl of ornaments on the credenza by the front door for people to take as they left. I'm not sure how many times they had the party - it wasn't every year - but it was a lot of fun. The most memorable was the time in the late 1980's (1988? 1989?) when the pipes were frozen and they had to post signs on the bathroom doors apologizing, but telling people they couldn't use the toilet, LOL. They had a dessert party in their new neighborhood last year or the year before, but the neighbors were quite confused by it. I guess they'd never heard of such a thing. Being an over-55 community, the party was all over by 8:30, LOL.
When Hubby & I were first married, we spent Christmas Eve at his dad & stepmom's place. Lorna would always make a huge feast - most notably veal roll-ups and a giant spinach salad. We would exchange gifts with his family, and it was always a great time. I'll never forget the year Paul hid Lorna's gift (a ring) inside one of the pieces of their nativity set (the camel?) and made her search for it. Though it was hectic driving all over the Bay Area Christmas Eve and Christmas day, we definitely miss those nights. The drive was always made a little bit easier by listening to "KFOG'S Crazy-A$$ Christmas" broadcast (the Bay Bridge was always horrible!).
(last year)In 2002, our best friends Mark & Bobbi brought their son Andrei home from Russia (Siberia!) a few days before Christmas. Ever since then, we've spent Christmas Eve at our house with them. I don't think any of us will ever forget seeing poor Andrei cornered by Thing One & Thing Two, who were SO EXCITED to meet him after hearing about him for so many months. I can still picture him rocking on the blue rocking horse and his delight the first time he ever played with bubbles! So, every year, we all gather at our place, have dinner, exchange gifts, and share some general hilarity and silly photo-taking. The actual dinner has changed since Bobbi and changed the way we eat (no more pastapaloozas!), but the food isn't the important part, anyway. For the kids, the highlight has always been the presents, of course. After everyone goes home and we've cleaned up, Thing One & Thing Two exchange their gifts.
This year, we've invited our friend Angela - an honorary member of both families - to join us, and her roommate, our friend Marie, may come along, too. Should be a great time!
Here's what we have planned:
- leg of lamb
- the turkey Hubby bagged Thanksgiving weekend (both cooked on the Weber)
- salad
- veggies
- wild rice
- mac & cheese for the kids
- fizzy waters, sparkling cider, coffee, tea, etc.
- giant gingerbread men for the kids to decorate and eat
- Apples to Apples
- gift exchange
- silly photos and general hilarity
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