Christmas Eve

Ken Anderson

Ken Anderson

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Growing up, we had the big family meal on Christmas Eve and opened most of our gifts on Christmas Eve, after everyone has finished eating - frustratingly, including finishing up with coffee, because dad would take his time with his coffee, asking for seconds or thirds, delaying the gift opening on purpose.

Christmas morning was for Christ, although we would get one gift on Christmas morning (more if someone from outside the family brought gifts), but that would be our big one. So if we were going to get a bicycle, that would be there on Christmas morning. Our church had a 4 am service on Christmas morning, which we would all have to get up and get dressed for, then usually go back to bed afterwards, and wonder later whether we had actually gone to church or if it was a dream. I don't think anyone ever remembered much about that 4 am service, although the whole congregation would be there for it. If we were going to have company for Christmas, such as the grandparents on my mom's side (my grandfather on my dad's side died before I was born and my paternal grandmother died when I was about three), or the pastor and his family, who would make rounds from one family to another each Christmas, then we'd have another big dinner on Christmas afternoon after opening any Christmas Day gifts after getting up for the second time. Then, we'd have the day to play with whatever gifts we wanted to play with, or whatever, usually with various relatives coming and going, and there would be another church service in the evening. I think the idea was to push the commercialization of Christmas onto Christmas Eve. For a family, I thought that was a good idea, and that is what I did with my son, although minus the 4 am church service.
 
Growing up, there was only me, since I was the only child, and I got to open my presents on Christmas Eve. Usually, some appeared overnight from Santa Claus, even after i outgrew that; but they were there to open on Christmas morning.
We didn’t have a Christmas dinner, but the Baileys, who lived next door and were like family, always had a lot of family for holidays and Grandma Bailey made a wonderful Christmas dinner for all of us, like she did on Thanksgiving, too.

My dad, who was a lineman, would find beautiful trees during the summer months, when he was working on the power lines out in the woods, and he always remembered where those trees were, so in late November, he would start bringing home Christmas trees on top of his line truck.
He brought home our tree, the Bailey’s tree, and usually a really big one for Northern Lights, the REA where he worked. He often brought trees for some of the office workers from there as well.

My folks had the old Christmas tree ornaments that they had saved since before the Great Depression, and that really old tinsel that was actually made from tin, and that was what we decorated the tree with. My mother loved Bubble Lights, so we always had those on the tree, and that is still how I picture a Christmas tree should look.
 
My brother and I were the only kids, and unfortunately we never had a set Christmas traditions or nothing remarkable to remember really. Marks family was real into traditional stuff. One thing was whoever answered on the phone the week of Christmas, you were to answer ' Christmas Eve gift ', if you did not then you had to buy them a gift. Marks dad played Santa by using a metal drum and Ho Ho'ing on the phone to grand kids and a few others. All kinds of little things like that. I miss that now.
I raised my kids alone, and struggled to give them presents many times, but we had good times and my parents often helped out with things like that.
Back when I went to church ( I raised myself as Episcopalian) I loved going to midnight mass on Christmas Eve, as it made me feel more like that was what Christmas was about.
 
Our household was "Open House" in my small town. Friends and neighbors, relatives, et al were welcome. My mom made sure there was plenty of food and dad took care of the drinks department. Now, we always trimmed the tree on Christmas Eve, so that was SOP for all our guests. Everyone pitched in, and we'd have one of the most eclectic Christmas trees each year. Great fun for all.

Most of our guest brought token gifts for us kids, which we were allowed to open and thank the giver then and there. Family gifts were opened on Christmas Day since Santa brought those.

Miss all that, and have fond memories.
 
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Christmas Eve, we always went to church, whrre there was always a spectacular service. My grandparents would meet us there and come home with us to spend the night. The back of their station wagon would be stuffed with presents (my grandma was a prodigious shopper).

One present would be opened Christmas Eve, the rest on Christmas morning.
 
Mary Robi said:
Christmas Eve, we always went to church, whrre there was always a spectacular service. My grandparents would meet us there and come home with us to spend the night. The back of their station wagon would be stuffed with presents (my grandma was a prodigious shopper).

One present would be opened Christmas Eve, the rest on Christmas morning.
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Hey stranger! Glad to see you again.
 
My Dad was a Carpenter (among many other things) and every year he would make me something cool for Christmas. One year he made a four foot long sled. The only place to sled was in the town park, where the county snow plows deposited the snow. They would pile it up a little at a time and it would end up being a good sled hill. A rarity in the mostly flat land of northern Illinois.

That year we got a lot more snow than usual, and the sled hill was twice as big as usual. When I showed up with my hand made sled, it was the hit of the party. After that that, my Dad made them for sale at Christmas time.
 
When I was a kid, our family had a party on Christmas Eve and opened gifts after supper. We then had the big "Christmas Dinner" on Christmas Day, and the little ones got to open stuff from Santa.

When I married and had my own family, we followed the same tradition. To this day we still have Christmas Eve at our house, though it is more difficult to get all the kids and grandkids here. All our children live far away from us now but they try to get home for the holidays. We will have a group of 15 for Christmas Eve this year.
 
When my kids were growing up, we often went to my mom and dad’s place for Christmas. I would cook the turkey and all the stuff that went along with that, and mom would get the things that came from the store, like cans of cranberries, olives, and stuff like that. She always had a Christmas tree , although most of the time, she just put lights on her ficus (fig tree), which looked really pretty with all those tiny strings of lights.

My folks had an old hotel that they owned and operated, and their apartment was on the main floor, so that was where we went for Christmas when we spent it with my folks.
Most of the people were elderly pensioners who rented rooms by the month and lived there permanently, so sometimes mom would put up a Christmas tree in the lobby as well, so the old folks could enjoy it, too.

Since we lived in the country, the kids and i would saddle up the horses and ponies, and we would ride out into the woods and find the tree we wanted for a Christmas tree, cut it down and drag it home behind the horses, and then put it up in the living room that night.
 
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Yvonne Smith said:
When my kids were growing up, we often went to my mom and dad’s place for Christmas. I would cook the turkey and all the stuff that went along with that, and mom would get the things that came from the store, like cans of cranberries, olives, and stuff like that. She always had a Christmas tree , although most of the time, she just put lights on her ficus (fig tree), which looked really pretty with all those tiny strings of lights.

My folks had an old hotel that they owned and operated, and their apartment was on the main floor, so that was where we went for Christmas when we spent it with my folks.
Most of the people were elderly pensioners who rented rooms by the month and lived there permanently, so sometimes mom would put up a Christmas tree in the lobby as well, so the old folks could enjoy it, too.

Since we lived in the country, the kids and i would saddle up the horses and ponies, and we would ride out into the woods and find the tree we wanted for a Christmas tree, cut it down and drag it home behind the horses, and then put it up in the living room that night.
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WOW! That sounds like a Tex Ritter Movie, Yvonne!🎄
 
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