Thursday, December 23, 2010

Christmas Eve Traditions

When I think of Christmas Eve in my formative years, I remember two things:  after church we would have a spaghetti supper, and my brother and I would play cards until it was time to go to bed.  I miss spaghetti, and playing Albanian or Spit.  (I have no idea if "Albanian" is the actual name of the card game, but that's what my family has always called it.)  Then I would wake up at like 1AM and do my "big sister duty," climb the stairs and rouse my brother awake so we could go downstairs and look at the tree and see what Santa left!  I'm the oldest and yet I was always the one so excited to go and see the tree and goodies!  As the years went by there was still spaghetti and Albanian, but as teenagers we would have to be roused out of our beds.  The wonderment was gone.  Sure, there were still lots of happy surprises and beautiful Christmases.   But there's a reason why people say "Christmas is for and about the children."

Luckily, you don't realize that you get to experience that through your own children.  It's this wonderful surprise, looking at Christmas through their eyes.  Telling them stories about Santa Claus, and making believers out of them.  I like to think that it's wonderful for the grandparents as well, to have someone in the family that is in awe of the holidays again.  I know it won't last forever, it never does.  But for me, even though the holidays can be stressful and crazy, it's about family.  It's the Christmas Dinner that we all sit down for.  And especially, it's to see the surprise and happiness in those two little boys.

In our house, I'm going back to the tradition of the spaghetti supper on Christmas Eve.  I used to get fancier but I've discovered something that my mother has probably always known:  not only does everyone like spaghetti, it cooks in a flash and doesn't create a lot of dishes on Christmas Eve!  The boys are too young for cards but I hope to teach them when they are older.  Brian and I have always had a tradition of opening one gift on Christmas Eve.  And every single year, Brian reads "The Night Before Christmas" and we leave cookies and milk for Santa and popcorn for his reindeer. 

What are some of the traditions that you honor with your family?

1 comment:

The Caffeinated Mommy said...

Ohhhh, I love this post! We have a tradition in our house that the elves bring new jammies for everyone on Christmas Eve, and tonight they happen to be dropping off a new Christmas book, as well. ;-) We always did pizza on Christmas Eve, as it was easy and my mom was always rushing around trying to get things ready for the big day! Have a wonderful day and a wonderful Christmas holiday, you are so right when you say it's much more fun with little kids around...they make everything magic!