When I was a child, Santa put up the Christmas tree, so in the morning we were not only surprised by the toys and presents but by the beautiful tree too. We always received 17 presents every year. I remember my father getting on top of the roof making the sounds of the reindeer. He told us if we didn’t fall asleep Santa wasn’t coming in. I remember my younger brother getting a set of drums one year. What was Santa thinking when he delivered those? Of course the noise of Christmas is a big part of it all. Living in a house with 6 children, things were hectic to say the least…… but exciting too.
When I was a teenager, I remember having a lot of people over on Christmas Eve. Lots of friends and family came over and the sounds and the smells were so exciting. Food and drinks were flowing and we even got to open a few gifts. I remember my sister giving me a maroon jacket with faux fur around the collar. She was working at the time, so she had her own money and I just thought that was so cool. I LOVED the jacket and I wore it to midnight mass and just felt so good wearing it.
As a young married adult we would go over my mom and dad’s house for dinner, my mom would go all out on the meal and decorations. She was obsessed with having a perfect Christmas. My kids got excited because they were allowed to open their gifts from my mom and dad. They loved and appreciated everything they received.
Then a few years later my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer as well as a few other medical issues and hosting Christmas became too much. This is when the history of Christmas began to change for me.
So, the next year I took over hosting the Christmas Eve dinner. It was nice and I tried to keep my family traditions. It’s funny because I remember we always had oyster stew (yuck). I loved watching my children open up their gifts, like most mothers it’s like watching something magical happening and you just want to freeze time.
Of course we can't forget going to mid Night Mass at St. Paul's. The parish became so big that at one point we had to get tickets to go to Mid Night Mass. I believe at that point we started going to the Vigil mass. (I haven't been faithful about going to mass lately but I really do want to get back to going. I need to make this a priority.)
Now my children are adults and it will be fun watching them start their own traditions as well as keep some of the older traditions too. It’s going to be fun to see the magic of Christmas in the eyes of my granddaughter this year.
Christmas day isn’t even here yet and we already made so many new memories…….Tis the Season to Be Jolly.
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