Christmas morning (we did very little sleeping that night) after opening the rest of the gifts, my mother would begin cooking the holiday meal, and my father would take all the children to visit friends and relatives in the area and bring or exchange gifts and goodies. By late afternoon our house was filled with relatives (never less than 25) and the big table in our finished basement and the table in the smaller room (set up for the younger members of all the families) were decorated with holly and food you would not believe. The rooms were separated only by an arch. We truly ate a seven course meal from soup to nuts. After dinner came the desserts and coffee, tea, etc. Then while the women in the family did the cleaning up my father and a few other relatives would bring out their musical instruments and we would all listen or sing-along.
To this day I enjoy Christmas Eve more. Remembering when each year at a different family member's home my mother, whatever brothers and sisters that come for the holidays, their families, my daughter, son-in-law, son, daughter-in-law, grandchildren and of course me, usually spent it together after mass or services, eating, singing, trading stories and news of the past year, and later in the evening, opening gifts. Today Christmas Eve is usually spent with many family members at my niece Christa's house. This year I will be having breakfast out with my sisters and nieces. After that I'll be preparing for Christmas as I am having 6 of my family and one other for Christmas day and I have a lot of preparing and food to cook for Christmas day as this will be the first time in years I will be doing the entertaining. But I will never forget my cherished memories of Christmas' past.
Beautiful memories
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas
Beautiful...similar upbringing here too...
ReplyDeleteWishing you a very Merry Christmas, my friend.smiles
Love your memories of your childhood Christmases. Sounds like a wonderful time for all...a lot of eating!! Wow! We have not always gone to a Christmas Eve service, but I think we are planning to go tomorrow night. Although I'm not sure as our church is 30 miles from home and we don't like going out at night that far...but we shall see. We will be a small party this year on Christmas...and then have a bigger gathering the Saturday after where we do a "white elephant gift exchange"...which is fun for everyone and you don't have to buy gifts... I hope you will have a very merry Christmas and a blessed and happy New Year.
ReplyDeleteOur memories are so important and precious! Making new memories is priceless!! Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteLove your memories. I remember singing while coming home late too. I loved all the relations in the house and I too enjoy Christmas Eve the most.
ReplyDeleteI hope you had a perfect Christmas Toni!