Christmas Eve - My Favorite

As a kid, Christmas eve was always my favorite.

Part of this was because we always went to my grandmother’s house. It was always decorated nicely, we got to see my aunt, uncle, and cousin. We always had fun. Our family is small, so we would do a gift exchange. My cousin and I would be silly about always opening our gift at the exact same time (because it was always the same item… so we wouldn’t fight… hers was usually red and mine was usually pink). The menu was always a buffet-type thing. Everyone was happy to see each other.

I distinctly remember this. It was before we had kids - so WE were still the kids in this scenario. My grandfather had hurt his foot and we couldn’t do gifts in this room by the tree. He loved being a part of everything so we crammed into the den so he could be in his chair. We brought in one gift at a time so he could watch everyone open their presents. This photo was at the end of the evening. Grammy and I were dancing to Frank Sinatra. It was the only Christmas where we broke from our usual tradition of opening gifts by the tree, yet it remains a memory of one of the best Christmas Eves we ever had.

As fun as Christmas Day is, there’s something about the evening of anticipation that really steals the show for me. And I loved exchanging gifts with my grandmother and grandfather. The past few years have been a little different, as Grammy was getting too old to host, and then didn’t feel strong enough on her feet to go to my mother’s house. This is the first Christmas without her. My parents will be coming over and we’ll do the grandparent gift exchange and the buffet-style menu. I’ll miss calling Gram and telling her all about it.

Having kids has definitely made Christmas Day more fun - I like to see them opening their presents and getting super excited. But I’ll always have a special place for Christmas Eve.