My mom and I were talking about this on the phone yesterday. We both decided we like Christmas Eve better than Christmas Day. I don’t know why…but in my head, Jesus was born on Christmas Eve and then His parents got to sleep in on Christmas Day (#thelogicofchildhood). Growing up, Christmas Eve was rife with tradition. We would go to the candlelight service and sing my favorite Christmas carols like this one. We would drive home in the snowy cold (I feel like every Christmas in Colorado was a white Christmas). We’d unbundle ourselves from coats and scarves and boots. Dad would grab the snacks and the camera. Mom would heat up her cup of coffee and we’d head for the living room and the tree. Dad would read the Christmas story aloud and then we’d open presents in a circle, one at a time so that we could enjoy them with each other. My mother was the quiet conductor of all of this, sipping her coffee and nodding that it was someone else’s turn. Mom and Dad would open presents from each other last and have the annual Hunny Bunny argument (both would insist that the OTHER person was “Hunny Bunny #1” and so no packages were ever marked to “Hunny Bunny #2”). I would sort and pile my gifts in a box and, when we had finished, I would take them to my room and set them where I could stare at them in the dark. They would stay in the box for days, maybe a week, shining up at me all new and special. I liked to horde them for a few days, to keep them new and bright and separate from my regular, everyday belongings. Christmas morning was the leisurely version of this and we’d take as long as possible to open our stockings, just to make them last to the very last toe of the very last stocking.
This Christmas Eve will be different than the ones I had as a little girl but that’s okay. It will be a day full of baking and singing and movie watching and snuggling and candle-lighting and praying and present-opening. It will mostly be just me and Kyle but I like that. Someday we’ll probably have babies and then the babies will grow up and be children and Christmases will be different. This year I am cherishing the peacefulness and sweetness and quietness. I have a growing feeling that this is a rare gift.
I hope whatever your celebration looks like, it’s wonderful and that it feeds your soul.
Merry Christmas Eve,
elizabeth
