Friday, December 24, 2010

Christmas Eve

As I get older, I reflect more and more on Christmases past.  I don't know if it is just pure nostalsia, but it seems things were Merrier when I was a kid.  People greeted one another with "Merry Christmas!" every where.  Christmas music played at all the stores.  Santas were jollier, and the Salvation Army ringers were friendlier, and everyone put money in the bucket.  People sang carols in neighborhoods.  Me and my fellow youth choir members caroled through the cold and windy streets of Old Town Alexandria and then met back at the church hall for hot dogs, cookies, and hot chocolate.

The window displays in the stores in downtown DC were spectacular, and we would get dressed up and go downtown to see them.  Of course we also stopped to see the National tree and the trees of the states.  We went ice skating.

Everyone I knew had real Christmas trees.  Getting the tree was a big deal.  We would go to several lots to pick out the perfect one.  Dad would take them out and spin them around and then  stomp it to see how many needles would fall off.  He would pull off a few needles and rub them between his fingers and smell them.  He knew which one would last until the middle of January, and which would fall before Christmas.  Decorating was a family event with Chrtistmas music playing followed by milk and cookies.

There were more parties.  Every school had Christmas parties.  Remember the Life Savers box of all the different flavors that a lot of kids bought as presents.  We made snowflakes out of white paper and hung them on the windows.  We would be sick at the end of the day from all the cookies and candy and soda.

Then there was the church youth group party, the neighborhood party, and then all the parties that my parents went to -- the minsister's party, the youth minister's party, their friends the Fittons had a huge party and they had the biggest house with the tallest tree flocked with fake snow.  We would go to other parties too, my Dad's office party, my Mom's office party that was held at a hotel, and a few other parties that various people at church would host. 

Every year we got together with two of their friends and we made candy the entire afternoon -- bark, divinity, and the candy that looked like stained glass and had a spicy taste.  Then Mom would make peanut butter blossom cookies, and grandmother would make sugar cookies with green and red sprinkles.

Everybody in my neighborod believed in Santa.  My Dad and I always left out two cookies and a glass of milk for him, and then in the morning, like magic, all  the presents would be under the tree, and my handmade knit stocking would be stretched to the limit with all kinds of stuff. 

Then Christmas morning, we would eat Christmas casserole (eggs, sausage and cheese) with crescent rolls, sliced oranges, and hot chocolate that I poured out of my miniature teapot.

It was grand.

I love Christmas.

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