Day 358. Merry Christmas Eve! As a child, Christmas Eve was the most exciting and anxious day. Mom didn’t stick with a traditional meal that night. Instead, we had something new each year. We had Christmas slush in her big glass rootbeer mugs. We were permitted to open one gift, and it was always new pajamas. One year, my Grandma Vernie intervened and let me open my gift from her. It was a Cinderella watch with a pink leather watchband. I sat it on my nightstand and watched Cinderella’s arms move slowly around the clock. I don’t think I ever fell asleep. The next morning was a further exercise in patience, because my brothers woke up early and headed to the barn with our dad to milk the cows before we could see if Santa had visited us. While we waited for them to finish, Mom hung blankets over the doors into the living room so the surprise wouldn’t be spoiled by a trip to the bathroom. We made Mom’s special hot chocolate and ate her fruitcake. I promise you, my mother’s fruitcake is the best fruitcake in the world and the only fruitcake I will bake or eat, to this day. When the men finally finished, Mom and Dad took the blankets down from the doorways and let us see the tree. My parents didn’t have a lot of money, but Christmas was always treated with care, and that moment, when the magic was finally unveiled, was the coolest thing in the world. As a parent, Christmas traditions took on a different meaning. We shaped our Christmas Eves a bit differently, but the anticipation and excitement were the same. We read the Christmas story. We played Christmas games. We snuck gifts onto porches. Our children opened pajamas and couldn’t sleep and woke us early. We stayed up late making sure that the morning would be a wonderful celebration. As empty-nesters we welcome our children back with us. We light lanterns at our grandson’s grave. We try to feed them Grandma’s fruitcake, but they believe the bad rap those inferior fruitcakes caused, and they won’t try it. They do, however, readily drink her slush. We tell the Christmas story and relish in the wonder of a baby born in a stable who changed the world. I think Mom would approve of it all.
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