Christmas Eve

I once heard David's Dad, Walt, describe his memory of Christmas Eve as "magical"!  His eyes sparkled as he shared the memories of his childhood Christmases  His parents would decorate the tree and prepare the living room while young Walter and his brother Bob would wait anxiously in another room.  They would exchange gifts, eat Grandma's homemade stolen and drink a traditional Christmas beverage. Although our family traditions are a bit different we have tried to remain true to the magical Christmas Eve that is so common in German culture.

It was Judd who suggested that we do our family gift exchange on Christmas Eve.  He was 11 and we were living in Texas.  Judd observed that the exchange gifts often got lost in the excitement of other gifts on Christmas morning and thought that it would be more memorable if we exchanged our gifts on Christmas Eve.  Judd's simple suggestion has proved to be one of our most cherished Christmas traditions and the source of our best Christmas photos.

We have tried a lot of different menus for Christmas Eve.  In the early years we were often invited to the home of friends and so we experienced their traditions of soup suppers and hors d'oeuver dinners. During the picky eater years we made pizza, but I always missed the traditional Christmas dinner of my childhood.  For me Christmas is in the kitchen so when we moved to Utah I reclaimed the tradition of my childhood and we now have a traditional Christmas menu on Christmas Eve.

In 1999 we went to the G. family home for Christmas Eve.  Linda was Judd's 2nd grade teacher and they were members of our ward.  I was pregnant with Emily and experiencing labor pains but was determined not to have a baby on Christmas.  The labor pains subsided and we enjoyed the evening. They introduced us to what is now our traditional Christmas Eve beverage, gingerale with cranberry juice ice cubes.

My Aunt Eula and Uncle Mel had the tradition of putting together a puzzle on Christmas Eve and then displaying it in their garage.  We thought it was a fun idea so we now do a Dowdle puzzle each year (usually one that has some sort of significance for that year) and we hang them in our game room.

Reading the Christmas story has always been part of our Christmas celebration, however in 1995 my brother's family sent us a Nativity Book. It included the entire Christmas story from all of the Standards Works.  It was in an easy to read format and had pictures so it was the perfect way for our young family to enjoy the Christmas story.  Reading from the Nativity Book has become an important part of our Christmas Eve.