But Christmas Eve was THE day. We would get up in the morning, decorate the Christmas tree, listen to Christmas music, split off and wrap presents and then in the afternoon or early evening we would go to church.
There were 2 churches we could go to... The more modern, but small one with heating! (You were at least warm, but if you didn't come an hour before, you'd have to stand!) Or the 800 year old church: more seats, but NO heat. So I still associate church at Christmas with sitting in a freezing cold old building.
After church we'd go home and have dinner. Something easy, since my Mum is a firm believer in hanging out with the family instead of with the pots and pans. So sometimes we just had potato salad and bratwurst. But that's Christmas.
After dinner we'd wash up and then all go upstairs. Except for Mum, but I never questioned that. It was amazing to have some Dad time. He would totally play with us some crazy games.
And then the bell sounded. Our cue to come downstairs. So we'd grab the presents we had for the parents and siblings and ran down. The door opened and we would see the Christmas tree lit up for the first time (with real candles... It's not just that I'm old. Nowadays I still know a lot of people who put real candles on their tree for Christmas Eve. And lights for the rest of the time)
There was a little pile of presents for each one of us (we weren't into huge piles) and we would wish each other Merry Christmas and then open our presents. It was quite the magical time. :)
Let's fast forward to now... I've had quite a few Christmases without my family and that's fine. It's a choice I made. Oh, and let's face it... In my little story there I left out all the frustrations and tears that happened as well.. Family is no picnic and you know it.
Anyway, to this day Christmas Eve can be a little shaky for me. There might or might not have been some times when I ended up being a blabbering mess on Christmas Eve.
On Christmas Eve I like having people around, eating together and having a good time. It helps keep me sane and happy. And it's fun as well.
So now I celebrate Christmas Eve with church and then food and friends. It works amazingly well for me and I have these great friends who invite me over to their family Christmas Eve dinner (me being the only one who's not related to anyone) and they even let me come late and un-showered from a gig and they feed me.
I get to sit there and enjoy all the good things about families and have a smile about the not so fun things in families (believe me, the not so fun things in family can make for pretty good entertainment when you're not related!)
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