Recently, I heard my three daughters talking about their excitement about Christmas. These are the things I heard from my 24-year-old, and 23-year-old, and 14-year old.
“I love Christmas. It’s my favorite time of the year.”
“We’ll be there for Christmas eve and Christmas morning. But our Christmas eve is my favorite thing.”
“So many of my friends don’t like Christmas anymore. I still love it!”
“I’m so glad we never did the Santa Claus thing. So many of my friends talk about how the excitement of Christmas left when they found out there was no Santa Claus. But for me, Christmas has always been the best.”
“I can’t imagine believing in Santa Claus and having to try to sleep by myself in my own bedroom on Christmas eve. That would be awful! And no fun!”
So, what has kept my daughters so eager to celebrate Christmas? The simple of act of being together on Christmas eve….REALLY together! For as long as I can remember, it has been a tradition in my family for the whole family to sleep in the living room together on Christmas eve. We bring out the mattresses and the pillows, and gather around the tree. All the Christmas lights are on. Christmas music is playing. We talk, we giggle, we may play a game or listen to a story. And we drift off to sleep with visions of lights, music, love, joy, and unknown presents in our dreams.
I didn’t come up with this idea on my own. I have my own fond memories of doing this as a child with my family. When my parents were growing up, their families didn’t do much celebrating on holidays and birthdays. Because of this, my mom always wanted to make holidays special for her four daughters. And she succeeded. Her decorations were tasteful, simple, and beautifully done: pine greens filling the air with their citrusy smell and softening the sharp edges of mantels and railings, and candles creating a magical glow. Her foods were delicious: platters full of Christmas cookies, sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows, and the ever faithful turkey roasting in the oven. And, since we didn’t “do” Santa Claus, sleeping around the Christmas tree with all the presents waiting underneath made the day and night extra special. I remember one Christmas many of us were sick and so we had to sleep in our individual bedrooms. It was so disappointing! It didn’t quite feel like Christmas.
When my oldest sister got married, she and her husband came and joined us for our Christmas eve sleep around the tree. And when she had her first daughter, she joined us, and the daughter after that. Eventually, though, there were too many people to sleep in the living room (we’re quickly heading toward a family of 50 at this point!). So, the tradition stopped at my parents’ home, but it was continued in our individual homes.
Since my husband’s family always had stockings from Santa Claus, we decided to include stockings in our tradition, though we never told our girls Santa was real. They always knew the presents and stocking treats were from us. But, when they were young, we would wait until they were fast asleep, and try to sneak the goodies into their stockings. Of course, they later told us they often just pretended to be asleep.
Over the years, we’ve had some memorable moments, like the time a little book meant to go in the stocking fell into the fireplace, where a fire was burning. It only got a little browned around the edges!
So now, my family is growing. But my daughters and their families still want to join us in the living room on Christmas eve. Most of the time, we end up turning off the lights and music at some point so that we can actually sleep. And, I must confess, my husband and I now go back to our own bed at some point in the evening so our bones don’t hurt too badly in the morning. But, we can’t imagine Christmas any other way!
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