A holiday greeting to you all!

Tomorrow it will be Christmas Eve!  Is everyone ready?  It will be Christmas Eve whether you are ready or not so just relax and enjoy the day.

What are your Christmas Eve traditions?

In parts of the southern United States it is customary to say "Christmas Eve Gift" to someone you see or speak to.  The first one to say it supposedly receives a gift from the person they greeted in this way.  In our family we don't give the gift but there is always a spirited competition to be the first to say the phrase.  When my phone rings on Christmas Eve I answer "Christmas Eve Gift!"  Often those words are spoken at the same time the caller is saying them causing much laughter. 

My family opens most of their gifts on Christmas Eve.  Some people open their gifts on Christmas Day but we opened ours Christmas Eve and then my Dad would plan this elaborate hoax in which he supposedly heard some noise outside and when he would go out to investigate he would come back and say "Look what I found in the back yard -- Ol' Santa left these gifts out there.  Wonder who they are for."  Of course, we always found our names on the gifts. 

After our children came they would question me about whether or not Santa Clause was "real."  We always said that as long as they believed Santa would bring them a gift.  My Sweetie told me that we would have the only 30 year old kids in America who still got a gift from "Santa."  I finally cut them off about age 18.

We go to church before the meal and gifts -- years ago I fixed a buffet supper and it was eaten by whoever showed up -- several people were working until 9 PM or after, so they ate when they arrived.  One brother worked with some people from Argentina and when he arrived from work he would bring some Argentinian delights -- including chimmichuri sauce, which I loved!  Our buffet would otherwise be a mixture of American and Mexican dishes.

Now that the children are grown and living separate from us our Christmas celebrations are quieter. Our Granddaughter, Victoria, is still a "believer" and still gets very excited about opening gifts.  It is more fun to watch her than it is to open our own gifts.  Sometimes we wait until Christmas morning -- put a fire in the fireplace, if it is cold enough, and we sit together -- my Sweetie and I.  We don't make a big deal about gifts these days -- we have most everything we need so often our "gifts" are trips.  This year we are planning a trip over New Years and are looking forward to that.

Please drop me a line and tell me about your Christmas traditions.

So, Merry Christmas to all and a very happy new year -- may 2013 bring you much peace and happiness.