I baked a cake (yes, you read that correctly), had Lilly make a wish and blow out her candles while we sang to her. She couldn't quit smiling. She said to me, about five different times, "I am so happy. I am so happy." The cake was late, but her smile made me very glad we celebrated - even if not on the exact day.
I was an only child for a good portion of my growing up years. My parents didn't exactly spoil me, but they did encourage my independent thinking, my creativity, and my desire to express myself. They gave me the freedom to experience life with a child's excitement. It's something I haven't completely outgrown. Santa used to visit us. My dad would wake me up sometime after midnight and carry me down the hall, where I could watch him putting presents under the tree in his bright red suit and gigantic gift bag. To this day, they won't tell me who was in the suit. My mom's answer, "Santa. It was Santa!"
Like all kids, I was very excited Christmas Eve. I couldn't sleep. Unlike the parents of my friends, mine allowed me to wake them up when I couldn't be still any longer. When they were really young - this might be as early as 3:00 a.m. As they got older and I was able to control myself a little better, the time was pushed back to 5:00 a.m. It is when I still get up -- bright-eyed, ready to see the twinkling lights and rip the paper off my presents. We always started our morning with Christmas carols playing quietly in the background, coffee for Mom and Dad, hot chocolate with whipped cream for me, and a note from Santa thanking me for the tuna fish sandwich and milk I left him...umm...leave him. I don't know who eats it but it's gone every Christmas morning...still.
This year was no different. I wasn't home with my parents but the same traditions were followed. I turned on the music, had a fire in the fireplace, made hot chocolate and woke everyone up at 5:00. We opened presents and all went back to bed. It was lots of fun. Tonight we are having our Christmas meal. It is something new...
~Horseradish Crusted Steak Roulade
~Cinnamon Sugar Roasted Sweet Potatoes
~Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
~Sweet Corn
~Cucumber Onions in Sweet/Sour Sauce
~Crescent Rolls
~Sparkling Apple Cider
~Warm Apple Pie
The timer just went off so I need to put everything on the table.
My family's Christmas Eve traditions are many. There are certain foods we eat, certain movies we watch, certain activities done in a certain order. Even though we aren't home with Dad, from whom I get my obsessive qualities, it is still necessary that the traditions are observed. Christmas Eve morning is free...we can do whatever we want. Somewhere around mid-afternoon, snack preparation begins. We don't eat a real meal during the day but at night we feast on finger foods...pigs-in-a-blanket, lil' smokies in grape/chili sauce, Mom's homemade chip dip, cheese and beef sausage with crackers, shrimp and cocktail sauce, Gram's sugar cookies and this year...a couple of new things...cheese crisps with garlic and chocolate stuffed croissants. Yummy, delicious...all washed down with an ice cold Pepsi served in a wine goblet.
Before eating, we go to our church's candlelight service and are welcomed home to the smell of lil' smokies simmering in the slow cooker. We load up our plates and settle down for several movies - the same movies every year, watched in the same order. Charlie Brown's Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the old cartoon), two short Disney cartoons, and Mickey's Christmas Carol. Now that we are older we have added National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. We'll go to bed late....AND THEN....
CHRISTMAS MORNING! but that's an entry for another day.
This year I had lots of help preparing our snacks and lots of help eating everything.
Every year for as long as I can remember, I've made sugar cookies with Gram. There have been several Christmases where I have been unable to go home. Wanting to carry on the tradition, I made them wherever I happened to be celebrating the holidays but always, I called Gram and either had her recite the recipe to me or I asked her for help in thickening the frosting for which she was famous. This is the first year I've made them without any input from her. My brother is with me and he pitched in to help. We both did it more to remember Gram than because we were hungry for the cookies. In fact, they didn't turn out that great. We didn't have our expert to call for guidance.
This is our first Christmas without her. We try not to dwell on the fact that she isn't with us but focus instead on the fact that she is with her Savior. As my brother said yesterday...she isn't in pain, she doesn't need her walker, her hearing aids didn't make the trip to Heaven with her and she no longer has to wear glasses...although we kinda hope she has a spare pair because we'll have a hard time getting used to her without her spectacles when we see her again!
I have some of her Christmas stuff set up around my house and enjoy looking at it, feeling like part of her is still with me. I'm sentimental, I know. I miss my Gram but there is a lot of her in me. That's a comfort, too. No matter how old I get or how long she's been gone - I'll always be her granddaughter.
So, as I remember Gram this year...here are some pictures of messiness, frosting, past Christmases and this year's batch of sugar cookies.
This is what an organized (somewhat) refrigerator, pantry, and overflow looks like when you need to make room for enough food to feed a small army of five growing teenagers. Oh - and with a missing refrigerator shelf - that will probably never be replaced.
