Christmases Past

Growing up we always had our big Christmas celebration on Christmas Eve. My mother was an only child so I guess it didn’t matter to her when we celebrated as her parents were always with us. We usually had the big dinner at our house with my maternal grandparents. Every other year my dad’s mother would join us.

Dinner was always turkey. We never had anything but turkey. No ham, no roast, no enchiladas. Turkey and all the fixin’s. My brother and my grandfather sure could eat. I remember how both of them would eat a good plateful of food, rest for a few moments, take some deep breaths, and then have another plateful of food.

For the six or seven of us, my mom would cook a 20-22 pound turkey. No wonder there was always so much leftover.

After dinner we would open presents. My mother loved Christmas. She was usually more anxious to open the gifts than my brother and I. And there was always an obscene number of gifts under the tree. Because my brother and I were the only grandchildren of my mother’s parents, they bought us too much stuff. And yet, I knew kids who got more than I did and I was jealous of them. When I think back now, I can’t believe it.

I always planned to save one gift to open on Christmas day but I rarely succeeded. I just couldn’t leave that last gift unopened.

Once all the festivities were done, the pies consumed and the dishes done, my grandparents would go home and the rest of us would go over to my aunt’s house. I always looked forward to that. Her house had a lot more people.

My aunt had three children and her second husband also had three children. And once they all started having kids, it was quite a houseful. I loved going over there.

Tomorrow it will be just the girls and I going to my aunt’s house. My dad and stepmom are in Arizona so they won’t be there. All of my aunt’s kids have other places to be and it’s too much for her to have them all over any more. While I understand it’s just what happens as we all age, I do miss it.