Edith here, pondering Christmas Eves and other kinds, too.
For those of us who celebrate Christmas, today and tonight is a special anticipatory day. Every family and culture follows different customs. When I was growing up, we got to open one present on Christmas Eve, and somehow it was always the one from our grandmother who lived far away. She was a master seamstress, so every year the package contained new nightgowns or pajamas. For years I made or gave my sons new PJs to be opened on Christmas Eve, too.
Another custom was for John David and Allan to read “The Night Before Christmas” aloud.
Many people all over the world go to a midnight or candlelight church service to celebrate Christ’s birth. In some countries the tree doesn’t go up until Christmas Eve. When I was an exchange student in Brazil many decades ago, we sat outside on a warm Southern Hemisphere night singing Christmas carols with the family’s uncle until midnight while the parents decorated the tree inside.
Some also believe that animals can talk at the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve. I’m not sure what Preston and Cristabel would say, but they do like sitting under the tree!
Other nights-before provide that tingly feeling of expectation, too. Think of the night before Halloween (which itself is a shortening of Allhallow-even, “Eve of All Saints”). Houses are decorated, it’s dark, kids are excited about their costumes (and the prospect of tons of candy).
For authors, we experience the nail-biting eve of a book release day – will readers like it? Will it zoom to the single digits on Amazon because of all those great pre-orders? Barb and I both had a Release Day Eve last Monday!
In recent years Hugh and I spend Christmas Eve with dear friends an hour away. I’ll bring a platter of decorated cookies. They’ll have out drinks and noshing delicacies. If my sons are home, they come along, of course. This year there’s a darling one-year old girl in our friends’ family, so the mood will be less adults sitting quietly and more about her. What would Christmas be without kids?
What about you? What are your plans for today? If you don’t celebrate Christmas, how is it dealing with all the hype from everybody else? For all of you, our dear readers and fans, the other Wickeds and Accomplices, I wish you a safe, cozy, and delicious Christmas and holiday season.