If you celebrate Christmas, aren't you especially fond of this day? Even if you are a child and Santa isn't expected until tomorrow? In Poland, of course, Christmas Eve is everything. Sometimes I think Christmas Day is an afterthought -- to recover after the celebration. All festivities begin at sundown on Christmas Eve and last long into the night.
I don't follow the Polish rituals and indeed I think our family traditions are a rather eclectic mix of rituals adopted and improved upon over the years, but I do love this day quite a lot.
It's freezing, here, in the upper Midwest. The coldest Eve I can remember. A high of 11f (-12C). But pretty! There is an ever fine sprinkle of dry snow and the clouds are not particularly threatening.
Inside, I do shed a few tears. (Admit it, for whatever reason, didn't you?) For me, they come when the young boy sings the first bars of Once In Royal David's City during our broadcast of the King's College Nine Lessons and Carols. I've written about this program before. It has been broadcast live, every year since 1918, when it was first aired as a solace to a war ravaged nation. This year, the choir had been rehearsing until the very end and then the decision was made to not gather for a live performance, given England's surge in infections. But a rehearsal had been taped just in case and we heard it today and it was beautiful. You had to be moved. If Christmas is about feelings of compassion, how could you not think about all those who have lost so much this past year? How could you not feel a surge of love for those in your life who make you so very happy?
Surely the holiday is also there to remind us all that there is still much joy in our lives. Despite everything, we can search for those grains of joy.
Breakfast!
And now I'm in a hurry. Finish wrapping, start cooking. Those two tasks will fill all hours of daylight. Until the young family comes.
Our first item on the agenda is to connect with the young family in Chicago. It's time for ...
Each child was to prepare something for this: there s singing, recitation, dancing, And plain watching,
And lots of applause and fun.
And then comes a tradition that has been in our family ever since my girls were little -- a family viewing of Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, while I cook.
We have pasta with super special sea foods (giant shrimp, scallops, and yes, a few tiny lobster tails!) in white wine sauce.
I had asked what they'd like for dessert for Christmas Eve and Snowdrop shouted out "ice cream!" Well okay! No baking until tomorrow!
(A moment to take it all in...)
And now the young family returns home to do their own bargaining with Santa and stockings and cookies and reindeer foods, while Ed and I settle in for a restful evening over popcorn and a movie.
A beautiful evening. Sure, I wish the younger family from Chicago could be here but hey! They are well and thriving and I am already imagining all the times we can come together in the year ahead.
Oh! What's that? The jingle of bells? Must be Santa...
