I remember all the boxes coming with things my mother ordered from Fingerhut and Liilian Vernon. Those were pre-Internet days, but my mother, who was a working mom, did a lot of shopping via catalogs. A lot of the things she ordered were included in her package that she would send to my grandmother's house in North Carolina with things for my grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins.
On Christmas Eve, I would get to open one present, so I tried to choose very carefully. One gift I will always remember was a transistor radio from my half brother's first wife (follow that?) - it felt so awesome to go to bed that Christmas Eve with my little radio, listening to Christmas music as I went to sleep. Maybe that was a foreshadowing of my career in radio...though I doubt it.
On Christmas Day, I got to open the rest of my gifts. I would give my parents whatever handmade gifts I had for them. I would have plenty to keep me busy all day - like the Barbie Dream House I got one year and spent all day assembling.
There was Christmas dinner - pretty much a repeat of Thanksgiving dinner - turkey, cornbread stuffing, pumpkin pie. And we would usually go pick up my old maid aunt who worked at K&B Drug Store to bring her to our house for the meal. Of course, she would have drug store presents for each of us. And that was okay.
When I grew up and moved away from home, I didn't spend as much time at home on Christmas Day. I was working in radio and I would usually work a long shift on Christmas so that others with families could spend the day at home. It seemed only fair.
After I got married, I found out that my husband's family were Christmas Eve people. They would gather the night before with everyone bringing food and presents. We would eat, open one gift at a time, eat some more, open more gifts, and then keep eating. As I had kids, then my brother-in-law got married and "contributed" two more, then my sister-in-law's two sons, it was bigger, louder, and wilder than ever. There was nothing more fun for me than watching the kids open their gifts and see the delight on their faces when they got something they really wanted.
We would spend Christmas Eve night at my mother's house and celebrate the day with her, complete with gifts from Grammy and the famous Christmas dinner. Then we would head home to see what Santa had left at our house for the kids.
As they do, the kids grew...my mother-in-law and mother both passed away just over a year apart. Due to grief and family disagreements, we are no longer invited to Christmas Eve celebrations, so for the past few years, we have had quieter Christmases at our own home with just our immediate family. I do get a little envious of the big family celebrations I hear about. But I am sure my stress level is much lower these days. As with so many families these days, times are a little tighter. It would be nice to be able to lavish lots of gifts on our teenagers, but we do the best we can. Things could be so much worse than they are.
While I spend my day cooking Christmas dinner when I would really like a Christmas nap, I tell myself to be thankful for what I do have - a husband who loves me with his whole heart (priceless!) and two kids who I adore more than anything on this planet.
So, while I am more prone to say, Bah, humbug," I will say a simple, "Merry Christmas" instead.
