When our kids were tiny we would read The Night Before Christmas from a Golden Book I had when I was a boy. It was printed about 1954 so it was first read to my sister. I still have this book.
Now we will arrive for dinner at my Mother-In-Laws about 5:00 pm, feast on whatever it is she will prepare, probably a prime rib roast plus plus plus, we will visit with the family and the kids will exchange gifts with nieces and nephews. We will head off to attend Church service for 8:00 pm, just our immediate family. It is a candle light service much like most others, our Church is Presbyterian. After service we will head off to some close friends home who go to the same church and live close by. We will visit and no doubt enjoy a libation or two and try and get home near midnight.
We will gather around our Christmas Tree and my son will read from the Bible, Luke 2, 1-20 the story of Christ's birth which now replaces The Night Before Christmas. After we reflect on the true meaning of Christmas we will all open one gift of someone elses choosing, usually the youngest (16) Maddy gets that responsibilty.
ours has changed over the years according to which church I work at, and when they hold services. the last 10 years our Christmas Eve has gone like this: Caroling on a hay ride around the village the church is in (Vanastra - former Clinton Air force base) for about an hour then we return to the church (Christian Reformed - the Dutch, French, German version of the Scottish Presbyterians) for hot chocolate followed by Christmas Eve service. Then our family cruises around the town we live in (Clinton) to check out Santa's runway ( a street lit with candles on both sides) and everyone's lights after which we go home and empty out the stockings hung by the fireplace. Then it's bed time and mom and dad (my wiffe and I) place the presents under the tree for Christmas morning.
Never too much out of the ordinary for us. It's all about Christmas day.
However...............
When I was rebellious (up till age 27), the only time I ever went to church was Christmas eve, other than funerals and weddings. Christmas Eve, 1984 I went to church with my drinking buddy. And wouldn't you know it. POW!!! Right between the eyes. Suddenly I understood the whole Christmas story. Christ was born and died for ME. Less than 2 weeks after that service, I gave my life to God and said show me what you want me to do. My life has never been the same.
So Christmas eve happens to be extremely special to me.
Sorry for turning this into a religious thread. I am just always too eager/excited to share my story!
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars (now converted to a "factory" 4 speed)
Sorry for turning this into a religious thread. I am just always too eager/excited to share my story!
Well thanks to all for sharing and Carl #1 no need to apologise, I started this and it's pretty hard to talk about Christmas without being religious or at least spiritual in any case.
I should add, for the record I do not consider myself "religious". To me that means following a set of rules. The faith I have is not based on rules made by humans!
I maybe should have avoided the term "religious" in that sentence.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars (now converted to a "factory" 4 speed)
I should add, for the record I do not consider myself "religious". To me that means following a set of rules. The faith I have is not based on rules made by humans!
I maybe should have avoided the term "religious" in that sentence.
We understand. To borrow a phase from a funny movie: "Forget about it"
we do the christmas eve carol service. when we get home there is always a new set of PJ under the tree for kyle. then a movie, then bed for the young fellow.
Never too much out of the ordinary for us. It's all about Christmas day.
However...............
When I was rebellious (up till age 27), the only time I ever went to church was Christmas eve, other than funerals and weddings. Christmas Eve, 1984 I went to church with my drinking buddy. And wouldn't you know it. POW!!! Right between the eyes. Suddenly I understood the whole Christmas story. Christ was born and died for ME. Less than 2 weeks after that service, I gave my life to God and said show me what you want me to do. My life has never been the same.
So Christmas eve happens to be extremely special to me.
Sorry for turning this into a religious thread. I am just always too eager/excited to share my story!
You are right , a person can be religious and lost.You have to have that personel experience with the Lord.Then your life is changed forever. That is why He came .TO SAVE US.
We celebrated a good portion of the evening at the Scrabble board! Both kids enjoy it, and that makes me happy! They don't realize it's a sneaky way to help them with their vocabulary and spelling!
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars (now converted to a "factory" 4 speed)
Well, let me tell you something about our (finnish) christmas traditions. Usually people get their christmast tree from the forest or just buy it from the market and when it's Christmas Eve, we decorate that tree. Then before sauna, we eat some rice pudding with plom, apple and apricot sauce. Then we spend some time in the sauna, maybe drinking some beer too ;) After sauna, it's time for the Christmas Dinner which includes ham (main course), escalloped potatoes (tastes very sweet), carrot casserole and swede casserole. Of course we have also a lot of fish, for example salmon, herring and Baltic herring. And we have some kind of salad called rosolli which includes red beet, carrot, onion, potatoes and apple. We eat it with pink whipped cream (tastes sour, we put some vinegar in it). Then we and especially children start to wait for the Santa Claus (as you all know, Santa lives in Finland ;) ). Santa comes by reindeer sleigh (children like to think that way but this year our Santa had an Opel) and gives gifts to nice children. So in Finland Santa doesn't leave gifts under christmas tree. And of course, we eat plenty of chocolate =)
Many people go to the church but I haven't ever been there on Christmas Eve because my parents were farmers and they had to milk cows when "normal" people went to church. So it's not part of my personal traditions though I believe. I like to visit at the graveyard and put some candles on the grave just to remember past generations day before Christmas Eve.
Well, let me tell you something about our (finnish) christmas traditions. Usually people get their christmast tree from the forest or just buy it from the market and when it's Christmas Eve, we decorate that tree. Then before sauna, we eat some rice pudding with plom, apple and apricot sauce. Then we spend some time in the sauna, maybe drinking some beer too ;) After sauna, it's time for the Christmas Dinner which includes ham (main course), escalloped potatoes (tastes very sweet), carrot casserole and swede casserole. Of course we have also a lot of fish, for example salmon, herring and Baltic herring. And we have some kind of salad called rosolli which includes red beet, carrot, onion, potatoes and apple. We eat it with pink whipped cream (tastes sour, we put some vinegar in it). Then we and especially children start to wait for the Santa Claus (as you all know, Santa lives in Finland ;) ). Santa comes by reindeer sleigh (children like to think that way but this year our Santa had an Opel) and gives gifts to nice children. So in Finland Santa doesn't leave gifts under christmas tree. And of course, we eat plenty of chocolate =)
Many people go to the church but I haven't ever been there on Christmas Eve because my parents were farmers and they had to milk cows when "normal" people went to church. So it's not part of my personal traditions though I believe. I like to visit at the graveyard and put some candles on the grave just to remember past generations day before Christmas Eve.
Your Christmas Eve sounds almost identical to ours, well it should, because I am Estonian so that basically makes us cousins.
I just LOVE ROSOLLIA (Estonian spelling) as well. The only additions to Christmas dinner are Veri Vorst (blood sausage) with Ligonberry Sauce and Carbonad (thick pieces of ham like bacon). Being Lutheran, we go to church Christmas Eve for our big service and then go home to the big dinner and open presents around midnight. Christmas day is very relaxing (no need to get up early) and is spent visiting relatives and friends.
-- Edited by Astro Jet at 18:30, 2008-12-28
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Hillar
1970 LS4 (eventually an LS5) Laurentian 2dr hdtp -and a bunch of other muscle cars...
Christmas eve is our 'big day'... but we dont eat meat/milk/eggs (like Good Friday), but we do have fish... so ours started with Kutya (honey, buckwheat, poppseed), then herring, then borsch w/vushky (little mushroom perogies), then onto the main course... a few types of perogies, holubchi, walleye, shrimp, mushrooms, kolach (xmas bread), we also have some wine, after dinner we open presents, then have dessert/coffee after that... we leave an empty table setting to remember family that passed, then sometimes midnight mass after...
