Looking back on my childhood I think it’s safe to say Christmas was my favorite holiday. I really liked all holidays growing up, but Christmas had to be without a doubt my favorite.
When I was little my family used to go to my grandma Christiano’s house for Christmas Eve. This also happened to be where my two great aunts lived. I looked forward to Christmas Eve every year when I was little because that was the only day out of the entire year that I got to see my cousins from Ohio. I had such a good time playing with them. It didn’t matter if it was ping pong or some game we found, there was always something to do. We also had fun talking and doing whatever with all our great aunts and uncles that were there. OH, did I forget to mention that Christmas Eve was spent with my loud Italian family?
We really did have a blast that day and well into the night. There was always food to be eaten. Starting with hors d’oeuvres and ending with all kinds of desserts with antipasto, some kind of a pasta, soup, salad, baccala and the main dish all in the middle. Basically we had a twelve course meal on Christmas Eve, I kid you not. How I managed to get all that food into my belly I’ll never know! The food was completely homemade and absolutely delicious. My two great aunts did all the cooking and baking and man did they know how to cook and bake.
Naturally after a twelve course meal everyone was stuffed so we would all go down to the “store”. We called the downstairs the store because from my understanding that part of the house at one point was a bar. When it closed and was sold I don’t know. Nor do I know how it became a part of my families house, but it did and we spent many Christmas Eve’s having fun in that store. At some point during the night of Christmas Eve Santa would pay us a visit. Something us kids loved. We would received so many nice presents and of course we would show each other. I never told anyone this before, but there was one Christmas Eve when one of my cousins recognized my dad playing Santa and said something rather loudly. That’s when I learned that Santa wasn’t real. I was so crushed! It took everything I had not to cry that night, but I put on my brave face and didn’t let anyone know how sad I was to find out that night. I know she didn’t mean it and I’ve been over it for many many years now.
At some point my cousins parents decided to stop going to my grandma’s and great aunts house for Christmas. Why I don’t know, but that did make Christmas Eve way less fun after that.
Kathleen Smith is an indie author and blogger. You can read more about what it was like for her growing up in Good-bye Brooklyn Hello Upstate .