When I was a kid, Christmas day went like this: my brother and I might wake up super-early, but were not allowed to go downstairs until Dad came upstairs to escort us. The deal was that we were not supposed to see the stuff under the tree until after breakfast, so Dad blindfolded us and took us through the livingroom and to the breakfast table. When breakfast was over, the filled stockings were brought in and we all had a great time with all the little surprises -- usually there was a heavy emphasis on the silly, so we had some good laughs. There was always a tangerine in the toe of the stocking. When we finished with stockings we proceeded to the tree and the mound of presents. At that time we had no taking-turns rule, so it tended to degenerate into a bit of a free-for-all, though always a fine time. My ex introduced a system of taking turns, and it really is much better. You get to see everyone else's stuff!

After presents and clean-up, my Mom would start preparing the various components of dinner, and we all took a second look at our stuff. In late afternoon guests would start arriving, and we had a great dinner party, with many of the same people year after year, but usually a few new ones, too. My Mom had a tablecloth she always used for Christmas dinner (and other big occasions) -- everyone was invited to sign the tablecloth with pencils provided, and later she embroidered the signatures in red. It was a wonderful thing, that cloth, full of memories of good times and old friends, many of them now gone. When I got married one of those old friends gave me a large white tablecloth, and I now have a collection of signatures of my own.

Part of the Christmas pre-dinner ritual was the aquavit-and-drinking-song routine I described in the "Will there be music at your house?" thread.

In recent years our family has shrunk somewhat, and we no longer have a big dinner party. There are no little kids, so we start the festivities later in the day and have just family. I miss the warm good times and good people that made those big parties so great, but I don't miss all the work involved. Though come to think of it, I do almost (not quite) as much just for the family....

Cheers and good holidays to all, Nancy