Remembering Christmas Day 4: A Clammy Christmas Eve

My mom has a pretty big family, and growing up, we all lived pretty close to each other. Every Christmas Eve, we went to my Aunt Stana and Uncle Charles' for dinner. The menu was the same every year: Uncle Charles' famous clam chowder with oyster crackers or bread. If there was anything else to go with it, I don't remember. Clam chowder is just about the only type of fish/seafood that I can stomach and there were a couple years in there where I couldn't eat the clams if the pieces were too large. I eventually got over that, though I tend to put too many crackers in the soup to make up for the fact that it's seafood. I am of the mindset that fish and all the creatures of the ocean are to be consumed by other creatures of the ocean. It's not a whole animal rights thing because Lord knows I love me a good burger, but I digress.

Everyone came for Christmas Eve dinner. It was an opportunity to see the cousins that were away at school or the family that lived further away. Aunt Jackie and Uncle Doyle were there with Chris and Del, Aunt Pat, Uncle Jim and their boys, Grandma, Hank, Aunt Stana's boys, etc. - I'd say at least 30 people. And sometimes members of the extended family would just pop in for whatever leftovers were hanging around. The youngest kids sat at a small table right under the kitchen bar. There was this really cool, small, green bucket chair that Aunt Stana used to sit her dog Sasha in when she bathed her. That was always a fun chair to sit in.

Aunt Stana (not pictured) was pretty serious about her Christmas decorations, especially the tree. An artificial or some measly shrub from the tree lot just wouldn't do. Each year they got a permit to cut down their own tree. Bigger, fuller, and wider was always better when Aunt Stana picked her tree - think the Griswold family tree from Christmas Vacation. They often had to cut several feet off the top just to fit it through the door. Bags of tinsel dangled from every branch. I always wished that we could put tinsel on our trees, but Cricket would eat it, so I had to get my tinsel fill at Aunt Stana's house. Sometimes there would be a Christmas movie on in the background, sometimes the whole family would gather round and play a game, but there was always tons of visiting. Uncle Doyle always outdid himself with Christmas cookies and Aunt Jackie's fudge made an appearance if the weather cooperated and she got a good batch.

Dad drove and he preferred the red Ford pick-up. Kevin and I would fight over who got to sit next to mom because it was late by the time we would leave and sitting next to mom meant we had a shoulder to fall asleep on during the ride home, which seemed a lot longer when we were growing up. When we got home, we each got to open one present - a new ornament to go on the Christmas tree. We crawled in our bunks, went to sleep, and waited for the surprises of the next morning.

That's how Christmas Eve went for several years growing up.