Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning?
That is one of the big divides of our culture. My father always said, “If you are going to open Christmas presents on Christmas Eve, you might as well open them on Thanksgiving.” His children agreed with that but not the way he meant it. Since my father ruled the roost, we waited until Christmas morning. Also, everyone needed to be up and at least presentable.
My wife came from a pagan culture that opened gifts on Christmas Eve. I am not sure of the reasoning but that tradition has a lot of followers in our fallen world. Since we used to have a lot of family gatherings, she was able to get the camel’s nose under the tent.
At this point we compromise and open some both times. We read the Christmas story from Luke on Christmas Eve. It is written from Mary’s point of view and focuses on the shepherds, angels and birth. It shows that Jesus came for the poor of the entire world. On Christmas morning we read the account from Matthew which is from Joseph’s perspective and emphasizes the “wise men” and the priority of Israel.
Since my parents are both dead and the next generation is procreating we don’t have the large family gatherings any more but we often think about grandma and grandpa during our smaller time together. So far my children are still coming home, so it is a very special time.
If you open you gifts before Christmas morning, I forgive you. You are probably one of those people who sneak in and try to figure out what is in them anyway.
Merry Christmas.
To be continued...
homo unius libri
We always made the rounds of relatives homes on Christmas Eve, and they did the same, so we could see each other's trees, fior one thing. The gifts we exchanged with them were opened that evening. The next morning, we opened the ones from our immediate family. We no longer buy giftd for adults, but the ones we gave to the grandkids tonight, they were allowed to open.
ReplyDeleteWe didn't make rounds, we all tried to gather at one place and do the same thing. My grandmother was the central place, then my parents, now it is our generation and since each generation spreads out more the central focus shifts.
DeleteFamily is still the center.
Merry Christmas.