Christmas Eve: favorite day of my childhood
Christmas Eve: all day at Grandma’s house
Christmas Eve: playing outside with my cousins and Jennifer
Christmas Eve: listening to Gene Autry’s Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer on Grandma’s chest stereo
Christmas Eve: setting the table for the nine of us, then feeling the joy as we prayed, then fixed our plates, ate, laughed, talked.

One Christmas Eve memory is my favorite of my Grandma Whidby, Jason, and me. Every Christmas Eve, we spent from morning to late in the evening at Grandma Whidby’s house (my mama’s mama). Grandma, Mama, and my Aunt cooked enough food for two meals! We would have lunch, open presents, play, then eat again.
Many years, Grandma had this big red furry stocking she hung in the living room with the presents. The stocking held little things, candy, and fruit for her four grandchildren. When I was about 8 years old, Grandma had decided to hang the stocking in the hall near the front door with some other Christmas decorations. Jason and I could see the stocking was really loaded with goodies this year! Wow! Maybe Grandma even put some dollar bills in there, we wondered. I’m not sure who, but one of us finally took the stocking off the nail. We just had to peek inside. We dumped the contents out on the floor. We discovered the usual bounty from years past: candy and oranges, that’s why it looked so big! We quickly stuffed it all back into the stocking. Jason picked it up and tried to hang it back on the nail. He was too short. Now, Jason is 9 months younger than me; however, he was usually as tall or taller than me. I tried, but I knew I couldn’t reach it either. We were panicking! Grandma is going to get us! Jason was stronger, thus, he tried to lift me up. Then we both see Grandma reach over us, grab the stocking, and hang it back up. Busted! Grandma did not say a word; she just grinned, turned around, and walked backed into the kitchen. Jason and I looked at each other and laughed.
Christmas Eve: Memories of Family, Love, and Laughter.
