Christmas traditions

[Bugbear]

Usually I spend three or four days through Christmas at a friend's home, and end up at my mother's home; this is all in near by cities.

This year was different. I just stayed home with the six cats. I did the same for Thanksgiving, and will for the New Year. This might be a trend for me.

[Frank McGrath]

When my first marriage ended, I decided to start a new family custom. I had been asked by my mother to take her to church Christmas eve. Well, the best plans can get screwed up. My siblings had returned to the family nest for Christmas and we decided to pop open a bottle of Mr. Jack's famous whiskey. Well, one gallon later, Mom came downstairs to the room and asked who was driving her to service. Since then I have stayed sober on Christmas eve and took her to church several years in a row. So, since remarrying, I have set in motion a family custom of going to church on Christmas eve. When the kids were younger, we went to the family service. As they grew and started customs of their own, we would go to the last service of the evening. Two years ago, we spent Christmas eve at the chapel where Silent Night was first performed. Joan and I and a couple of thousand others. Very dramatic. To this day, Christmas eve is not the same without Stille Nacht, Helige Nacht. Even if I am the only one singing in German. And then on The 25th, we go to a friends house and have dinner and have a party with their family. Except while we were in Austria, where we spent christmas night in the hospital.