Christmas Eve

Another Christmas Eve!

This year, I will spend Christmas Eve making homemade cheese crackers with icing sugar on top - a recipe I just got from a friend I haven't seen in about 30 years. I'm house-cat-gerbil-fish sitting, so I'll check up on them throughout the day, too! This evening, I'll play my flute at my church - North Pointe Community Church. Then a late dinner with friends.

Today I remember many years of driving from Washington, D.C., to Commercer Township, Michigan, to spend Christmas with my folks. My mother's birthday was December 23, so I usually tried to be there for that! This year, I did get a bit teary-eyed as the e-mail reminders that I set up for her birthday came in. But that's to be expected.

It was always with a great sense of anticipation that I traveled home. Christmas Eve would find our house with music on - a variety including Kathleen Battle (opera), Garrison Keillor (storytelling w/music), Nat King Cole, Burl Ives, James Galway, etc., etc. Mom would have cinnamon boiling on the stove and Dad would have a kettle of cinnamon or pot pourrie setting on the wood-burning stove as well. There would be walnuts, pecans and almonds to crack, along with a festive cheese ball and crackers. We usually had egg nog with some Bailey's Irish Cream (or non-brand version of same) as well.

Preparations for the following day's Christmas dinner would be made as well, with well laid out timelines and planning for the turkey cooking especially. My parents were often cooking stuffing in the middle of the night or the very early morning before everyone else got up for the day.

I remember Christmas Eve as generally a quiet, restful time spent in our home. Most years anyways.

So, today I'll spend a quiet, restful time where I am, making cheese crackers and listening to some great music!

Merry Christmas Eve.