Twas The Night Before Christmas

Everyone has their favorite memories of Christmas as a child.  When discussing favorite holiday memories with friends and family, I’ve found that they rarely center around the gifts.  Sure everyone has a favorite gift they received, but most people fondly remember the time with family, the funny, quirky moments that make each Christmas special.  For some it’s decorating the tree, or making cookies, or Advent Calendar activities, or Christmas caroling.  Almost everyone I know has a memory that sticks out and defines Christmas for them.

For me that memory is sitting with my parents, brother and sister and listening to my Dad read “Twas the Night Before Christmas”.  It is a tradition in my family.  Every Christmas Eve after we put cookies out for Santa and carrots out for the reindeer, my dad would head over to his cedar chest and pull out an old, worn copy of “Twas the Night Before Christmas”.  It was his copy from when he was a child.  My brother, sister and I would be giddy with excitement.  We would sit close and listen intently as my dad read.  As we got older, we began reciting the famous story as my dad read aloud.  After the story was over and the book was placed safely back into the cedar chest, my parents tucked us into bed and we went to sleep (probably with visions of sugar-plums dancing in our heads).

My dad has read that book every single Christmas Eve since we were little.  He read it to us as babies, toddlers, school-aged kids, teenagers and young adults. He still reads it to anyone who is at their house on Christmas Eve.  This year he will read it to my sister, her  husband and her two children.

I know that my dad cherishes the memory of reading that book as much as I do.  For Jack’s first Christmas, my parents gave Jack an early Christmas gift.  He got his very own copy of “Twas the Night Before Christmas”.  This is the first year that Jack really “gets” Christmas and I am so excited to sit down with him, Xander and my husband tomorrow night.  I can’t wait for my husband to begin reading and to watch Jack as he listens to the story and looks at the pictures.  I know that I can’t pick a favorite holiday memory for Jack, but I’m pretty sure that reading with my boys on Christmas Eve is quickly becoming one of my favorite holiday memories.

What’s your favorite holiday memory or tradition from when you were a child?

Vintage Jack

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