Christmas Eve when I was little

As I have been running around buying Christmas presents and trying to get ready for the holidays, I have been thinking back to what Christmas was like when I was little.  As an adult, Christmas seems to come all too quickly.   But as a child, it seemed to take forever to arrive! 

When Christmas Eve finally did arrive, the early part of the day was usually spent helping wrap presents to take to Union.  Mom would usually put out boxes, wrapping paper and gifts and we would go to town!  She was always in the kitchen cooking food to take with us.

We would leave for Union about mid-afternoon and go to Gurney and Pop's house.  We always had dinner there with some of Pop's family...and Granny and Granddaddy.  While we were waiting to eat, I would usually ride with Gurney to take some food to Mrs. Thompson.  She was a widow who lived alone in a big, old house nearby.  She would always give me a tin of hard fruit-flavored candy.

To this day, we still have some of the same foods that we had when I was little.  In addition to the usual ham, Gurney always has marinated vegetables, sausage balls, her wonderful strawberry cake, black walnut cake, chex party mix and cider.

Dinner was followed by gifts.  We would usually get something small like socks from William and Martha,  and Butcha and a $5 bill from Mama Sprouse.

After dinner we would ride down to Granny and Granddaddy's house.  We would meet up with Ronald, Rosa and Christopher to open presents.  I remember loving looking at all of the Christmas lights on the drive to and from each destination.  It helped pass the time for little ones anxious to open more presents!

While we were at Granny and Granddaddy's house, Sarabeth and her family would go to Joey's parent's house to do their gift exchange.  Then we would all meet back up at Gurney and Pop's house for our big exchange.  I always loved this time.  We were spoiled rotten as kids!  We always got lots of toys and clothes.  At the time, I didn't really appreciate the clothes!  But now, as a parent, I am excited when my kids get clothes.  And I can also understand the fact that they do NOT appreciate the clothes.  It is just a kid thing, I guess!  Another thing I remember is that my Uncle David always got me a bottle of Love's Baby Soft.  It was a very light perfume perfect for little girls!  I got hit with a wave of nostalgia the other day when I came across some at Walmart.  I didn't know they still made it!  I almost bought that bottle!

Another Christmas Eve tradition was fireworks.  My Pop loved his fireworks.  I bet he spent several hundred dollars on them each Christmas.  We would all head outside and the guys would light them up.  We had everything from roman candles to HUGE things that probably should have been used at professional displays!  I am sure the neighbors were thrilled each year...but hey, Pop was the firechief...what were they going to do?!

We usually did not leave Union until close to midnight.  We made sure to track Santa on WSPA before we left to head back to Spartanburg.

It was always such a special time to me.  But even in the midst of all of the presents and excitement, my parents always made sure we remembered the true reason we celebrated Christmas...the birth of Jesus!