In my opinion, Christmas Eve is way better than Christmas. My family doesn't do anything super special; we don't hang out with relatives, we don't open presents and we don't eat a huge dinner. The four of us just hangout, and I honestly wouldn't want it any other way.
When we were younger, my dad used to dress up as Santa Claus and walk in front of our house. We would watch out the window and wait for Santa to saunter past and that's when we knew it was time for bed. Because obviously Santa was close and we couldn't be up while he delivered our presents. Eventually, I, being the intelligent child that I was, realized that my dad was never in the same place as Santa. I told my mom that I knew my dad was Santa because he always went to the "store" whenever Santa showed up. And then my parents, being even smarter than I was, asked my grandpa to dress up this year. That Christmas Eve, my mom told us to look out the window, my dad "went to the store", and Santa appeared. I was absolutely confident that that was my dad outside, so I wasn't amused. All of a sudden, my dad "came back from the store" and walked into the house. I was amazed that my dad and Santa were both in sight. I absolutely couldn't believe it; Santa was really real. My grandpa did that for a few years and eventually, he got hurt and wasn't able to do his walk, so my grandma took over. She's a tiny woman, so she shoved a pillow in the Santa suit so it didn't look like good ol' Saint Nick lost a lot of weight. I'll always cherish watching Santa, whether it be my dad, grandpa, grandma, or actually Santa, walking out there.
We would always leave out the cookies and milk for Santa when he came (and sometimes apples for the reindeer) and I liked to leave Santa a note in hopes that he'd actually read it. We occasionally had reindeer dust, which I think was just glitter. It was supposed to glisten when Rudolph's nose glowed on it so the reindeer knew where to land. A big Christmas Eve tradition that's been going on for as long as I can remember is with my whole street. On Christmas Eve, right before it gets dark, we put out lumineers, which were just emptied out milk jugs with candles in them. I love seeing everyone line their sidewalks with the lumineers and seeing the whole street lit up.
One of my all time favorite traditions though is when we go to church. We all get dressed up and go to the evening Christmas Eve service, which is always so pretty and there's so many candles. I love singing Christmas songs and being able to celebrate with all of the people around me. Everyone is so full of love and happiness, it's wonderful. For the past few years, we've been getting Chinese food after the service. Then we head back home, eat our Chinese food, and watch Christmas movies. Usually it's National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. When everyone's ready for bed, my dad reads us 'Twas The Night Before Christmas. I've been hearing that story for as long as I can remember.
Christmas Eve is all about just being around my family. I absolutely love just spending time with them and celebrating Christmas our way. It's not extremely extravagant but it's my Christmas and I wouldn't want it any other way.
