“Even as an adult I find it difficult to sleep on Christmas Eve. Yuletide excitement is a potent caffeine, no matter your age.”
55° on December 22nd just doesn’t seem right. When I went to get the papers, I stood a while outside and took in the morning. We have sun and blue skies for the first time in days, but it all seems wrong. Where’s the snow? I should be seeing my breath and be clad in wool from head to toe. I’m sure it sounds like complaining, and I really don’t want winter as I’m loving this temperature, but it’s Christmas time. It’s sleigh bells ringing and Frosty dancing. It’s even the first day of winter. Mother Nature is behind her time.
Every kid counted down to the big day, Christmas Eve. The lucky ones, like us, had advent calendars which let us know how many days were left without having to ask. I swear that’s why my mother started giving them to us. We just counted the unopened windows and knew how long. Later, when we were older, we did the math. I have to admit that still being in school until the 23rd helped. We were forced to be busy so the days went more quickly. Christmas Eve is the longest day of the year, not the summer solstice. Just ask any kid.
I don’t remember the specifics of most Christmas Eve days except night was a long time in coming. I bet we drove my mother crazy. It was never a day for us to play outside or wander. It was a close to home day. The TV was always on in case there was a Christmas show, just what we needed to heighten the excitement. We wondered what Santa would bring. Would he follow our list or be creative?
We always got a new game or two for Christmas. As long as I can remember, we were a family of game players. Learning to play cards started with war then we worked our way up to more complex games as we got older. My parents, figuring they had built-in partners, taught my brother and me whist. We also played all sorts of board games either sitting on the living room rug or at the kitchen table. Santa always left the games front and center under the tree leaning upright against other toys. They were often the first things we saw. I don’t remember asking for games on my list. They were Santa’s choice, but we never complained.
I still try to give a game at Christmas. It’s one of those traditions meant to be carried on year to year. The one change is we just can’t manage sitting on the rug to play. It’s too hard to get up.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: cards, Christmas Eve, games, Holiday, Santa Claus, Snow, winter, Winter solstice, Wool
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December 22, 2011 at 11:31 am
Board Games were such a big issue for Christmas, and Waddingtons was the company. I certainly remember my sisters and I getting Careers, Go and Spy Ring and I am sure that they were many more.
Usually the games came from Grandma and Grandpa (paternal side) and my Grandmother Dorrie was such a good sport and would sit for hours with us playing these new adventures. We had to finish, of course, before the Christmas night specials started on the BBC.
There is a Board game in Mrs Hedley’s excessive pile of gifts.
December 22, 2011 at 2:01 pm
My Dear Hedley,
I am laughing at your phrase, “Mrs. Hedley’s excessive pile of gifts.”
Our games came from Santa. Even when we were adults and my mother wrapped everything the tags still read From Santa. Mysister is getting a game from me this year as is my nephew’s son. He’s only 5 and into card games so I got him Go Fish, one of the first games I learned.
I don’t know Spy Ring, but it sounds like one I’d like.
December 22, 2011 at 6:56 pm
Spy Ring actually wasn’t very good. Like so many of the games, the boxes were much more interesting than the game itself.
My sister and I were discussing this post and realized that we had left out maybe the best game of all…”Sorry”.
December 22, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Same here. I might get 2 hours of sleep, but other than that I run on excitement.
December 22, 2011 at 1:58 pm
Megan,
The night still holds enchantment. I stay up late with my egg nog and watch any Christmas movie I can find. I talk to family and look at the tree lights and the wrapped presents under it. It is the wee hour before I go to bed.
December 22, 2011 at 1:00 pm
Hi Kat,
Well I went out yesterday in red and yellow. Rocky and I did some errands and headed for the lake. It was raining by then but we walked along the shore anyway. Only the seagulls and the Christmas tree sales clerks were there. Later on it thundered. Very unseasonable weather indeed but I will not complain. I have no snow plow man anymore and I don’t want snow until I find a new one.
Our board games were yahtzee and Monopoly. Our first card games were Go Fish, Old Maid and Crazy 8’s. Cribbage was my father’s game. My mother liked Pokeno and Hearts. I still have the Hearts board that my grandfather made for here a million years ago. It would probably be considered Folk Art now. 🙂
Happy Winter Solstice!
December 22, 2011 at 2:05 pm
Hi Caryn,
It started raining yesterday here too and rained a lot of the night but the warm morning has dried most of it. I’ll not really complain either as I’m quite liking it.
We played Kismet, similar to Yahtzee, and Pokeno with pennies. My dad taught my brother and me cribbage so he’d have an opponent. I still love the game. We played those same card games as kids. The Go fish game I got my nephew’s son has crads in the shape of a fish. No one in my family played hearts. Hi-Lo Jack was a big game for us.
Putting games on walls as decorations is in right now.
December 22, 2011 at 6:23 pm
I had the board up on the kitchen wall for awhile but it fell on my Mom’s head one day. Now it’s out in the back hall awaiting a more permanent mounting system.
I went to the lake today. It was sunny but the wind was very chilly. In the distance I thought I saw someone dressed as a snow man but it turned out to be a bride. They were doing pictures on the lower common by the lake where the wind was really cold. Her dress was lovely but strapless! He was a Marine in dress uniform with a wool jacket. The flower girls were running around in the mud. The bride was standing in mud with white strappy heels and white long gown. They were all laughing and all the walkers passing by them smiled. So did I.
December 22, 2011 at 1:12 pm
Lucky us then 🙂 Christmas eve being the big day here 🙂 But I can’t remember how the day before was. I guess it must have been slow and awful though 🙂
We weren’t a game family, but when I grew older we did play a lot of cards though. But my best friends family was both and since I spend most of my time there I did play a lot of games, Scrabble has always been a favorite of mine. When it comes to cards I have always loved Canasta.
We’ll get up to 50F just after christmas so all snoiw will melt away rather quickly 🙂 But it is early winter yet so I doubt we’ll stay snow free for any longer period of time.
Have a great day!
Christer.
December 22, 2011 at 2:06 pm
Christer,
I remember hoping darkness would come soon on Christmas Eve. It never did.
I have only played canasta a couple of times, and I do like Scrabble though I haven’t played it in a while. My friends and I still get together to play games. Theyare fun evenings.
December 22, 2011 at 10:22 pm
My Dear Hedley,
We still play Sorry and are quite vicious knocking pieces back to start. We love the game. I played it as a little kid and introduced it to adult friends who hadn’t ever played it. Sorry remains just about my favorite board game.
December 22, 2011 at 10:27 pm
Caryn,
They will tell the story of their wedding and the cold and the mud for all time!