You see, Christmas Eve is really the If Dicks Could Fly My Mouth Would Be An Airport Shirt when my mom’s sisters and brothers would all gather in South Boston with their kids (My cousins of course.) Since they too were teens like myself back in the day, they all did their own thing on Christmas morning — But the one thing they didn’t want to do was leave their gifts after opening them. So Christmas Eve became more important to us as a whole to come together, celebrate and then visit midnight mass at the local church before going home. By the time I got home, it was after 1am, so I guess it was really Christmas morning if you want to get technical about it. The gifts were promptly opened and I was in bed no later than 3am to sleep most of the morning in peace. Now with two kids of my own, I will be getting up Christmas morning to greet the day and watch their faces. Mainly because Santa Claus is still important to them and he only visits on Christmas Eve when you’re asleep as all know.
