Redneck Christmas

This post is supposed to be the result of interviews with family members about gathering together for a traditional meal. If you know me or my family (loosely used term), you know that there is nothing so organized as to be considered traditional. The closest that we come to meeting this criteria would have to be Christmas Eve.  

Twenty three years ago, I was working with an organization involving Hispanic people. As Christmas approached, it came to my attention that many of these people had no family with whom to share the holiday. Closer inspection soon revealed that this was not a uniquely Hispanic issue. I had many friends in similar circumstances. As luck would have it, we had experiences a tragedy of sorts in our home that year as a pipe had broken in the upstairs bathroom and had run water all night long. We were still in the process of repairing the house so our living room/dining room area was free of furniture.

Talking with my wife, we decided to invite everyone who might enjoy a place to spend Christmas Eve to come to our house for supper. We set up three eight foot tables and chairs for twenty four to sit. Little did we know that there would be almost seventy people show up. It was so much fun even though there were communication challenges. Some went home and brought back musical instruments and many had to sit on the floor as we talked and listened to music in multiple genres.

Much to our delight, our children loved it. The results exceeded our highest expectations and there were a lot of tears of joy and gratitude expressed as the evening came to a close. We moved to the gymnasium of the church nearby the next year. AT times there have been in excess of three hundred people and sometimes as few as fifty or sixty.

In my interview I was informed that at least one son and his wife had thought of starting their own tradition for the holiday. Another son quickly chimed in that he would be carrying on this tradition even if no one else in the family wanted to. Some commented on the new idiosyncrasies that have been added. One I really enjoy is that we make a gift for our grandson who passed away and that gift is then donated to a homeless shelter.

For many years my wife and I would slip away in the middle and Santa would show up while the party went on. When we returned home as a family the presents were amazingly beneath the tree! It took a little effort to stay up opening presents until two or three in the morning but sleeping in on Christmas day was nice. This tradition has been modified due to the kids all growing up and getting married and now having grand kids. We now do a family gift exchange. This interview has now started talk of doing the gift exchange as a Christmas in July.

There are few rules for this tradition. There will be no agenda or schedule. People bring whatever food they want to share. Me and my family are the only ones allowed to clean up the facility. The greatest part of this assignment was getting to hear all of the wonderful memories that have been created for my family. Thanks to all who have or who will attend and shared Christmas Eve with my “Family”.