Vintage Friday

Today's vintage item is a memory. For as long as I can remember my mother has had a Christmas Eve party. Our entire family was invited along with numerous friends. Each year people stopped by all night. No matter who else showed up, our cousins from my mother's side were always there. We could count on it. We always had so much fun. We would listen to Christmas records, dance, sing and play play play. Sometimes we went caroling in the neighborhood if it wasn't too cold. There was always enough food to feed a hundred people, and Bobby would set up his bar next to the sink. There were dozens of bottles and mixes. We opened presents all night, and many times Santa showed up with his red bag full of gifts. Later we would listen to the radio to get Santa reports. That's when we wanted everyone to leave. We were afraid Santa would not come if all those people were still at our house. We tried to go to sleep after our cousins left but people were still dropping by. Eventually we would fall asleep to the sound of their voices downstairs. This will be our last year having a Christmas Eve party at my mother's house. Mom passed away on Dec. 22, 2007. We had our party last year, she had everything done ahead of time, including most of the food. We did everything just as we had for so many years but this time Mom was not there. She was at the greatest party given, the one in heaven. We will start new traditions next year, we're not sure what they will be but we will bring as much of the old ones with us as we can.