Christmas Eve

I may just squeak this post in before midnight... and then it's off to bed to dream of dancing sugar plums.  Christmas Eve was really different this year, it was my first in Southern California and it was 72 degrees- most definitely shorts weather!  Sue, Rich, and I drove up to LA where they went to visit Sue's Aunt and Uncle and I drove Margaux down to our apartment to make Christmas Eve dinner.  And my goodness did Margaux deliver!  These are a few shots of our beautiful antipasto buffet on the bar...

I can take NO credit for the amazing dinner, Margaux took care of everything for me while I sat at the bar and we gabbed.  I did set our table... and no dinner would be complete without some serious table decorations.  I pulled out the Waterford crystal water glasses that Nonna Santi bought me every year for my birthday and used my good linen napkins even though that means lots of laundry for me tomorrow.  :-)

 

Here's our fantastic chef with my sweet man, enjoying martinis and Sam's early arrival home from the hospital.  Sam has been getting home anywhere between 7:30pm and 1:30am on this orthopedic surgery rotation and it's been hellacious for him.  Last night, on his parent's first day, he didn't get home until 10:30.  I felt so badly for him, when clearly all he wanted was to get to spend time with his parents and they with him.  Sometimes it is so frustrating for me not to be able to give them what they all want.  

It was a night of meshed traditions, we all shared the holiday memories from our childhoods and the wonderful things that we wanted to carry forward in future holidays.

Unbeknownst to us, Sue and Rich stopped with Pete to purchase Sam a menorah since we've been using the Target stickum menorah that my mom and I bought so far this Hanukkah.  It's so beautiful, they did a wonderful job picking it out for him.  And I think Sam likes it a lot, which is great because for the last 2 years he hasn't found anything he really liked.  Now we'll get to celebrate Hanukkah for real!

And as we lit the candles we realized we need some practice saying the prayer... and also remembering what the story and history is behind the festival of lights.  Thank goodness for Google!  

The menorah was such a great gift, one that Sam and I will probably use the rest of our lives...

Finally, after dinner,  we celebrated Pete's birthday (belatedly) with champagne and Grammy Hunter's Grasshopper Pie- one of my favorites.  Although my family wasn't with me physically, I had one thing on the table from each of my grandmas which made me acutely aware of all the family history that came before tonight, and all the traditions we will get to continue in the future.

It was a little sad for me to be texting my sister, who flew home for Christmas to see our parents.  My family went to dinner with two amazingly wonderful families from our hometown and it would have been great to have participated in that.  Carina texted me that she broke a glass at dinner, and I broke a bowl doing dishes so clearly we were channeling the same clumsiness tonight.  :-)  Best sister ever!  And after dinner I called Nonna and Papa Santi to check where Santa was.  It may seem silly, but Nonna used to tell us every Christmas Eve where Santa was after we finished dinner... I believe the tradition started the first year we went to Hawaii for Christmas.  As I was feeling nostalgic, I wanted to hear Nonna's voice, and low and behold, she knew exactly where Santa had last been seen- over the empire state building in NYC.  :-)

After I got off the phone and I snuggled into bed next to Sam, I waited patiently for him to fall asleep.  Then I got up and snuck into the living room where I played Santa for the first time- stuffing our stockings the way my wonderful mother still does.  And when I went to stuff my own stocking, I was shocked to find that my mom had already done it for me- Mom you are truly THE BEST.  And so I sit here, slightly moist-eyed, and realize that the true spirit of Christmas is not tied to who you are, or who you are with in the moment.  The true spirit of Christmas is something you carry inside of you.

xoxoxo

I love you Mom, Dad, Carina and Maxy- Merry Christmas!