THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

10 December 2021

I don't remember how old we were the year my mother decided to read "A Christmas Carol" to us.  Karen and I sat on the couch while she read it, chapter by chapter, over several nights.

I just loved that and I hoped that it would become a holiday tradition, but when I asked her if she would do it the next year, she wasn't interested.

When our kids were little, Walt would gather them around each Christmas eve and read "The Night Before Christmas" to them.

I loved watching them all together and had Walt read the story to them again the following year.

(Not sure where the other 2 were)

It became a holiday tradition and every year, even as the kids got older and bigger, they would gather around Walt while he read "The Night Before Christmas."  In 1981 we had 2 visitors from Brasil, 1 eacn from Croatia, and Zaire living with us and they joined in on the story as well.

By 1994, there weren't that many in the house, and they were old enough that David read the story to those that were there.

It's one of my favorite memories of Christmases when the kids were living at home.  I still wish we had made it a family tradition when Karen and I were growing up.