MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL! Ever since the mid-1980’s, the crux of our family’s Christmas celebration has occurred on Christmas Eve. Since 1995, with just one exception, I have hosted this gala affair. This year was no exeception as we once again celebrated in grand style in an evening full of food, family fun, a little football, freaky kittens, and free gifts for all. The evening was attended by Grandpa Murphy, Mom, Bob, Dad, Denise, Aaron, Adam, Bill, Dottie, Arline, Ashleigh, Briana, me, and the cats. 
Ashleigh got a taste of the real world this year and had to work from 1:30 to 5:30, which ended up working to her advantage since that left only Briana and me to wrap gifts, clean the house, and hang our Christmas cards. When the work was done, we were able to relax with the Christmas episode of “It’s Your Move” and the Bengals. If won, this game would clench their Wild Card slot in the playoffs.
Mom, Bob, and Grandpa got to my house at 5:30, in order to warm the food and prepare the kitchen. Everyone else arrived by about 6:00pm. Dad and Denise each had found a couple of treats to share with me and brought them along. Dad had finally located the elusive slides from the 1975 era and Denise found a batch of old photos that she had from Grandma Range – all of which of course I can use on this website.
We ended up with a fantastic spread of ham sandwiches, baked turkey, Oriental salad, baked beans, potato salad, cranberry salad, snacks, and a wide array of desserts including pumpkin pie, choclolate pie, poppyseed cake, and pumpkin roll. I ate with reckless abandon when the time came and have no regrets. Some of us ate downstairs since the tables and chairs were still set up from Thanksgiving and others ate at the kitchen table.
Adam enjoyed his first Christmas Eve, and naturally was adorable in his Santa Claus hat. It was all too sobering that Ashleigh, it seems, has outgrown the allure of Christmas, as we all do around that mid-teen age. She even fell asleep for a while. This didn’t keep Briana from exhibiting her excitement at opening the gifts. I am so thankful that Briana has almost always been with us on Christmas Eve. 
To her, our Christmas Eve celebration is the essence of the holiday. She loves that moment when we all gather around the room and pass out the gifts.
As we ate, Bill made the fateful prediction that no matter how much Bengals fans want to see the team succeed, they will “always break your heart.” Then we all watched in astonishment as they missed the extra point in the last few seconds of the game against Denver that would have tied it and sent it into overtime.
On that note, we all gathered to open our gifts amidst the backdrop of my Christmas music playlist that I had created on iTunes for the evening. I got some great stuff. From Dad, I got DVDs for Wait Until Dark and The Killers (both versions – the one starring Ronald Reagan and the original version with Burt Lancaster), a lenticular 21″x21″ 3-D print of a vintage McDonalds ad from the late 1980’s (you’d have to see it…), and some money. Mom got me a Wizard of Oz mousepad, a blanket that she made to match my furniture, a season pass to The Beach waterpark, and some money. From Denise I received a great Beatles book, a nice orange dress shirt, and CD’s of The Beatles’ Love and Cheap Trick’s Rockford. Ashleigh gave me a great red fleece. Bill and Dottie gave me a gift certificate to Red Lobster and Arline brought me a box of Esther Price. Briana agreed to be my slave for the day and help me prepare the house for the party.
I gave Briana five DVDs (The Pink Panther, 9 to 5, Meatballs, Fever Pitch, and Mixed Nuts) and an iPod docking station. Ashleigh got DVDs of Season 2 of The Andy Milonakis Show and Sliding Doors, an iPod shuffle, her school yearbook, and some money. I made my Mom and Dad each a set of 
CD’s containing all of the Number One Billboard songs from 1950-1989 and restaurant gift certificates. In addition, I gave my Mom, Dad, and sister DVD copies of our Super 8 home movies that George helped me transfer. I also made Billboard CD’s for Grandpa (1940-1949) and Bill and Dottie (1955-1959). Arline got a Christmas coffee mug.
I gave Denise season set DVDs of Monk and Lost, in addition to some clunker DVDs from her past, Grease 2 and a tribute to the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW). I continued with my tradition for Aaron and gave him the third season of The Simpsons. For Adam’s first Christmas, I presented him with a kiddie book The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer that was written and autographed by Jimmy Carter, an outfit, and some money for his savings account. See Adam’s reaction to his gifts below right.
Quite a lucrative holiday for everyone indeed! I also continued my tradition that I began two years ago of signing the gift tags to Ashleigh and Briana with ridiculous names. This year Ashleigh got gifts from Gobstopper, Onions, and The Toilet Plunger – while Briana received presents from Bean Bag Chair Zippers, Boxes of Rye, Chinese Basketballs, Plywood, Tiny and the Footballs, and Ed the Biscuit Eater.
After the opening of the gifts, we took a trip down memory lane by viewing some of the DVD home movies that I had given my family. The girls of course bacame anitsocial, taking their gifts and running upstairs with them to watch Andy Milanokis, and of course, call Ashleigh’s boyfriend Derek. Everyone cleared out by about 9:45 or so. Derek came over to visit with Ashleigh until about 11:30. For the first time ever, both Ashleigh and Briana spent the night here on Christmas Eve.
Overall, a great Christmas Eve celebration… This may be the last one I host for a while since Denise will understandably most likely want to stay at home in Columbus for the next several years so Adam can enjoy Christmas morning at home with his parents.
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