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Show 114 Holy Night It is Christmas Eve. Visitors have come and gone throughout the unit during the day but Hy had to work and he and the children will not be able to drive the distance tonight even though Christmas Eve is our traditional celebration. Our Christmas traditions are sacred to us. They are simple and involve our sitting in a circle on the front room floor with a Christmas scented candle in the middle, wafting its scent and flickering its light into our reading the Christmas story. We sing our favorite Christmas carols. We each give thoughtful gifts to the Christ child, whose birthday it is - gifts of our trying harder to be more like Him throughout the coming year. Then we give our gifts to each other. We had drawn names around the Thanksgiving dinner table so each person has the name of one other member of this family of six. Modest wish lists are drawn up and given to the giver, in case he or she runs out of ideas. Money is earned - but not much because we do not have much. Invariably, this opening of the gifts, one at a time, is filled with love. The giver is as excited as the gifted. We love this entire tradition and cannot skip any part of it. But this year we have skipped me. I am not there. |