"Christmas Eve was a night of song wrapped itself about you
like a shawl. But it warmed more than your body. It warmed
your heart ... filled it, too, with melody that would last forever."
Beth Street Aldrich
Christmas Eve meant going to church for the candlelight service and then rushing home to pajamas, cookies and hot chocolate gathered by our tree. One at a time, each child would get to open one package. The rest would wait for in the morning.
I would watch my four children gathered together on the floor wrapped in quilts with pillows. There was laughing, teasing, and great respect given to the two younger ones who still happened to believe in Santa. We were family then. There was a bond holding us together that no one could take apart ... and other Christmas Fantasies swirling about.
There is an innocence that children bring to these times. Perhaps it is simply a pause from the carelessness of every day life. It might be the love that shines from the tender eyes as they glance from one to another. It may be the unspoken word that beats within each heart.
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