My genealogy work slows down this time of year, even though many of my ancestors and family members are on my mind as we approach Christmas. The people I miss the most, of course, are my parents and brother. My brother only shared 20 Christmases with us before his premature death, but I have some wonderful memories. I especially remember the Christmases in Illinois. I remember, for example, the Christmas we both got sleds from Santa, the one where we learned to ice skate, and the Christmas Eve when my mother sent my father, brother and I out to look at Christmas lights while she stayed home "to hang up the laundry in the basement." When we arrived home, Santa had already left his stash, and my mother insisted she thought she "heard something" while she was down in the basement which caused her to rush up to find the source of the noise. When she arrived in the living room, she could see that Santa had arrived early. My mother never could wait for Christmas to arrive. She loved to find presents we had hidden, and was very adept at peeling the tape off the wrapping paper to peek and then reattaching it so we wouldn't know. We always knew, though.
After that, I figured out the secret about Santa Claus, and as soon as my brother caught on, my mother began the big celebration of Christmas on Christmas Eve. That's when we opened our presents and when my mother fixed the big meal of ham, scalloped potatoes, and various desserts. When I married and had children, she continued the tradition, and we brought our own children to my parents' house for Christmas Eve. When they were young, they had two Christmases: one on Christmas eve at Grandma's and one Christmas morning, when Santa came. As they got older, everything centered on Christmas Eve, until they ventured out and got married, when the tradition finally ended.
At this time of year, I also wonder what Christmas was like when my grandparents and great grandparents were young. Fortunately, I have some idea of what life was like when my great great grandparents, Ned and Mary Brennan, were raising their family in the late 1800s, from the writings of Father Robert Brennan, their grandson. He tells us what Christmas was like in the Brennan household, which he calls "Vinegar Hill." Vinegar Hill was the name of a great battle in Ireland, and my grandparents named their property after it.
"Christmas on Vinegar Hill was always a time for great merriment, but Grandmother was strict about the fast that goes before feasts - a habit she brought with her from Ireland. On Christmas Eve, therefore, there was only one full meal, taken when the family was assembled in the evening. Traditionally, it consisted of oyster stew and potato cakes, and the custom is still observed among some of the present-day members of the clan.
A Christmas candle burned all night in the window, another of the lovely customs that the Irish brought with them to America. The candle was made from tallow by Grandmother's sister, Julia... Springs of green, hung here and there about the house, gave a homey atmosphere to the Yuletide festivities.
On Christmas morning, the first Mass in St. Rose Church was at five. Grandmother always attended it along with some of the children. It is easy to picture her picking her steps through the snow drifts that covered Vinegar Hill; glancing up from time to time at the stars overhead that were singing for joy at he Birth of our Saviour. On returning home, the fire was built up and the good goose that was plucked and prepared the day before was set in the oven. All morning there was the fragrant odor of roasting fowl filling the house. This, like the fare of the night before, was alaso a traditional dish among the Brennans, served with mashed potatoes and thick gravy. Mince pie was the usual dessert, with nuts and hard candies and an occasional orange to finish off the meal.
Friends and relatives were in and out of the house all day; and, to the "Merry Christmas" greeting of one, the answer of the other, "The same to you, and many of them," never varied."
So I wish a "Merry Christmas to you, and many of them," and I'll be back to my genealogy work after Christmas.
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