We were allowed to open one present during Christmas Eve. Then Santa would come in the middle of the night. We had presents from each other and a shit load of stuff from the man up north. We made out like bandits. Both of my parents were Depression era children and they moved heaven and earth to give us what they never had. Christmas day was family day. We shut out the world and spent the day telling family legends and Christmas "miracle" stories. Then dad would read from the Bible about the birth of Christ. My mother collected Nativity scenes from around the world. We had every combination you can imagine. We would clear an area in the living room and fill it with cotton fill (to look like snow). Then artistically placed the nativity scenes on the cotton. My dad (being an electrician) wired Christmas lights to look like stars and used them to highlight the scenes. Christmas dinner consisted of posole, Christmas tamales, sweet rellenos, carne adobada, empanaditas, biscochitos, gallons of virgin sangria, and snootfuls of dandelion wine.
Now it's all just memories. It's going to be a nostalgic Christmas for me.
