When I was living in Wisconsin in the same town as my parents, on Christmas Eve we would usually go to the Elks Club for a few cocktails and they would have a nice buffet spread out for everyone to munch on. We always had such a nice time. I remember they had these pull tab lottery tickets (this was before the lottery became legal in Wisconsin). I think they were 25¢ a piece, 4 for a dollar. (No deal there). The top prize was $25.00 dollars I think. There were smaller prizes too. Gosh we loved playing those stupid pull-tabs. We stayed there until maybe 8:00 or 9:00 pm. Then we would usually head over to my parent’s friends house. They always had an open house on Christmas Eve. It was for all those people who were not traveling on Christmas or those who did not have any children and would otherwise be alone. It was always nice to visit and share the holiday with friends as well as family on Christmas Eve.
In the years since I have moved out of state, every Christmas I think about the open houses and have such fond memories of those special Christmas Eve’s.
About four years ago I said to my husband…Wouldn’t it be nice to have a Christmas party like my parent’s friends used to have all those years ago? I had to do some fancy talking but eventually my husband thot it might be a nice way to celebrate Christmas. So our annual Christmas open house was born.
This year was our fourth annual open house. My husband kept saying…I think we are going to have a large turnout this year. He thought this because we were having it earlier this year since Christmas is falling on a Thursday, we would get more people attending.
We had the Christmas open house this past Saturday. And boy was Bogey right…we had a record turnout. It was so nice and festive. Everyone was in such happy spirits. I had several people thank me for opening up our home to guests at Christmas time. It made me all warm inside to know that they enjoyed this holiday tradition as much as I did.
I wasn’t feeling in the best of Christmas spirits this year. I am not sure why. Sometimes we just never know the reason for our moods. But the party helped turn around my lack of Christmas spirit this year. I hope it continues.
To all: may you find peace and happiness with family and friends this Christmas season. Nothing is more important than spending time with loved ones.
Merry Christmas to you and yours, and I hope that 2009 is a wonderful year!
Have a very Merry Christmas!! I can’t wait to meet you after the holiday:-)
I have always wanted to have an open house but everyone we know is usually gone! Maybe later in life when the children are grown.
What a fabulous idea. I know people used to have open houses when I was a kid, but I don’t know of any now that I’m an adult. Great memories.