Home and the Holidays

Christmas and New Year's Midnight mass was de rigeur for Christmas Eve, starting when we were maybe 8 or 9. It was so hard to keep my eyes open at that hour (being a morning person to begin with) then having to go to bed when we got home and it was, technically, Christmas Day, without opening presents - for Santa had not yet come. For my paternal grandmother and her French-Canadian family, New Year's was a special holiday, one that began with midnight mass followed by much eating and merriment, though I don't think they held with the custom of opening most of their Christmas presents on New Years as was the case in some places.