The Eve of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ

24 December 2024 - 4 p.m.

A Festival of Lessons and Carols

Some early childhood Christmases in my native Ohio were spent at my aunt's home in Youngstown, where my father was born. His mother, Grandma Mary, was still on this side of heaven and holding forth from the kitchen, bracciole and hot sausages simmering in her pot.

What I remember most after the smells, was the travel. An hour's drive in the snow and ice, my dad's hands flying from the wheel as he issued commentary on the evening, me braced between my younger sisters in adjoining car seats, and my mom pregnant with our next sister, calming us with songs of Judy Collins. All of us were draped with blankets, guarding us from the unreliable heat of an aging Volkswagen Rabbit.