What? You've never heard of it? Christmas eve gift (CEG) was an old slave tradition. The first slave to find the master on Christmas eve and say the phrase was supposed to receive a gift of some sort (probably a coin). I always wondered how it became a tradition in my fishbelly-white family (We're mostly Irish, with a lot of other stuff thrown in)? Nobody actually got a gift, of course. It was more like counting coup. Only one person got to CEG anyone on Christmas Eve, since only the first CEG counted.
My grandma used to CEG us when we first got up on Christmas eve morning. She always got up before the crack of dawn to make some coffee in a cast-iron skillet -- she claimed that percolated coffee was too darn weak. You could practically stand your spoon up in a cup of that stuff -- it was indistinguishable from used motor oil, except for the aroma. Just the smell of it would put hair on your chest and pop your eyes wide open. I hesitate to think what effect drinking it would have. I was eighteen before I managed to CEG her. I felt bad. It was as if, since Grandma wasn't sharp enough to get me first, this confirmed that she was getting old and was very likely mortal.
Can anyone tell me more about "Christmas Eve Gift"? How about your family's unique holiday traditions?
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Well, I'm not sure about any connections here, but my family has almost always opened presents on Christmas Eve.
------------------ "The demon was an idea, the demon is awake. Scratch mark left across the surface of your mind. This hour now upon us, the hour has now arrived." -- Soul Coughing
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Every member of my family opens one present on Christmas Eve (at night, not during the day).
------------------ Elim Garak: "Oh, it's just Garak. Plain, simple Garak. Now, good day to you, Doctor. I'm so glad to have made such an... interesting new friend today." (DS9: "Past Prologue")
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Same here. We all open one present Christmas Eve, after the 7:00 mass. Then we have chowder with our neighbours and everybody has a few (more than that, actually ) drinks, except me, and then we all go to bed and I wake everybody up at 5:00
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We always waited until Christmas morning to open our gifts. After all -- we wanted to wait until Santa delivered his gifts. I understand that Catholics tend to open their gifts on Christmas Eve (perhaps to ensure the focus on Christmas day is Christ, not "what did grandma bring me").
I also learned (quite recently) that it is Catholic tradition to refrain from eating meat on Christmas eve. Instead, they eat fish and seafood. I saw a cooking show late last night where an Italian cook prepared a "Feast of Seven Fishes". They served cod, calimari, stuffed crab, and a bunch of other stuff. Usually I only eat fish-n-chips (or as close as I can approximate here in the states), but most of that stuff looked good! I'm curious... is Christmas also "meatless" if you're a Catholic?
In our family we had few Christmas eve traditions, other than Christmas-eve-gift, but sometimes dad would read the Christmas story from the Bible. We did have a few Christmas traditions, however. After we opened out presents, we had breakfast. Breakfast was always sausage, biscuits, and gravy (quick and easy to fix and delicious!). Supper ("Southern" for a big lunch) was turkey with all the trimmings, though no-one felt obligated to stuff themselves as completely as they did for Thanksgiving.
Dad would tune the radio to receive Christmas music (lots of stations to choose from back then). PBS usually had the most varied selection of songs -- they wouldn't play Handel's "Messiah" until later in the day.
Mom would set out bowls filled with fruit, nuts and different kinds of candies. The usual candies were ribbon candy and cut-rock candy (they look like thick disks with decorative patterns or pictures in them -- they appear to have been manufacured by an extrusion process). On Christmas day, it was finally permitted to take and eat the candy canes which decorated the tree. Dad always got a bag of "filled" candy (a hard candy filled with dates). He was the only one who liked those.
Ribbon Candy
Dinner was usually leftovers from lunch, but we rarely had a sit-down dinner. Instead, we snacked on turkey sandwiches and watched Christmas movies on T.V.
We kids would stay up late on Christmas night, playing Monopoly, Scrabble or Stock Market (or whatever new game we had received). It wasn't Christmas until mom came into the kitchen late at night wearing her robe, squinting without her glasses and her hair in disarray, and said "You kid's are getting silly! Go to bed!"
------------------ Elim Garak: "Oh, it's just Garak. Plain, simple Garak. Now, good day to you, Doctor. I'm so glad to have made such an... interesting new friend today." (DS9: "Past Prologue")
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When I was a kid, there'd be an announcement at the beginning of the local news that NORAD had picked up a UFO coming from over the north pole. During the news, they would give updates, like "Beale AFB has just launched two F-106 interceptors to shoot down the UFO". Accompanying this announcement was a few seconds of file footage showing jet interceptors launching with a full load of missiles, using full afterburner.
Terror gripped us like a vise. "They're gonna shoot down Santa!" we'd wail. "Dad! Call the Air Force and tell them it's SANTA!!!" We were on pins and needles throughout the broadcast. We were so wrapped up in the story it was hard to even breathe.
As the news program was about to end, they'd cut to "live cockpit chatter". Just as they were about to fire their missiles, vaporizing Santa, they'd visually identify him and stand down. They would then provide escort rather than shoot him down. What an emotional roller coaster for a six-year-old!
Once it was over, we were so relieved, that (once we'd calmed down) we almost forgot to argue about being sent to bed.
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Well, part of our tradition (me being Catholic) is to open one present on Christmas eve. Also on Christmas eve, everyone has seafood chowder that my mom makes (Except me. I'm special - don't like seafood - and get corn chowder).
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One of my more embarrassing moments was when, having forgotten that it was Christmas Eve and seeing a NORAD guy on TV saying that a blip was coming over the pole, thought that the Third World War had begun. Those were the most terrifying two seconds in my life. Then I saw the tree next to the TV and calmed down. But my pride is still hurt.
------------------ "I promise you, Wilma, that not one man on this force will rest until the criminal scum that did this are behind bars. Now let's go get a bite to eat." - Frank Drebbin, Detective Lieutenant in Police Squad
) drinks, except me, and then we all go to bed and I wake everybody up at 5:00 
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