Why Christmas Eve?

(It may seem odd to write about Christmas at Halloween time.  Maybe it has something to do with me spending Friday night on Hollywood Blvd waiting for Disney Soda Fountain pins of the Nightmare Before Christmas.)

When I was growing up Christmas was always a magical time.  But, the older I got the magic changed to reverence.  Or maybe I should say that reverence was added to the magic.  The magic never leaves if you believe (per The Polar Express.)  I remember our Christmas family traditions with great affection.  The week before Christmas Grandma (Lois Fae Linnebach) would make dozens of gingerbread Santas.  I remember her spreading them out on the kitchen table so she could decorate each one with icing, red hots and little silver balls.  Then she would write in icing each person's name across the belly who was to get the gingerbread Santa.......every kid in the neighborhood and their parents, all of us in the family, women she visiting taught, all the young women in the ward when she was Young Women's President,  Grandpa's (Charles Cash Rampton, Jr.) councilors in the Bishopric and their families, all the Cub Scouts when she was Den Mother, all the Scouts when Grandpa was Scoutmaster, and finally she and Grandpa if there were any leftover.  Our house was decorated to kill with Christmas decorations, most of which she made:  a jeweled Christmas tree wall hanging; a broken glass and lights Christmas tree wall hanging;  beaded Christmas trees, bells, angles and reindeer; hand-made Christmas tree skirt; and too many others to mention.  Which ones come to your mind?

Today when Christmas comes around my thoughts are not only turned to the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, but also to the lives of my grandparents.  Grandma Blanche (8 Dec 1986), Grandpa Joe Bush(24 Dec 1969), Grandma Ethel (14 Dec 1988) and Grandpa Cash (14 Dec 1991) all died within a few weeks of Christmas.  Based on some things that I will write later in this blog, Grandpa Joe Bush's death on Christmas Eve seems fitting.........a strange term to describe death.

On Christmas Eve our family did something that none of the families of my friends or other people we knew did.  We had a big family Christmas Eve party with a Christmas feast, usually prime rib and Yorkshire pudding, a family program and the opening of presents from the family. It was always tough to go to sleep that night, whether from the sugar from all the candies, cakes and pies or the anticipation that Santa Claus was coming that night.  On Christmas morning we would get up to see the presents Santa had brought us in the night.

I have two very fond memories of those Christmas Eve parties, one old and one new.  The old memory is Grandpa's reading of the Cremation of Sam MaGee.  Grandma hated it, or at least she pretended to.  Grandpa loved to read it.  Unless you listened to the words very carefully, you wondered what it had to do with Christmas.  The new memory is the Rampton Christmas Rap written by David and performed for the first time in 2008 by the Rampton Christmas Rappers,  David, Travis and Kevin.  Honorable mention memory:  Kevin and the peanut butter.  Those were good times and hopefully there will be many more good times to come.

So now the answer to the big question, where did the tradition of a Family Christmas Eve Party came from?  And as I promised last week, the answer:  those parties were a family tradition tha George Adam Linnebach and his wife Anna brought to America from Germany.  Here is an excerpt from Aunt Caroline's (sister of Grandpa Joe Bush who was also born in Germany)  history, The Linnebachs, where she describes Christmas Eve in Germany before immigrating:

"I remember Christmas was always a special time and we looked forward to it eagerly. I am sure mother and father made preparations for this event weeks in advance as they made most of the gifts.  One Christmas father made me a small

cupboard, doll buggy, table and chairs. Mother made clothes for the doll they purchased and covers for the bed.

Christmas was always celebrated on Christmas Eve and we had to wait for the " Christkindl--Christ Child" to arrive before we could open our presents. The person playing the part of Christkindl , usually a pretty young girl dressed in

white, asked our parents if we had been good children and when they answered, "Yes," she led us into the parlor. There, the candle-lit tree was so exciting to see, and there were always many gifts. Our Uncle Heinrich always brought large

boxes of special Christmas cookies."

This German tradition came with them to the United States and I'm glad it did.  I remember Grandma telling us about the parties and how she never wanted to be on the program.  Each Christmas Eve all the children and grandchildren of George and Anna would gather at their house for an evening of celebration.  Here is another excerpt from Aunt Caroline about the "Americanized" version of the tradition:

"We continued the German tradition of celebrating Christmas Eve together, starting with a buffet of juicy German sausages, roles, salads, cookies, Stollen, Lebkuchen (honey cookies), Streusel, and Zwetschgekuchen (prune cake),

doughnuts, candies, hot postum or cocoa or milk. Each family contributed an item. My contribution was always ten dozen homemade glazed yeast doughnuts. After eating, we had a program with all participating; then sang Christmas

carols.  Santa (der Weihnachtsmann ), often played by Mrs. Scott, who lived on Driggs Avenue, was a strange looking Santa. Wearing her "leopard skin" fur coat complete with spots, she went from child to child, asking if they had been good. She gave us an orange, chocolates, all-day suckers and other candies some of which she--a former candy factory employee--had made herself. Gifts were exchanged and the children always looked forward to gifts from the

grand-parents which were always special and something they particularly wanted.  One year one of the grandchildren used Christmas crayons to write all over the new living room wall paper. We never knew who did it."

(fyi: Stollen is Fruitcake and Lebkuchen is gingerbread.)

(As for the crayon writing on the wall, it was probably Grandma and Travis inherited that tendency from her.)

When Anna Linnebach died in 1942 the Christmas Eve parties were then held in the homes of each of the children with their individual families.  During her teenage years Grandma still hated to be on the program.  Grandpa Joe Bush and Grandma Ethel held one in their home every year until Grandma Ethel died in 1988 with the exception of Christmas Eve 1969.  That was the day Grandpa Joe Bush died of lung cancer in the hospital.  And even though that was a time of sadness for us,  it was a time of celebration for others.  I have no doubt that George and Anna Linnebach, as well as other ancestors rejoiced in being re-united with their oldest son.  And so for them, the Christmas Eve celebration continued one more time.

Below is a picture of the children and grandchildren of George and Anna Linnebach taken in the summer of 1940.  This is who would have attended those Christmas Eve parties.