I like Christmas Eve better than Christmas Day, but it depends on the year.  On the eve, it’s the anticipation, the good will feeling and the idea that tomorrow is a few hours away.  I think my love of Christmas Eve goes back to my mom as she made it special.  And the funny part is, I don’t think she really meant to.  Because what happened for many years, just  – sort of happened.

My mom Barbara, and my brother especially were very involved with local theater for many years here. They were both on stage many times starring in shows at the Berea Summer and Berea Little Theaters plus other productions around Cleveland.  My mom was a professor at Baldwin- Wallace and my brother graduated from there and went on to graduate school in California at CalArts for his theater masters. One year my mom just decided to have a Christmas Eve open house, I have no idea the year.  She made some invitations, as she was an artist, sent them out and people showed up. Many to most were from the theater, the college and then later my friends and siblings friends and neighbors at my moms old farm house in Berea.

This went on for YEARS!  Eventually there were no invitations needed, people just showed up on Christmas Eve, many we hadn’t seen since last years party.  It absolutely became a who’s who of the local Cleveland Theater scene as well, as most of the prominent theater people from the area ended up at the house.  Mr Jing-A-Ling, Earl Keyes did, so did the organist from the Cleveland Orchestra, David Gooding, and he’d play the piano while the rest of the local actors would sing carols.  It was a lively bunch. The night was loud, fun, full of laughter and very big.

My brother, sister and I always came into town for many years at the holidays for my mom, we were good about that.  And even though we are all older now, and my mom has passed and the old farm house she owned and loved for 62 years is now sold, I am very glad we would trek home every year.  I’m sure my mom was too, especially after losing my dad so young.

Not only was there singing, acting and laughing, for a few years my brother had a friend from college named Bruce Geber’ and he was an incredible musician.  He would walk down the street playing the bagpipes on his way into the party and continue to serenade us once inside.  Oddly enough, he went on to the the Contra-bassoonist for the Hong Kong Symphony for many years.  Dude also spoke multiple languages and was a very interesting guy.  He became a party favorite  –  (BTW a Contrabassoon is huge)  Who even thinks to play that thing?

My Moms Old House

Truth is many of the people that attended those get-together’s were insanely talented and had great careers locally and some in New York or Los Angeles and others like my brother in markets around the country and the world.  Now it’s many years later and I find myself still remembering those times like they were yesterday.

Truth is, I didn’t sing much at those parties, but I did laugh, listened and learned. (I think it helped me later). And I can still hear the laughing and the singing, and the love that entire troupe of family, neighbors, and friends had on those special nights.  An annual party at Christmas, with no invite, at a house you haven’t been to in a year or more, or ever with open doors where you knew you were welcome and you could bring anyone or anything you wanted. 

Only now am I able to fully understand just how rare and special that all was.  I’ve never heard of anything like it anywhere else where it went on with the amount of people it drew  –  and for the length of time it did.

I was…wait we were all    –   very lucky –  Merry Christmas