Christmas Eve Gift!!!!

There is a Ryals family tradition that on Christmas Eve, if you're the first person to say "Christmas Eve Gift" to someone, that person is supposed to give you a gift on Christmas Eve. I asked my dad where it started, but he jokingly said, "In the old country", which basically means he doesn't know. :-)

I can remember doing this from way back when I was a little girl, but I can't remember anyone actually following through on the gift. The main thing is that we all just try and be the first person to say it. My Uncle Randel gets really into it and even calls one of his brothers right after midnight on December 24th to try and say it first. My parents, and maybe my sister, are known to answer the phone saying "Christmas Eve Gift" on December 24th. Of course, with Caller ID, I can know who's calling and make sure I don't say it to someone who doesn't know what's going on. This morning, I sent a text to my sister that said, "Christmas Eve Gift!!!" Let's see if that gets to count!

My mom did start letting us open one present on Christmas Eve when we were little girls, though. I think that we probably were being relentless with our asking to open gifts that night instead of waiting for Christmas morning, which has been our family's tradition. So, Mom began getting us new Christmas nightgowns (or pj's) each year and would let us open those on Christmas Eve. The neat thing about that, besides giving us something to open early, is that we would wear them to bed and then would have Christmas attire on for opening the presents on Christmas morning (and she wasn't even a scrapbooker--ha!). We loved this tradition and it was carried on with us until we were out of college. When Daniel was born, I continued the tradition with him, and I'm sure that Jeanette will do it with Erica in years to come.

Christmas Eve Gift!!!!