Christmas morn

REALCUISINE | Julianne Glatz

There are two times when those who celebrate Christmas open their presents:

Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Well, at least in America. Christmas gift-giving customs vary around the world, and many of them aren’t on either Christmas Eve or Day. That has the benefit of separating the spiritual and religious aspects, at least to a degree, from what has become a commercial and consumer free-for-all. In the United Kingdom and many of its Commonwealth countries, presents are exchanged on Boxing Day, Dec. 26. The custom purportedly started because on that day the rich would “box up” gifts and give them to the poor. Incidentally, one of the most traditional British customs, for rich and poor alike, is Christmas crackers. Not edible, crackers are decoratively wrapped paper tubes placed on one’s Christmas dinner plate. They’re filled with flimsy tissue-paper crowns and hats, noisemakers, and cheesy Cracker Jack-type toys. Those who think that the British are stuffy would quickly change their minds if they ever found themselves sitting at a table of otherwise perfectly normal, sane folks – children and adults – pulling the tubes apart with a loud pop (hence the name “cracker”), then blowing plastic kazoos and wearing the hats, which quickly become torn and ragged – and this is even when the dinner is supposedly formal.

In other areas, such as Latin America, gifts are given on Jan. 6, the Feast of Epiphany – the celebration of the Wise Men’s arrival. It makes sense: giving gifts on the day the Wise Men appeared bearing gifts.

Here in the U.S., though, it’s either Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. I don’t have figures, but it’s always seemed to me that most people open presents on Christmas morning. My family – never ones for doing things the way others do – has always been firmly in the Christmas Eve camp. When I grew old enough to ask why (not that I was complaining, mind you – the sooner I could get my hands on my Christmas loot, the better), I was told that we were an early stop on Santa’s route. That satisfied me for a while, until basic geography knowledge told me that that couldn’t possibly be true. Still, it took a long time to figure things out. I was an only child living in the country with no near playmates; there wasn’t anyone to fill me in. My folks were clever, too: Presents from Santa were unwrapped and heaped alongside the wrapped packages that’d been accumulating for weeks. My mother’s admonition whenever I questioned this was the clincher: “If you don’t believe in Santa, he won’t come anymore.” Hey, I wasn’t stupid!

I’ve never even considered changing our custom of opening presents on Christmas Eve, but it was really put to the test in the years when my children were young and I was singing in a church choir. The kids were in children’s choir as well, and the church had three services on Christmas Eve: an early children’s service, an early adult service, and a traditional 11 p.m. service at which the adult choir sang. More often than not, I was belting out “O Holy Night” at all three services.

We’d rush through dinner, get to church, then get back home ASAP. It worked well for Santa, who always mysteriously came while we were gone, but all too often I’d be checking my watch and rushing out the door the minute all the presents were opened. It did have its positive side: I got out of cleanup duty. The downside was that I was usually exhausted on Christmas Day. Thank goodness those were years when I didn’t have to be responsible for Christmas meals!

Once I had children of my own, I decided that the reason my family opens gifts on Christmas Eve is that the adults don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn on Christmas morning. If the kids want to get up early and play with their stuff, fine. Mom and Dad can snooze and snuggle a little longer.

Another way to make Christmas morning relaxed and leisurely – regardless of when you open presents – is to have breakfast made ahead of time. There’s nothing that works better for that than a strata. A strata is essentially savory bread pudding assembled on the day before and then refrigerated. All that’s necessary in the morning is to top it with grated cheese and pop it into the oven. There are many variations, but I especially like to use sweet red peppers and chopped parsley both in the strata and on the top at Christmas for the red/green effect.

Contact Julianne Glatz at realcuisine.jg@gmail.com.