We would go around the neighborhood, and we just hug everybody. Something that I do remember that I really liked about Christmas Eve in Guatemala was on the evening of the 24th people would go in out in the streets and shout: “Llego La Navidad!” (Christmas has arrived!) and hug people. There would be firecrackers and music and noise and people walking around. “What I remember of holidays in Guatemala was holidays would be loud. Now, my mother is present only in memories, photos and recipes. The party hummed along, then 20 minutes later she ascended the stairs in her pale, velvety bathrobe, a Ghost of Christmas Past, refusing to miss the frivolity. After a while, I walked her to her room and helped her get settled.
In the waning years of the party, my elderly mother, who had some cognitive impairment and had just moved in with us, enjoyed the hubbub just fine. The gathering was a throwback, except one year when my son’s high school band played, and the caroling party got cool. Her brown sugar-pecan cookies with brown sugar glaze were always spectacular. Many of the recipes were my mother’s, scrawled and stained. The party was my way of baking dozens of Christmas cookies and not eating them all myself. However, there were always brave souls who craved the warmth that singing outside together brings. We called it a caroling party, providing song sheets and jingle bells, but my husband isn’t a singer and my children bristled at leaving a warm house to walk to our older neighbors’ front doors to sing. Reggie Pace, musician and a founder of No BS! Brass Band and “The Hustle Season Podcast” He would flourish as a villain of whatever the play is, like a sassy or sappy character.” My dad and mom or cousins are all in the play. I drive back to Hampton to perform in the play my mom usually directs at her church - Emmanuel Grace Baptist Church - as part of the small music ensemble.
Everyone’s trying to be positive and have good cheer on purpose. Seeing friends wearing sweaters feels real old school and wholesome.
I love hot holiday drinks, like eggnog and hot toddies. It’s always great to see people that time of year, and be able to give back to the Virginia Food Bank and to Feed More. That’s one of our biggest shows we do every December for about 10 years. “In Richmond, usually around the holidays, No BS! Brass Band throws an annual canned food drive, and we also accept winter coats.
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