Growing up we always spent the evening of Christmas at my grandmother’s house in Calera, AL. We would eat, play Dirty Santa, open gifts, and just enjoy being around our big family. As the years went by, and the family grew, we could no longer have Christmas at her house. So, we moved to the church that my grandmother attended. The church had a huge fellowship hall where we could all fit and be comfortable.
Now the years before then, we tried to find new, fun things to do. Dirty Santa was just getting to be the norm and someone always left mad. That is definitely something we wanted to prevent! We had tried karaoke but it never worked out at my grandmother’s house. Maybe it was because we were so cramped, or maybe it was because we couldn’t turn the music up loud enough because of everyone complaining.
Eventually, it all worked itself out! When we got to the church, my aunt brought her karaoke system again bound and determined to make it work. We ate, we laughed, we opened gifts, and we played Dirty Santa like always. Of course, like always, someone was absolutely irrate about losing the gift they wanted while playing the game. So, what did my sister an I do? We picked up the microphone and began singing “Kerosene” by Miranda Lambert. Immediately, smiles were back on faces and everyone was singing along with us! We had karaoke for hours, and it was so much fun! Soon, we began singing tunes from our all time favorite movie, Grease. Everyone participated and we sang every genre from oldies to hip hop. My sister and my cousin even danced while someone sang a crazy song by Beyonce.
Later that night, we all said our goodbyes and waited for the next time we all could see each other again. The karaoke finally became a part of our Christmas tradition and we have been doing it for the past four years. It was truly a Christmas I will never forget.