This is the 20th Christmas Eve since the passing in August 1994 of my maternal grandmother, Myrtis Virginia Hamilton Moore, whom I called Mammaw. Still, it is her I think of each Dec. 24, especially after everyone else in the house has gone to bed.
I’m not sure when it began, but sometime after I moved away from home, I started calling Mammaw late on Christmas Eve. It seems like it was before I had children, but I can’t be sure.