Norman Weber was born on Christmas eve. As you might imagine he rarely got a birthday party. The gifts were often Christmas gifts not birthday gifts.

To try and make it special, our family would celebrate his birthday from the time he woke up until the evening began and then it became more about Christmas eve.

When evening came our family hosted an annual Christmas party open to all.

Many people came, some would stay late into the night and others would come and go.

The house was full of people.

There was always an abundance of food. Hors d'oeuvres were served from the start bite sized Chili Relleno's, shrimp, smoked salmon, egg rolls, Deviled Eggs, and more. Of course there were various types of deserts too. Pies, cakes, brownies, cookies.

Something for everyone. Dinner was served just before the annual gift exchange began. The food was plentiful and delicious.

The Gift Exchange

We all know the drudgery of drawing a name and having to buy that person a gift. It's the worst or at least it was for me. Drawing names was a bust. One year I went to an after Christmas party called a Christmas Castoff party. It's a gathering of friends and an opportunity too. The object is to take that present most of us get that we really do not want, re-wrap it, and place it in a pile. Each person draws a number and the person that drew #1 would pick a gift from the pile. Person number two had options... pick a gift from the pile or take the gift from person number 1. When a gift was "STOLEN", the person that had their gift stolen was forced to pick from the pile again. They could not steal another person's gift or the game would have no end.

The next person, and all those that came after, had the same options with one exception, they could take a gift from anyone that had proceeded them or pick from the pile. Some people trash is someone else' treasure. There were many gifts stolen only to be stolen again and again. The game went on until the last person chose. Because each person brought one gift, there were no gifts left and you were stuck with what you had until next years castoff. But I will say there was some negotiating going on, bartering for gifts people really wanted after the game was over.

The castoff morphed into a slightly different game. Now people bring some very nice gifts that many people want and other bring gifts that are meant to be a joke. This game has turned into the highlight of the evening.

Its more like a gift giving game than an exchange and quickly became the event everyone wanted to be part of.

The rules and the gifts people brought turned it into a can't miss event.

There are no rules for what you can bring as a gift other than it has to be wrapped. We have one pile of gifts for children and one pile of gifts for adults. With adults... anything goes.

Life changed when Norman died December 2017.

His children wanted to continue the event and wanted to celebrate his service to his country too.

The family asked the American Legion Post 1 in Denver, where Norman was a member and where most of his kids were members, if we could use the Legion's space on Christmas Eve to carry on the tradition.

Quickly we were told that the Legion closes for Christmas eve and no bartenders wanted to work that night.

The commander though planted a seed, he told us that many veterans wanted the Legion to stay open on Christmas eve so they would have some place to go and not be alone.

Our family realized that this was bigger than a tradition, it was a chance to give back to the veterans while honoring Norman.

KEEP THE POST OPEN was and is the mantra.

We set about to strike a deal with a willing bartender.

We offered to pay the bartenders handsomely if one would stay for our event.

One did. One special lady. I don't have her permission to share her name so I won't, but she has been the bartender for every year since, only missing one year.

We realized that just keeping the doors open was great but they would need food too. We decided that we would, in the same Christmas eve tradition, provide a free meal for anyone that wanted one on Christmas eve.

It didn't end there, why not raise some money for veterans causes too.

The American Legion works with many other veteran organizations and together they do what they can t0o help veterans in oh so many ways. One way is that the legion has a Veterans Assistance Fund and we quickly adopted that fund. Veterans come to the Legion in times of need and extreme need. They may need a few bucks to keep the heat on, or make rent, or well any number of things. Many of us have had times in our lives where we or someone we loved fell on hard times. Veterans gave their lives for our country and it seems like the least we can do to give a few bucks to such a great cause.

The first event December 24, 2017

The first event was filled with our family and friends and veterans.

Many veterans were happy that the post was open but kept their distance from the party.

Overtime however, more and more veterans came specifically to be part of the gift exchange or to watch it all unfold.

The gift exchange is especially entertaining because of the rules and the variety of gifts one might receive... or steal (as part of the game).

At first veterans were reluctant to even eat the meals provided.

We would encourage and explain that the evening was to honor Norman, our veteran father, and all veterans, and it was our honor to provide the food.

A few obstained but most ate.

That is no longer a problem, the veterans have become quite accustomed to the party.

In 2020 Covid shut the party down!

In 2020 the Legion was ordered to be closed and that included Christmas eve.

That couldn't stop the event entirely though.

That year we delivered 99 meals to veterans and their families on Christmas eve... right to their doors.

Hocus Pocus

There was one year where we had a magician and it was amazing. We love it when musicians, magicians, and entertainers offer to perform for the event. We used to pay but we realized that that money would do more good in the Veterans Assistance Fund.

We are open to entertainers at the right price of course. We focus on raising money not spending it.

After the gift exchange many leave but there are others that choose to stay and party and dance the night away.

Wrapping it up

This is just a short insight to the event and there is sooo much more.

We invite veterans and friends of veterans to send their stories and photos of the Weber Christmas eve event they attended so we can share them... see below.

Thank you for your generosity.

The Weber's