Years ago when we lived in NJ, we had a plethora of Italian friends. We were really tight with one fam, the kids were the same age as dh and myself, but we were friends with the parents. The daughter of our friends always had the big Italian seafood dinner at her house on Christmas Eve, after Mass. I loved that when we couldn't be with with any of our own fam members, and this was waaaaay before we had kids of our own. Even though I am from an Irish immigrant fam, I'd love to someday incorporate the traditions of the Italian Christmas Eve feast int our fam traditions. Those Italian Christmas Eve celebrations were truly celebrations!
MZ