Everybody has their own Christmas traditions, and for most of us, it usually involves time together with your family, perhaps extended family, Christmas cookies and opening presents, maybe a special meal, some egg nog, singing Christmas carols, watching Christmas Vacation or Home Alone… you know, all the regular stuff.
And maybe your life is like a cheesy Hallmark movie and your high school crush moved back home to take care of his little sister after his mom died in a tragic car crash three days begore Christmas Day. And when he’s not helping out coach the middle school basketball team that he somehow instantly got a gig doing, he’s working at this quaint little bakery in your small New England town. You both fall in love and you help him rediscover the true meaning of Christmas… maybe that’s your Christmas experience? It’s not…. nobody’s is… these movies are ridiculous.
Dumb tangents aside, Christmas at the Church house actually does look a little different than most. Of course, he spends time with his family, enjoys a good meal, opens some gifts… but you also get a gut-wrenching, heartbreaking story to shatter that holly jolly Christmas spirit, but more importantly, to put it all in perspective.
This unique tradition started with Eric’s grandmother, but long story short: every year she would come to Christmas with a story to tell, a gut-wrenching, heart-tugging, make you wonder how you got so lucky and appreciate everything you have kind of Christmas story. And she would share it with the entire family.
And right now, Eric’s mom carries on the tradition, but eventually, Eric knows that he and his wife Katherine will carry it on as well.
Here’s what they do, as described by Eric himself:
“My grandmother, when she was alive, would always come over, and every year she would bring this Christmas story, and some of them were gut-wrenching. I’m not going to lie to you.
They were just heart tugging stories about people who had had…about a Christmas miracle, who had something happen to them; something magical for Christmas that had turned life around…whether it was a homeless person, or just anything.
She would always look all year long and find this story, and then we would have breakfast and she would read it, and it was just our family and we’ve carried that on.
My mom does that now and she’s kind of taken it and she finds the story, and that’s something I’m going to do with my family. And Katherine and I have talked about it. It’ll be her turn to find that, and we have a big Christmas breakfast and we sit around and we share that.
It’s just a neat thing, family-wise, to have that and to always wonder what that story is going to be and what it’s going to be about, and sometimes they’re brutal. I mean it can be hard, you know.
You get up on Christmas morning and you’re in a good mood and they’re just gut-wrenching, you know, but it’s fun to put things in perspective, and it makes you think about people that aren’t as fortunate.”
And you wonder where those introspective, thoughtful, songs come from?
His most recent single, “Darkest Hour,” was quite the thoughtful release, one that was initially written as a sort of simple song about lending a shoulder to a friend in need. However, when Hurricane Helene ravaged his home state of North Carolina, the song took on new meaning and he immediately released it.
And the kicker was, he signed over the publishing rights to it to his home state to continuously have a source of aid flowing in. From now, until forever.