I have a pet peeve. I know. I’m full of them, and everyone has them.

But this is my page, so just deal.

It’s very bothersome when I overhear people talking about their plans or recounting events that take place on the 24th of December. The phrases that come immediately to mind include:

“We’re getting together on Christmas Eve night.”
“Cristmas Eve morning, we’ll go for breakfast and shopping.”
“His flight arrives Christmas Eve day.”

I just have to say that “Christmas Eve” is tantamount to “the evening of December 24th”! It is not a modifier for the entire day, nor is it a required dangling attachment weighing down your sentences like a boat anchor tied to a cloud.

saying that you will “get together on Christmas Eve” will suffice. Or the “morning of Christmas Eve”, or even “the 24th” or “Saturday”. The jumbled knot of extra verbiage doesn’t make sense, conveys no meaning, and sounds horrible.

BTW,

According to HowStuffWorks:

Why is the day before Christmas, Christmas Eve, celebrated?
Christmas Eve is a big deal for religious reasons, such as the midnight mass, and also for retail reasons. 1867 was the first year that Macy’s department store in New York City remained open until midnight on Christmas Eve.

A HowStuffWorks reader was also kind enough to point out the following: “All Jewish holidays start at sundown the evening before (not at calendar midnight). Our holidays start with ceremony the evening before: rituals, candle-lighting, whatever… at sundown and they last until the following sundown, and then they’re over.”