Editor's note: This story appeared in the Houston Chronicle on Nov. 11, 1990.

For most of Tina Knowles' life, Christmas was a crazy time.

As the youngest child of seven in a Creole family, she learned to equate Christmas with all-night cooking sprees with lively relatives at her parents' Galveston home. After all, she had 49 nieces and nephews by the time she was an adult.

Her husband, Mathew, on the other hand, came from a small family in Gadsden, Ala. His Christmases were considerably quieter.

For eight years after they were married, the Knowleses tried it Tina's way. Her relatives stayed a few days each Christmas at Tina and Matthew's big, brick house in the MacGregor Way area along Brays Bayou.

They went to midnight Mass together and stayed up all night afterward cooking the next day's dinner.

As the years passed, Mathew became more involved in his job as account executive with Picker International. Tina took over as owner of the Headliner's Hair Salon in Chelsea Market Square. Their time together and with their two daughters became more precious.

That's when they decided to trim down their family celebrations.

"It's a time to take the phone off the hook, " said Mathew.

"It's a time where we kind of cool out and energize and rekindle our marriage."

Not that any time's all that quiet when their outgoing daughters - Beyonce, 9, and Solange, 4 - are around.

This is how Beyonce sees Christmas: "We sing songs, we decorate the Christmas tree. After that, we dance." Concerning presents: "We go downstairs early while Mom's still asleep. We count them and stack them up."

Solange says her family "rocks around the Christmas tree."

The family's favorite holiday music is a Motown Christmas carol tape that pretty much dominates the tape player for the few weeks before and after Christmas.

The Knowleses are developing their own family traditions. They always decorate the outside of the house with lights and the inside with garland and stockings. Their tree is trimmed with white lights and mauve and green decorations. Each year, they add one special ornament, usually glass or ceramic.

On Christmas Eve, they attend midnight Mass at St. Mary's Catholic Church, after which Mathew and Tina exchange gifts.

The girls wait until the morning to open their gifts and entertain their folks with a singing and dancing performance. Friends and relatives drop by throughout the day.

The four of them - and usually a few relatives - eat a Christmas dinner of turkey, ham, dressing, dirty rice, candied yams, green beans and sweet potato pie. They sip wine and eggnog with brandy.

Tina and Mathew said they owe their fondness of Christmas to their parents, who didn't have much money but always took care of them.

"They gave to us a sense of love during the holidays, " Mathew said. "My parents would really go out of their way to get me things for Christmas so I wouldn't feel any different from the other kids."