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Shoppers Stop at Seafood Market Ahead of Christmas Eve Dinner

SCRANTON, Pa. — As the clock winds down and Christmas draws nearer, dozens of shoppers stopped by Cooper’s Seafood House in Scranton to stock up on ...

SCRANTON, Pa. -- As the clock winds down and Christmas draws nearer, dozens of shoppers stopped by Cooper's Seafood House in Scranton to stock up on their Christmas Eve dinner essentials.

Shoppers telling Newswatch 16 they were there for a variety of things, including Boston haddock, crab bisque, fried haddock, crab, snow crab, Dungeness crab, and lobster tails.

The tradition of eating seafood on Christmas eve stems from the Catholic faith. Catholics abstain from eating meat on Christmas Eve and opt for a seafood feast instead. For many, it's how they remember holidays past.

"My family, my mom and dad are passed away, and we've been doing this since we were little kids," said Mark Kleha of Troop. "It's tradition in my family to always have fish on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve."

Not only is at tradition for customers, but also for the Cooper family, and it's also one of their busiest days of the year.

"This is the best year we've had since we opened in 1948. Business is booming!" said Jack Cooper.

The seafood market at Cooper's is a family affair, bringing the entire family out to help customers prepare for their Christmas meal.

"We love it, you see here, this is all my family, so we have all my brothers, my sisters, my nieces, my nephews, we have a huge family, and we all get together, a lot of them of them come in from out of town, so it's actually a great time for us, we look forward to it," explained Cooper.

If you didn't get to stop by Cooper's for seafood this week, you still have another chance next week. The market will be open on December 30 and December 31 ahead of the New Year.

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