Christmas Past

When I was a little girl, I remember getting pizza on Christmas Eve (It's still my favorite food), driving through neighborhoods looking at all the lights (& hearing mom say, "oooh!!" repeatedly), listening to Dad's monotone voice read the Christmas story out of the Bible (trying not to kill myself before Santa came), & then getting to open 1 gift...sometimes (if we were "lucky") 2 (somehow the only gifts we got on Christmas eve were stinkin' pajama's and/or new slippers).

Chelle...Remember how after we had our "surprise" new pj's on (if it was a 2 present year we had on our new slippers too), we would climb up into your top bunk and we would look for Rudolph's nose in the sky..?? Even after you knew Rudolph wasn't really out there, you still pointed at make believe red lights in the sky to keep me believing.

(Now I know this wasn't done to preserve my innocent childhood memories, but merely to give Chelle and Ryan something else to make fun of me about..."Why did Dad drive to the hospital with pollen in his eye?")

We would all get as little sleep as possible and then Travis and Ryan would wake us up and we would all sneak past Mom & Dad's bedroom door, & out to see if Santa had really come..!!

After confirmation of several gifts being left behind & the stockings being overfilled, we would all sneak back to our rooms...and when we couldn't wait any longer (probably 5 minutes or less) we would all run down the hallway & jump in bed with Mom & Dad.

You needed to be one (1) of the fastest runners or you wouldn't get a good spot in the bed (a bad spot = closest to Dad...who would breathe on you or do his best to cut off your air supply when he put his arm around you...either way, death seemed closer than the night before during the Christmas story).

After what seemed like an eternity of being being smashed to death, someone would start to sing that song..."There are 9 in the bed and the little one said roll over"...I remember trying to get as close to Mom as possible, so I could stay the longest..!!

Mom & dad would get up and get their robes on...Mom always had one of those tent style robes that zipped all the way up the front. Dad had the same navy blue thing my entire childhood. Why didn't he ever get forced to open a "surprise" new robe on Christmas Eve..??

We'd all make our way to the living room and Dad would pick someone to pass out presents. We always looked at our stockings first and then we one by one opened our gifts. I personally don't ever remember feeling like I didn't get tons of stuff. There was always the obligatory pj's, slippers, & new clothes.

But Mom always made sure each of opened something super special. One year we all got Cabage Patch Dolls. Another year I got a pink & grey 10-speed & another year Chelle and I got jewelry boxes (I don't remember what anyone else got special...cuz I at the time I couldn't have cared less about any gift that wasn't going to my room).

After all the gifts were opened and the bottom of the tree was empty again, we'd all haul our loot to our bedrooms and Mom & Dad started on breakfast.

After coffee cake or waffles, we'd each put on our newest favorite outfit, grab our newest favorite toy, load up in the family van & head to Grandma Joyce's house for dinner and present comparison with the cousins.

When it was time to go home, we'd all say our goodbye's & load back up for the long ride home (The ride home from Grandma's used to seem SOO long, but when we'd pass the Shamrock sign I knew we were getting close).

And just like that...Christmas was over until the next year.