In Christmas past
As Christmas approaches I find myself thinking about the Christmas’s I spent as a child and it is a spirited recollection of Santa, family and of course the presents. It seemed Christmas would never come and when it did it was the best time of year.
The snow would be falling and the sense of magic would be in the air. Every year was similar but all were just exciting. Tossing and turning in my bed the night before I would try to listen for reindeer huffs on the roof and Santa’s jolly soul coming in the front door. The cookies and carrots would be waiting and although I would try so hard to keep my eyes open I would soon wake up and flee from my bed with Christmas spirit.
My parents in the next room over would be awakened by screams and giggles that it was Christmas and everyone needed to get up at that very second. My dad, groggy and half awake would recommend my sister and I go get him orange juice but we need not touch anything under the tree. We would bounce down the stairs to find a mountain of presents awaiting for us and have to hold back our initial reaction to go hog wild and head for the kitchen. We would bring back his juice and beg him to get up.
My parents as I think back must have thought the whole morning out before we awoke and thought it may be funny to just see how long we would last until we got too anxious to stand it anymore and dive under the tree. Not only did my dad need juice he also would need to drive to the photo studio he owned across town and pick up the video camera before we could open anything.
He would get the camera and come home and then proceeded to spend more time to set it all up. As he got the camera ready my sister and I would sit and stare at him from the stairwell with smoke coming from our ears. Finally after the initial Christmas wait we would be allowed to come into the living room and find our stockings. This was our typical morning and now as I look back it is easy to know why now as an adult I am always the first one down the stairs and under the tree.
Although, my kids are still small and do not realize what Christmas really is I strongly believe that even when they do I will beat them to the tree. Now that I am the parent instead of the child Christmas to me is always one of the best times of the year. I dearly hope now that it is my turn to be the parent I will make memories for my kids that they will carry on to their children and they too will remember their Christmas past.
