The Good ole Days of Christmas

Its early and Im already up. I get just as excited about Christmas morning as any kid. I cant sleep, and then Im up early with anticipation. Ok, maybe that's due to all the sweets I ate last night at Mom and Dads but still.

As I sit here having my coffee and breakfast, old time memories flash through my mind. I remember how me and my siblings would open a few gifts on Christmas eve from friends and family and on Christmas morning we would jump out of bed before the sun came up. We would run down stairs to see what Santa brought us. It was always a surprise to know Santa actually thought I was good and left me toys. I never took for granted he would come anyway like kids do today. I really thought if I was bad, I wouldn't get anything.

As we would get to the den, there would be piles of gifts! Santa didn't wrap presents, he would just lay toys and bikes in separate areas for each of us. We always knew which pile was ours. It didn't really matter because we would end up playing with each others toys anyway. It was always so fun.
Then we would all pile in the station wagon and head to our Grandmothers house for dinner. I sure miss those days.

I have always tried to carry on that tradition with my daughter. The only difference is , Santa would wrap most of her presents with his own pretty (usually tacky) paper and leave only a couple bigger things unwrapped.

Things change when they get older. Once Santa was caught using OUR wrapping paper, the Santa situation begun to get harder to play off. Ashley must have been about 12 when she learned that we were actually Santa's. She looked up at me with a sweet little voice and said "well, can we still pretend there is a Santa?"

She is now 24 and Santa still leaves her surprises under the tree on Christmas morning. She lives out on her own but comes to stay with us a few days. She still has her old room and bed. She will be up in a few minutes and the fun will start. She will march down the hallway in her tacky pajamas and have that child like excitement when she enters the room. Later, we will head over to Nicks family for Christmas dinner. His parents passed away a few years ago and the boys still plan a big dinner just like their mom used to do. Its always delicious as we set around the table a talk more...About the good ole days.

 

"Go tell it on a mountain that Jesus Christ was born!"

Merry Christmas Every one!!