Holiday Tradition

We can all remember as children laying in bed every Christmas eve waiting to hear those

sleigh bells coming, while we pretended to be sleeping. Pretend was the best we could do,

because the anticipation of Christmas morning wouldn't allow us to sleep for real.

I remember my Granny trying all kinds of trickery to coax me to sleep.

Like saying she had just saw on the news that santa had already been spotted in our town,

or the year she threatened to actually put me on the naughty list at the last moment.

Even the threat of coal for Christmas didn't seem to help me get to sleep any faster.

Of course, now I know why it was such a big deal, she wanted

to throw my gifts under the tree and get some sleep. She knew that I'd be up at the crack of dawn

wanting to rip through all the goodies that Santa had left for me. The rest of the day would be spent

assembling, insert batteries, and reading instruction manuals. All while taking pictures, cooking the Christmas

feast, and talking on the phone with relatives. I look back on it now and lovingly call it "Christmas Chaos".

Being a parent myself, and drawing on my childhood experience, I've devised a strategy for my own Christmas Chaos.

First of all, I would never threaten with the naughty list. I think that's a bit unfair just for

not being able to sleep due to all the excitement. Kids wait all year for Santa, it's their big day.

So here it is, the plan I've devised:

On Christmas Eve, right after dinner, I let my daughter open all her gifts from her dad, and myself.

That's it. Simple, huh?

So let me explain my logic... I found that letting her open the gifts from us, keeps her busy all evening.

She goes to bed tired, and not nearly half as wound up as I was as a kid. She gets a good night's sleep and

wakes up Christmas morning ready for round two.

Now, you may think that it takes away from Christmas morning... Not Hardly!

It by no means takes away from the spirt of Christmas either, if anything it makes it even more special for her.

Santa always brings her special gifts that we never thought of!

It works for us, and we've adapted it as our very own special holiday tradition.