Today’s prompt is to describe your favorite Christmas tradition, new or old. I decided to share one of my favorite, old, Christmas traditions that could potentially change as time goes on. This tradition is already slowly changing, simply because my brother and I have grown older and are starting lives with our significant others; however it is an old tradition that I would like to incorporate with my future children one day. Here is a short narrative to describe this Christmas tradition…
As always, I am the first person up on Christmas Day. It is as if my body knows that Santa visited while I was asleep and blessed the family with presents. I look over to the clock and see it is 6 a.m. Try as I might, I cannot sit in my room any longer knowing that presents Santa personally placed under the tree are there… waiting… taunting me… screaming for me to open them.
“That’s it! The time has come. I need to wake everyone up!” And off I went to Ryan’s room.
“Ryan!! It’s time to get up! It’s Christmas,” I say while shaking him.
“Okay, okay. I’m getting up,” he says as he turns back over to sleep for as long as he could until I came back into the room begging for him to wake up again.
Knowing his typical game plan, I leave his room, sprint to Mommy and Daddy’s room, and jump on their bed with excitement.
“WAKE UP! WAKE UP! Time to open presents,” I scream as Daddy groans at the thought of waking up at 6 a.m.
“Okay, Kristin, we will get up. Wait with your brother at the top of the stairs,” Mommy says in a groggy tone, but sincerely as she knows I am excited.
I run back to Ryan’s room and wake him again. He slowly rolls out of bed and meets me at the top of the stairs as we sit and wait, eagerly, for my dad to give us the nod to go down.
When we finally get the nod, we rush down the stairs and peak around the corner to see presents all over the living room floor. Big presents wrapped with bows. Small presents tucked underneath the tree. Medium sized presents that have my name written all over them. What a rush… It is those last moments before tearing open presents I love the most. It is the absolute best feeling in the world. It reminds us of how truly lucky we are to have a family and presents to open on Christmas morning.
After opening every single present and emptying out my stocking, I close my eyes to relive the experience all over again inside my head. It’s officially over.
I may not remember every single gift I have received in the past and may receive in the future (should I remain fortunate enough to receive gifts), but I will ALWAYS remember the memories made from waiting with anticipation at the top of the stairs with my brother every single Christmas. That is a tradition I never want to phase out of our lives. This tradition is one that I hope my children establish as they grow older and begin opening presents on Christmas morning.
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