5 Days of Christmas Memories

The one hard and fast rule in my house for Christmas morning was that you could not wake up Mom and Dad. They didn't care how early we got up, but we had to wait for them to get themselves up and ready before we could open presents. The wait was always excruciating. "Santa" usually left out one of our bigger gifts all assembled and ready to play with. Plus we got a special treat in our stockings: mini boxes of sugar cereal. The only day of the year when Fruit Loops and chocolate coins were an acceptable breakfast. When it was time to open presents, we would go around in a circle and take turns. I like doing that because it prolongs the process and you can watch what everyone else got. How do you do presents in your house?

I just remembered that there was a year when I was in college that my parents managed to get up and dressed before any of the rest of us did. You know everyone is getting older when the parents actually have to drag the kids out of bed to open presents!

Comments

Th. said…
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Did you know you are occasionally linked to from Segullah?
12/21/2007 12:42 AM
Kristeee said…
We weren't allowed to get up and leave our rooms before mom and dad were up. And going downstairs before being dressed with our beds made AND the okay from dad was expressly forbidden. We had to wait at the top of the stairs while they made sure everything was set and put on Christmas music. That way they got to see our faces when we saw our stuff. All my friends always thought my parents were freaks though, for not letting us get up at 5 and going crazy.
12/21/2007 9:58 AM
Jenny said…
I love all your Christmas posts. I feel like I should tell you since I haven't commented at all.

We weren't allowed out of our rooms until our parents came and got us. Sometimes my brothers would sneak us our stockings and tell us what the tree etc looked like. All my friends thought our parents were freaks too. I guess this is the common bond that unites us bloggers....

My husband's parents made them eat breakfast before they could open presents. I think that's cruel.
12/21/2007 10:39 AM
Braden said…
Yeah, opening presents in a circle is where it's at. My parents now often hand out two at a time, which is lame.
12/21/2007 11:14 AM
Zillah said…
My grandpa is German, and he always fights with my English grandma over whether or not presents should be opened on Christmas Eve (he's for, she's adamantly against), and the argument has carried over into my family. So, Christmas Eve, we each open one present, though my dad fights for all of them. Then we sleep upstairs, and get up extra early and attempt to wake up my parents by pounding on the floor and "singing" the Messiah at the top of our lungs. Then my dad rings some bells my mom bought from an Amish carriage/bell maker, and we slide down the stairs. We each have a particular place where our stocking is set out with presents from Santa, and after those have been duly examined, we take turns opening presents, though since my youngest sister always gets the most, we end up watching her after our presents run out (all the while, my mom and my dad fight over whether we should listen to Bach's Christmas Oratorio or Bing Crosby). Then we eat cinnamon rolls and bacon and eggs and then collapse.
12/21/2007 5:15 PM
Earth Sign Mama said…
And now a word from the Elder of the Tribe: Before we could open presents we had to go out and milk the wretched cows (it took two hours.) Now everyone say "Oh, poor thing..." and get on with the holiday sharing.
12/21/2007 9:18 PM
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