We rushed home. You could feel the excitement in the air; sweet and tasty. We began to bake. The kids made oatmeal cookies and brownies while I got started on my pecan rolls and pies. The stereo was a-carolling. We just waited for Pappa. When he finally arrived the party began. We ate well and did our traditional tricks and shenanigans. Before we knew it it was 9pm. Time for the elves to hit it. Boo was beSIDE himself. He was spinning around and singing "Santa Claus is comin' to town!" and doing this "dance". I think it was a cross between jumping jacks and an Irish jig.
"Go to bed Sweetie."
Cheech and I poured another glass and waited.
The bottle was empty and Ben was still dashing back and forth between bedrooms. We had switched to "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" with a chorus of "Jingle Bells" to give a little spice. My cheer was dog tired but I waited. Boo was flicking his lights like Morse code to signal Santa (and I quote) "It's all GOOOOOD!" His eyes glowed and he was so happy, he just couldn't stop smiling and laughing.
"It's time Boo. G'night" I wondered whether Santa had more wine. We waited and I poured a Baileys.
Finally, that Christmas calm arrived. I went up to check and found Boo asleep on top of the covers, in his new Christmas robe, jammies and slippers...all ready to go. Sissy was under her typical 857 blankets snoring away and Winston? He was busy trying to figure out how he was going to eat the brownies left for Santa. Bad boy.
We loaded everything under the tree, stuffed the stockings and ate the brownies. No wine. Milk. Yummy.
At 5am Cheech and I were giggling over who would get up first. We of course negated ourselves. At 6:05 we heard him. Those happy crunchy carpet footsteps.
"He was here! HE WAS HERE!"
We smiled. Let it begin.
Sissy was still buried under her armada of comfort. Winston began with breakfast and a quick trip outside. We gave him his gift first; a squeaky hedgehog. He tore into the paper, showed it to all of us proudly and then began attacking it. Brownies? What brownies? Who needs brownies when you have this WAY cool fuzzy noisy thing. hrmph hrmph! wag-wag.
Ben was perched smack dab in front of the tree guarding the gifts and making (hopefully) enough noise to get his sister's butt out of bed. It failed so when we "weren't looking" he dashed up the stairs flipped on both the hall light and her bedroom light and began to jump on her bed: "Maddie get up GET UP! It's Christmas! It's FINALLY HERE!"
Poor girl, she stumbled out and down the steps. Her hair was atomically staticy. Her bed wrinkles were deep and she was still sleepy-warm. She saw the lights and the gifts and you could almost hear her motor jump to life.
It never ceases to amaze me how quickly all that wrap-work is shredded (Just like that show: Destroyed in seconds). The kids laughed and squealed through it all. When it was over there was nothing left. Not even Winston. He got lost underneath all the boxes and paper. We just heard the squeak of the hedgehog and some soft crinkling.
By the end of the day, everyone was pooped. The kids took their booty upstairs to make room and in the process passed right out in the middle of it. Cheech and I tucked them in and went to bed. We all slept like logs.
Very Merry.
