Christmas Morn

26 days till Christmas... Christmas has lots of memories for me... and my wife and girls.

When we moved to the US in December of 1978, I started a new tradition. I would get up at 4AM on Christmas day and wake my parents up. That is when we would have Christmas... at 4AM... in the morning... with the Santa's sleigh tracks still fresh on the roof.

That tradition continued over the years, even after I was married and had children. My wife, the children and I would go spend Christmas Eve at my parents' house. I would wake up at 4AM... my mom was usually ready by that time and we would wake up the children. Depending where my sister was, we would wait for her and her family too.

Then the fun began.

Dad would not move from his bed. He pretended to still be asleep with the grandchildren jumping up and down on the bed and all around him. We would then pull the covers back and start to drag him down the hallway to make it to the living room where the gifts were. He would make himself very heavy and the kids had a great time pulling and pushing on him. Eventually, he would grimace and jump quickly, scaring the kids by trying to get them. The kids would jump and scream in joy and then hug Pépé.

After all the gifts were opened... with the mandatory new underwear or Christmas package bow on the head... we would have the traditional French breakfast... Café au lait and croissant.

By that time, it was finally 6:30AM and we had all of Christmas day ahead of us... Tired, but still...

This year we will spend Christmas Eve at my mom's with my sister and her family, my niece from Colorado and her husband and son, and my mom. No more 4AM... no more dragging Dad out of bed... but the memories are still there and they are fun.