When I was a little girl, on Christmas morning, my siblings
and I would eagerly wake up and rush into my parents' bedroom,
often before the sun had even risen. Dressed in our Christmas pajamas,
we could barely contain our excitement.
There, the Christmas tree sparkled, and a pile of presents awaited us.
(Now I understand why they were so sleepy on Christmas morning!
They probably only got an hour of sleep prepping the night before).
My dad would pretend to reluctantly get out of bed to see if
Santa had come.
Then we’d hear the crackling sound of the fire in the fireplace and
Johnny Mathis singing Christmas songs at full volume
loud enough, the neighbors could probably hear.
This was all part of the lead-up to the most exciting moment of the year!
Then he'd come back to his bedroom where my mom and
all nine of us kids were waiting patiently.
Then he'd say, "Santa must have had a hole in his sack,
there are so many presents out there, I could hardly get
to the fireplace!"
I bet if you asked each of my siblings, this moment,
and those words would be one of their Christmas memories, too.
Well, Santa must have had a hole in his sack when he
came to the Nielson home, too!
As Jane would say, Christmas this year was a 10/10