A Christmas Story, 2010

I'll admit that Christmas Eve was a busy night, with setting out Christmas cookies for Santa, spreading reindeer food on the driveway so Donner and Blitzen would have a snack while they waited, last-minute wrapping of gifts, and mentally preparing for Christmas morning, but I thought I had at least tidied up the family room before I went to bed.

Oddly, I was the first one up. I awoke at 6:30am, thought about going back to sleep, and then resigned myself to getting out of bed and (hopefully) catching some of the childrens' Christmas joy on video. I went downstairs to start the coffee and open the curtains, and nearly tripped on this:

I thought for certain I had blundered and left unwrapped gifts on the floor, until I looked closer and realized that two of the stockings appeared to be empty, with their innards strewn about the floor. Upon closer inspection, I saw that someone who shall remain unnamed (but who has a bedroom on the first floor) had unceremoniously dumped out the contents of Kate's and Claire's stockings. Luke's stocking, which clearly had uninteresting Matchbox cars and a truck coloring book in it, was untouched. I also noticed an assortment of candy wrappers next to the Barbie that had been in Claire's stocking.

I suspected that this midnight snack had filled the little belly of the child who had rummaged through Santa's gifts, and realized that I probably had plenty of time to make coffee and breakfast.

Sure enough, although Claire and Luke were understandably enthusiastic and excited about Christmas morning and all of its tidings, Kate was more difficult to rouse out of bed.

While attempting to wake Kate, Tim asked her if she had had any part in the stocking annihilation. She told him an engaging story about how she had missed seeing Santa, but that she had woken up when the clock said 4 and also 5, and that the reindeer food was all gone. She also mentioned that the stockings were so heavy that they had fallen down to the floor. He asked her if she had a snack of candy, and she admitted she had.

Not realizing that she had relayed the story to her father already, I asked her if she was the one who had opened all the stockings. She told me, "No, it wasn't me," with a smirk.

My favorite part of the story: the candy wrappers were from the Rolos in my stocking.

Prized Barbie clothes from Uncle Bob.

Slippers!

Santa Luke and his awesome 'twaktoh' book.

Luke proved to be surprisingly adept at opening gifts. He would tear off a small piece of paper and hand it to the closest person, demanding, "bin", meaning, "kindly throw this in the garbage bin for me". Adorable.