Twas The Night Before....

Santa had a narrow escape in our house. He was nearly caught by an overly excited six year old at 1am. Mrs Claus had collapsed into bed after wrapping and assembling for hours. There may also have been a glass or two of Port in the equation.

Santa was just finishing up the stockings (or playing PS3) when down the stairs he heard the creep of little feet.
Santa had brought scooters which were wrapped only by a ribbon and bows, so all would be revealed at a glance.
Luckily the husband is fast on his feet so he intercepted her mid-stairs.

"I'm just going to see if Santa came."

"He didn't yet - so let's go back to bed so he can."

"Well, I'll just check..."

"No you won't."

"Why not?"

As you may imagine - this conversation went on for some time as the six year old tried to move downstairs and the husband tried to move her back towards her bedroom. He prevailed.

Then he woke me up.

"What will we do? She's never going to go back to sleep."

I was thinking about how much I would like a life size cut out of the Grinch for the hallway....
As we discussed our options - I found myself thinking about my parents and their Christmas Eve adventures. It was one of those full circle moments. Where the magic was tangible.

We decided one of us would need to sleep with the six year old to prevent further nocturnal wanderings but as we went in - we found her fast asleep.
We decided to risk it and sleep more comfortably in our own bed. It worked out.
She didn't wake again until 8am. (Now that's a Christmas miracle.)

Watching your child's delight on Christmas morning is a glorious thing. Over the next two hours we opened gifts, ate breakfast, spent some time thinking about others with less than us. It was lovely.

In true second child style - the baby got into the present thing with ease. She selected what she would like to open (Uncannily often gifts for her) and was more interested in the gift than the wrapping.

Santa brought me a sewing machine. I have this mental image of me making the kids clothes out of old curtains while singing - Julie Andrews style.
First, I have to read the manual and learn to play the guitar.
I'll keep you posted....