All I Want For Christmas is...Everything!!!

When I was a kid, I was pretty sneaky, or so I thought... I had to believe in Santa, and if I didn't, my mom said he wouldn't come to me. But I believed...kind of, because I never once found out how and where they would hide our presents!

I admit, I was a bit spoiled. Every year, I had a tall order for what I wanted. If my mom insisted there was a Santa, I figured I can get everything I wanted. And most of the time, I did. My list was not outrageous, but it did consist of numerous things. Literally I would get about 15 presents most of the time. My parent's were not rich either, but I had no clue that they were paying for it. I just figured, I must have been good enough for it.

It was exciting, very exciting, on Christmas Eve night. I would look out the window for Rudolph's red nose, and I thought I even saw it. Then I would end up falling asleep and I would, every year, get up in the middle of the night to discover first what we got. Being the oldest of a crew of four, I didn't always wake the others because they would be too loud. I never got caught, that I can remember, as I crawled on the floor quietly to inspect the area in the dark. A sibling or two would end up almost spoiling it, for I did threaten them if they made a single sound. After I judged which was mine and who's was who's, I would go back to bed. I would even go as far as unwrapping a gift or too, and putting it back together!

My parent's must of known something was up, because every year they tried to fool us by putting a weird name or symbol on the package so we didn't know who it belonged to. One year, I got up as usual, and went to the living room to find one huge taped up box! That was it, all the gifts inside. It caught me by surprise, and I wasn't able to open it to sneak a peek. I never told my kids about this, because I didn't want to give them any ideas. But nevertheless, I have been careful and now I don't care. If they want to spoil their surprise, they can. I just want them to wait until a decent time in the morning to do it. Man, I must be getting old!

I think about how great my youth was, all those presents, really never lasted. Not even the doll houses I had, or the stereo or even the TV. I thought that is how many presents a person was supposed to get if they were good. It took me until my senior year, when Jason came to visit Christmas morning and he saw what we got for Christmas. I would never forget how he shocked he was. He being the youngest of twelve came from a humble home, his gifts were few and practical. I felt bad. But he didn't say much. Then when Erick had his first Christmas, I went totally overboard! It was stupid! Because after watching the video tape, Jason and Erick opening gift after gift, it was apparent that it was too much. So over the years, it took me to realize that it's not about the gifts, that prove how much you deserve it. So this year, the kids are getting three gifts each, using the three wise men as a example. That is the way it should be, remembering it's someone's birthday, not theirs and that they are lucky to get anything at all. I just love Christmas...