One of the traditions we’ve had in our family is the
Christmas Eve opening of the stockings. As a kid, I remember getting a few
pieces of chocolate, a few mixed nuts still in the shell, and an orange. It was
a great time. Of course the anticipation for the next morning was great.
Growing up, there were usually a couple of gifts each and we
couldn’t wait to open the brightly wrapped treasures. Probably the most
memorial gift for me was a snow cone machine shaped like a snowman. The kit
came with a couple of plastic cups that I filled with water and placed in the
freezer. A few hours later I was in business.
The ice block was placed in the snowman’s head and pressed
down with his hat. I turned a crank on his back and shaved ice appeared in his
stomach. The kit was complete with several bottles of flavors and paper cones.
My brother and I ate most of them, but being the entrepreneur that I am, I sold
some to the neighborhood kids.
As I write this, my kids are taking turns loading goodies in
one another’s stockings. We will then go, one at a time and choose one thing
from our stocking. We will repeat this until everyone has emptied his or her
stocking. When the kids were small, they would put several individual pieces of
candy in the stockings. It was forbidden to take more than one item from the stocking
per trip, so the process could take a long time.
The kids are telling me it’s my turn to load the stockings
so I’d better go. It’s already near 10:30 and I hope to get to bed sometime
before morning. Santa will appreciate not being placed in a holding pattern
around our house, waiting for us to go to bed.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all Goodnight!
No comments:
Post a Comment