Christmas Eve

Tonight we are having family friends over for a buffet dinner to celebrate the season. "Buffet" is a French word that means, "Get up and get it yourself". It will continue a long line of Johnson Christmas Eve celebrating. Soon after Santa stopped actually coming to my house, the Johnson rule was: all presents could be opened on Christmas eve. Years later I realized why that rule was firmly established.

As a child I would get so excited on Christmas Eve that I could not sleep, postponing any covert Christmas activity my parents needed to do until late into the night. Then of course I would be up with the sun begging my folks to open presents. My Dad is one of the great proponents of sleeping in late on any holiday, so it was more than a sacrifice for him to be up late setting up the surprise and then up early to "enjoy" it. Soon he established the rule that let us celebrate into the night and sleep in the next morning.

That worked pretty well until I got married. The Asburys celebrated traditional Christmas Day. Sandi's younger brother was too young to understand the joys of sleeping in on Christmas morning. We would celebrate with my folks into the night on the 24th, then get up very early and drive from Dallas to Houston to be there for and early morning Asbury celebration.

Basically working nights and being a showbiz kind of guy, I developed a taste for sleeping in. Particularly on holidays. However, by the time Sandi's brother was old enough to celebrate a late morning Christmas our boys were born. I became my Dad, staying up late to assemble the toys and waking up early to "enjoy" them.

This year may be the one where all has come full circle. Since the boys have been back home they have stayed up late and slept in till noon most days. However, through the years Sandi and I have been waking up earlier and earlier as a general rule. I have the feeling this year I will be waking the boys up early to open presents on Christmas day....
As you were,
Jay