Six Days Before Christmas

 We are now less than a week until that magical day of Christmas. I always figured these six days are the longest days of the year.

When I was a kid these last days until Christmas I would look under the tree to see how many presents were laying there. Of course, on Christmas Eve I would count the amount of presents I had because I knew on Christmas morning there would be more because Santa Claus came.

These six days I would look to see if we would have any snow for Christmas. I was disappointed every year because we never did have snow. There were times we would have snow before Christmas or several days after Christmas but the snow would not be on Christmas Day itself. I remember watching Dean Martin Christmas Show which was always from California. I always thought it was silly because I knew they would never have snow. Actually my favorite Christmas Show was with Andy Williams. I enjoyed his singing and stories along with having the Osmond Brothers on.

I found that Christmas Eve was the longest night of the year. Most years I did not get much sleep because I was looking forward to Santa Claus coming down the Chimney. Sometimes I would wake up just after midnight; I had a hard time getting back to sleep. I kept my eyes closed because I figured if Santa Claus knew that I was awake he would skip our house and not leave any presents. I slept a lot better when I knew he had already come and gone.

Our parents told us we could not wake them up until I believe 7 am on Christmas morning to open the presents. I can tell you we were never a second later than 7 am. Besides the presents I always looked forward to the stockings as well. There were always candy, cookies, oranges, and other assorted of goodies. Usually there were additional one or two small gifts as well.

The one thing we always found funny or different at least was every year our Aunt Marian would send clothes for Christmas. The problem was she never knew what size to get each of us. She must have at her own formula or just guessed on the sizes. Sometimes the clothes for my older Dick would fit for my younger brother Jack. The age difference between them was just over four years. Mother would take the clothes that did not fit and go to the store, and exchange them. It was Ok with Jack and I. It was like we got more Christmas presents after Christmas.

Another thing was we always had a very tall tree because we had a very high ceiling. Where we put the tree we could still look outside to the harbor. It did take some time to decorate the tree but it was always enjoyable to see. Dick being the tallest of us three boys always decorated the tree near and at the top. I think the best year decorating the tree was when I was able to finally put the star on the top. There is nothing like Christmas Day.

Have yourself and your whole family a wonderful weekend leading up to Christmas.