Since I'm home at the house where I grew up and I'm reminiscing about
my childhood memories, I'd thought I'd start a topic about Holiday
traditions.  Things you and your families did EVERY year.

Here are a bunch of things that come to memory for me:

Upon waking up, my sister and I would find that we'd been covered with
Xmas stickers.  Stickers on the door, the counters, our arms, pjs, in
our hair.  It was Santa's little practical joke on us.

Also whoever woke up first, it was FORBIDDEN under penalty of death for
anyone that wasn't an adult to go downstairs.  All my brother and
sister and I could do was peer hungrily between the rails of the
banister at our stockings that bulged with presents.  We'd also try to
see if the cookies and hot chocolate had been touched too.

of course there's pouncing on mom and dad, but NO CHILD was allowed to
go downstairs at all until we were all dressed and waiting
patiently(yeah right) at the top of the stairs.  Then we STILL had to
wait while Dad got the video camera ready.

Now, was it a mad dash down the stairs?  Oh no, the YOUNGEST went
first, which was my sister, followed by me and then my brother.
Stocking gifts were opened first, all presents under the tree were off
limits until after breakfast.

Of course there have been variations through the years, like I know at
least once we came down in our pjs, and there was another time we also
had left carrots for the reindeer, etc.

After the stocking gifts were opened, we cleaned up, got dressed if we
hadn't already, and helped mom with breakfast.  I remember wolfing down
my breakfast because afterwards meant the presents under the tree could
be opened!!  But nooooooooooo, we still couldn't start until we were
sitting in a designated spot, all the presents had been sorted by
person, and we HAD to have a notebook to write down which relative had
given us what for when we wrote thank you notes later.  (I rememeber
Mom always getting on my case about thank you notes)

Then the ripping and tearing and screaming could commence....

Now in our family, there's a saying when it comes to presents, for any
occasion.

DON'T TRUST THE BOX!!

Oooooooh, I could start a whole new topic on this one.  It's my dad's
fault for starting it.  He would always come up with new, creative and
devious ways to wrap presents.  As kids, I rememeber getting a big box
and unwrapping it to find another box, which would lead to yet another
box, and so on and so on until I unwrap a piece of paper sending me on
a treasure hunt through the backyard. Then there was the time I
unwrapped a computer game that I remembered receiving last year.  It
wasn't until later when I opened the box to find a wrapped present
INSIDE it!  Grrrrr!!!  So whenever you get a present you have to
inspect it very carefully to see if it had been tampered with, or open
the box to make sure the gift is really what the box says it is.

Dad got me good last year by giving me what I thought was another VCR.
I was slightly disappointed because i already have two, and it wasn't
until hours later when dad told me to open it and connect it when I
found that the box contained a bunch of wrapped presents.  He later
sent me a picture of me with the box of presents and the look of DEATH
on my face.

A few years ago, my sister went nuts with the packing tape because I
found a gift next to the tree for my father just COVERED in packing
tape.  And to the top was attached a plastic butter knife with a note
saying "Must use this to open"  Can you imagine openign a present
covered in packing tape with nothing but a plastic butter knife?
hehehehehehehehehehehehe, oh the ANGST we would cause.

My brother once wrapped 50 CD-RW each of them INDIVIDUALLY and told my
sister she had to unwrapped every single one to find the surpise.  The
surprise was there was no surprise except the look on her face
unwrapping 50 cds.  hehehehe, man if looks could KILL.

I think the best one was when my sister stole my mattress.  Yes, the
entire mattress off my bed was dragged down to our truck, put in the
cab, my present put on top of it, the cab locked with a big sign that
said, "Do not open until Dec. 25th"

I should also mention that these antics result in laughing, screaming,
LOTS of angst, pictures of family members with the look of DEATH and my
mom shouting things like, "Stop trying to kill your sister." or "Will
you stop choking your father, please?"

The big family party was always on Xmas eve, so the rest of the day was
spent ooohing and ahhing over our presents.  Then the day after Xmas
Mom would start getting on our cases about writing thank you notes.
Printing on the computer was not allowed, and they had to be written in
CURSIVE, which I really hated. I stopped writing cursive when I was 12
because I couldn't read my own writing.

Over the years things have changed a little bit.  Now we're all over
18, so even though we tried sneaking downstairs on the grounds that we
were officially adults, that didn't work.  Every year, it's a game to
see who can cause the most ANGST when it comes to presents. Somehow I
don't think that will ever stop.  hehehehehehe

Ah well, that's plenty.  Can't wait to see what other people write.
Happy holidays,

Kristi