Lazy Santa

I came across an interesting variation on the Santa tradition the other day. Now, in my family, Santa always wrapped the gifts he brought. Well, unless the gift was too oddly shaped or too large to wrap. Or there was that one time when he worked extra late trying to procure for me a Cabbage Patch Doll, and thus, he ran out of time and was unable to wrap such a prized gift. Overall though, Santa's gifts were wrapped. Well, now it seems that maybe after he wrapped our gifts, Santa got a little lazy (or he ran out of tape) and didn't wrap ANY of the gifts at other children's homes. None. Jeanne's house is one of them. That seems so very odd to me, and got me thinking about Christmas through the years.
I don't think I would have enjoyed having all of my presents unwrapped under the tree...where's the anticipation in that? The rule in our house was that mom was not to disturbed before 7:30 and there had better be coffee brewing when she came to the living room. My brother and I used to be up by 6 on Christmas morning. We'd pass the time by trying to guess what could be hidden beneath all of that brightly colored paper and trim. We'd line up our presents as we tried to decide which one we wanted to open first. This is how most of my childhood Christmas mornings passed. Most, but not all.
Which brings me to one of my favorite memories of Christmas. I must have been in third grade which would make my brother 1 or 2. We had gone delivering presents to relatives on Christmas Eve as always. Grandma Gladys had allowed us to open our presents from her while we were at her house that year. It was quite a treat for us to get to open a present on Christmas Eve. Though I can't remember what my present was, I will never forget what Robbie's was. A Little People red race car and yellow towing truck Set. The towing truck had the truck and a trailer where the ramp moved up and down to load the race car on. Now, why do I remember such details you ask? Well, because that was the ONLY Christmas where my parents had to wake me up to start Christmas. You see, my little brother arose early Christmas morning per his usual habit. He went downstairs, passed the Christmas tree with all of Santa's presents wrapped so enticingly below it's branches, and into the kitchen where he happily played with his race car and tow truck. My mom was afraid that he would grow tired of the toy, find the Christmas tree and tear into the bounty before I woke up. So, for the first and only time ever- I was aroused from my sugarplum dreams by my mom. As I went down the stairs, I could hear Robbie still playing with his treasure in the kitchen. Now, had Santa been lazy and left his presents unwrapped, who knows if I would have this silly memory to share with all of you. So, in our house, it is my hope that Santa continues to wrap all of his presents. I'll even send him some tape if he runs out. :-) Because, for me, the magic of Christmas truly lies in the family traditions. So whatever your Christmas rituals may be, I hope that you find joy and happiness this holiday season.