In the Wee Hours

National Blog Posting Month – November 2014 – Huge

Prompt – What is your favorite holiday memory? (And yes, you can pick any holiday, including your birthday.)

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I admit some of my fondest childhood memories are of Christmas. I was a clueless kid. All I knew was that Santa was coming and (more importantly) there was going to be a ton of presents for me when I got up.

Pre-teen materialism at its finest!

But the fun part was the 5am wake-up, when my brother and I would sneak into the living room and see all the presents tucked under the tree. We’d have our blankets with us and we’d stake out our corner for present opening. Then (as provided in the Higgins Household Christmastime Codes of Conduct) we would carefully remove our stockings from the mantel and dig in.

There was tons of candy, inevitably stuck to the inside of the stocking because ‘individually-wrapped’ wasn’t quite a thing then. There were a few toys. The occasional random pack of batteries, a harbinger of things to come.

Not a lot, of course. It was only the stocking after all. But enough to keep us occupied until our parents got up at a more reasonable hour.

(My mouth just started watering for the cinnamon candies that I loved to get so much! Now I’m allergic and won’t ever get to eat them again, most likely.)

The Christmas morning stocking routine was what we did every year until I was in college. After that, I’d sleep until 10 unless someone woke me up.

I’ve tried to bring the stocking routine into our household now, but it’s failed thus far. There are a myriad of reasons for that, but I suspect would could make it work if we tried. But it wouldn’t be the same. It makes me a little sad. I’m hopeful that Christmas will bring similar fond memories to our son when he gets older, but our Christmases have always been such a disaster that I don’t know if that’s possible.

Here’s hoping!