It’s Christmas day, 2009. May your day be filled with family, friends, love and happiness. I hope Santa was good to you.

In my childhood, the anticipation of opening up presents on Christmas morning made if difficult to sleep the night before. My brother and I would always be awake very early on Christmas morning. Tactfully waking up our parents so that we could have at the cornucopia of presents that lie under the Christmas tree was a yearly ritual.

After several years of being woken up around 5:00 AM by kids who could not contain their excitement, our parents started the tradition of opening up presents on Christmas eve – just after returning home from the Christmas eve mass that we attended as a family. It worked out great for everyone – my brother and I got to open our gifts without that last grueling wait of anticipation for one more (sleepless) night, and Mom and Dad got to sleep in the next morning.

Those were magical times – the joy of opening up gifts in my youth and then playing with new toys for the first time. Having Christmas break off from school to enjoy new toys, sledding, and playing in the snow was always a joyous experience. My memories of playing with Star Wars toys and Atari video games are probably the strongest from those days.

I miss the magic that Christmas once held for a much younger me, but there are still good times to be had and plenty to be thankful for and celebrate.

With a few family gatherings out of the way already, there will be more family coming over throughout the day today. In-laws, nieces, and nephews will be joining us for their Christmas presents that await under our tree, and what will surely be an amazing pork dinner prepared by my wife, the fabulous Mrs. H. She started preparing the meat two days ago and the delicious aroma has already filled the air as it slowly cooks.

What are your favorite Christmas memories from childhood? What are your plans for today? Was Santa good to you? Please take a moment and share a bit of your Christmas joy with me in a comment. :)

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