I can remember those Christmas’s like it was yesterday. I was so young and so harmless. Our family tradition was to always go to Christmas Eve service. Like any other service I wasn’t paying attention and just waiting until I got tired enough and my dad would give in. He would throw me up on his shoulders. “I’m queen of the world.” I would think while I was up so high. My mom always laughed when everyone was singing one song respectfully and I was singing another song like I was in a music video.

Like any other kid, I would pretend to be asleep so my dad would carry me to the car and strangely wake up from my 20 minute nap after he carried me into the house. After we ate a magnificent feast we would sit around the tree and pray that Santa would have a safe ride that night. We would then pick out a present and open it. Our smiles as wide as our faces put even bigger smiles on my parent’s faces when we opened our present. After we calmed down I was tucked into bed by my mom. Like any other night, she sung me a song to get me sleepy. I remember the words “When nighttime comes and my prayers are said I go to sleep in my little pine bed, and God takes care of me. “ Her sweet voice forced me to close my eyes and fall into a deep sleep.

I couldn’t help waking up at 6:00 am every Christmas morning. I knew my mom and dad wouldn’t wake up until at least 6:30 so I spent my time sneaking downstairs and just sitting in my room, smiling. Once it was 6:30, I went into my sister’s room and woke her up to go jump on my parents bed. We waited outside their door and counted to three. “One, two, THREE!” we screamed. We pushed open our parent’s door and ran to their sides. “Get up, get up!” We shouted over and over. The sound of our voices woke them up instantly. We pulled them out of bed and dragged them downstairs. We all gasped at what we saw under our Christmas tree.

Open presents was always fun as my mom watched and cooked a delicious breakfast. I felt like the luckiest girl in the world to have the family I had at that time. Everything was about family which made me the happiest. It wasn’t the presents that mattered to me anymore. It was being with my loving family that would do anything for me. I’ve always loved telling stories about Christmas time because it’s the most interesting thing of all. My family is what mattered. I love Christmas time because everything is perfect.