The girls, Skylar and Savanna, find themselves silent for a long ten minutes. They are sitting on the window nook in Savanna's bedroom watching the white snowflakes hit the ground and fill up their backyard. It's December 24th, 2013, a special day in the bright household. The fireplace is filling the living room with the warmth that was needed on this freezing winter day. A grandmother is in the kitchen baking more cookies than you could ever imagine. The cookies were filling the house with a warm and heavenly smell making my stomach growl more than it was before. The only thing racing through my mind is how I could steal a cookie without Grandma seeing it. As always Grandmother is wearing her favorite apron that is white with black and gold lettering saying “Grandma's kitchen made with love, 24 hours, grandkids welcome, meals and memories made here.” There is not a single time you could catch her in the kitchen baking without it.

 Father is bundled up on the black leather couch placed in the corner of the living room with a blue sherpa blanket. Grandpa is sitting on the black recliner near the window with a red and white blanket that says Cardinals on it real big for the St.Louis Cardinals. In his left hand, he is holding his book that has 1,000-word searches on it and a pen in his right hand. I never understood how he found those word searches fun but he has over half the book done. The movie How The Grinch Stole Christmas plays on our tv every Christmas Eve. I wonder if Grandpa and Father ever get sick of watching this movie every year. 

Mother is running around the house cleaning for the 100th time this week. Mom was always very specific when it came to cleaning for the holidays. Even if everything is spotless she continues to go over it. I remind her multiple times during the week of Christmas that the house looks nothing less than perfect. My sister and I spend most of the day on Christmas Eve in each other's room since Grandpa and Father are in the living room watching a movie and always yell if we try talking when it's playing. Usually, we find ourselves playing rope with our puppy Emma making time go by faster. 

Christmas eve always seems so long because all I can think about is the present under the tree the next morning. Every year on the 24th we have the same dinner that is cooked by Grandma. It is her special meatloaf with a cute design of ketchup on top with a side of mashed potatoes and green beans. That has always been Grandpa's favorite. Around five pm Grandma calls my sister and I down to help set the table. I always put the plates out and my sister follows behind me putting the silverware on each side of the plates. Grandma hollers to the rest that Christmas Eve dinner is ready. Mother, Father, Grandpa, Grandma, Sister, and I all take a seat at the table starting our dinner off the way we do every time. Every one of us puts our hands in praying for form and Mother starts it off and we all follow. “God is great, and God is good, let us thank Him for our food; By His blessings, we are fed, Give us Lord, our daily bread. Amen.” Usually, we do not talk much at the dinner table unless it's giving our thanks or Grandpa saying how good the food is. 

After taking the time to let our stomachs settle from such a big dinner the clock hits 7 pm. Around this time we start gathering around the living room getting ready for our favorite part of the day. The smell of the fresh-baked cookies is still rambling around the home. In the corner by our sliding door that takes you to the backyard is our Christmas tree. My sister and I spend lots of time decorating the tree and making it look perfect. Under the tall white tree with red and gold ornaments you will see a tree skirt and on top of that is the book The Night Before Christmas. The book that holds the biggest memories. 

My Mother, Father, and Grandmother are all sitting on the couch and my Grandfather is on the reclining chair. My sister and I sit on the fuzzy grey carpet that splits the couch and the recliner up. With the book in my sister's left hand, she opens it up and starts reading the first page. With a crackle in her voice she says “Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse: the stockings were hung by the chimney with care In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.” Before I knew it we were on the second page and it was my turn to read. My Father had his phone in his hand recording every little second of this special time for the Bright family. No matter how embarrassing that was to read I knew before it was too late I would see right on my Fathers Facebook page with the caption “Just another year reading this on Christmas Eve” and of course he added the #bightfamily at the end. My sister and I continued to read every other page until the story was completely over. We always shared the last page and read it together. My sister started off and I followed “he sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, And away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight.” Father, Mother, Grandmother, and Grandfather all clapped for us like normal and then gathered their belongings to make their way to bed.

My mind kept thinking of different things that made it hard to fall asleep. It felt like it took the whole night to fall asleep. The most annoying part is that it only happens when you have something to look forward to the next day. I could hear my dog's paws hitting the floor as she was walking around the house. Once my mind stopped thinking of all the good presents that could be downstairs I was passed out and was ready to get a goodnight's sleep. It was 8 am and the sun shined so brightly through my window and onto my eyes waking me up. It's Christmas day! I jumped out of bed, ran down the hallway, and flung out my parent's door. “Wake up, wake up, let's go open present.¨ I said with such an excited voice.