Christmas Eve

It’s Christmas Eve and you can taste the excitement in the air. Company has arrived, final preparations are set into place as all the special touches are beginning to shine.

I began to gather things up and get the boys ready for our family Christmas Eve dinner. Looking for Edison I begin to panic, he’s no where! I looked three times in his room, I was even just in there tidying up. He’s not up stairs, not downstairs, not in the basement, not in the garage, not even outside, I can not find him anywhere. I quickly enlist the troops and I’m running around calling his name like a mad woman and Everest calmly comes down the stairs, “he’s in his room, mom”. “What?” I reply dead in my tracks with a blank stare, this isn’t computing. “He’s in his room” he repeats. “What? I just checked there three times, are you sure”. I run up there and there in the ‘made’ bed if you look really hard, hard enough to make your pupils fuse together while connecting the wrinkles and bumps in the blankets you can make out the possible form of a child. I go sit down on his bed and pull the blanket back and there he is. I ask him if he’s sick and what I can do for him. He doesn’t really respond with much more than a little shrug. Then I ask “what kind of sick? or, are you tricking me?” A little smile creeps from the corners of his mouth and I give him a tickle on the sides of his neck. He then tells me, “ I just want to take a nap”. “OK” I say. Quickly he clarifies, “a really long one.” “OK, I won’t wake you”. “I want to sleep until tomorrow, all the way until Christmas morning”, he instructs me. I complied, tucked him back in and quietly left with a smile. He tried soooo hard all afternoon to go to sleep. Squeezing his big blue eyes as tight as they’d go. Frustrated he’d sigh, “mom, I just can’t go to sleep no matter how hard I try”. “I know sweetheart, it’s still pretty early in the day,” I comfort him. After all it was only 1 in the afternoon and he was saturated in excitement for the coming morning. He didn’t give up, he tried over and over again. Even during dinner, he’d remind us, “ I’m sooo tired, I need to go to sleep”.

At last bedtime came and no one was sleepy. The giggles and wiggles had all taken over as they anxiously waited for the coming morning. It’s really our fault, we spent the day making sugar cookies for Santa, squeezing in a few more service errands, dropping off more plates of goodies and gifts, visiting with relatives, re-enacting the night of the Nativity, opening gifts from relatives, singing carols and looking for Santa in the blizzard as we inched our way home while they shouted ‘Faster dad, faster! We’re gonna miss santa!’, setting out cookies and carrots for Santa’s snack and reading Christmas stories as we tucked them in bed. One word sums up their state, WIRED. Bouncing in beds, singing songs, sneaking out of beds and peeking around corners, footsteps racing back and forth, excited whispers echoed through the halls... Cameron and I sat exhausted from the day and the thought of what was left to do that night. Luckily I had started wrapping presents three days earlier this year and all we had left were the individual big presents for each of them. Still we waited and waited and finally giggles began to quiet and sleep began to take them one by one. It was 10:30 pm before they were all out and 11:30 before we went to bed ourselves, not too bad after all. I didn’t sleep well at all, I kept thinking ‘it’s time!’ expecting them to burst in the room at any moment. It was 5:30am when they stormed the bedroom, Edison leading the way. They carried their stockings high and shouted a chorus of excited phrases. Edison and Isaac leaped onto our bed, Everest stumbled quickly behind rubbing his eyes and bumping into things while Hudson drug his blanket and kitty squinting in the dim light trying to figure it all out. It didn’t take long before they were all on our bed tearing through their stockings. Hudson would pull out a present and gasp, “ooooooooooh” with each one. I had wrapped a bath fizzy ball for each of them that was heavily scented. He pulled his out and before opening it exclaimed, “ ooooooooooooh, that’s really nice” as he held it to his nose and inhaled the fragrant scent.

Then we all scampered downstairs and were met with presents galore. Within seconds we were swimming in a sea of wrapping paper and ribbons. Trying to keep afloat amongst all the chaos we did our best to keep up and soak it all in. Hudson would carefully rip the paper off and open his package following his, “oooooooooooh” he’d humbly ask, “want one more, mom”. Soon all the gifts had been opened and now we were tearing into the boxes and putting things together. Legos, Dino Robots, Star Wars ships, Diego tree houses, Football gear, kitchens… busy little boys were everywhere. Trying to re-coop from the tornado of paper we realized our tummies had been neglected and we commenced in making a huge breakfast feast to celebrate this glorious day in honor of our Savior.

The Christmas Party

We had all finished ‘eating’ and now were just sitting around trying to keep the kids entertained. However, they were doing the entertaining. Everest’s creative scientist side came out and had resorted to making ice creations, dams(yes, dams), concoctions such as peppermint candy lemonade and trying to see just how full you can fill a cup before it will actually spill over (thus leading to the dams of napkins) on top of the table while under the table Hudson and Isaac were hiding rather loudly and sliding around on the floor. Edison kept busy by introducing us to everyone. He knew more people there than I did. He’d lean over and tell me someone’s while pointing to them and then insist I go over with them to talk to them. Time kept passing the clean up committee started, well, cleaning up and people started going home, I thought maybe Santa wasn’t going to be there. I was worried and panic began to set in. That was the main reason to come to this thing and why we stuck around to provide entertainment. I knew how much the boys had their hearts set on it. Especially since we had been talking about it all afternoon. They had been thinking about what to ask Santa for and telling each other what to say to him. Such as, “You ask him if he’s real, OK?” What would I tell them? How would I explain that Santa wasn’t going to be there?

Finally santa arrives and somehow we are the end of a very long very slow line. Filled with excitement and nerves the boys engage in some friendly youthful wrestling off to the side and soon all the other little boys are joining in while the moms and dads keep their place in line. Sweaty, red cheeks and exhausted they scramble back in line to finalize what they’re going to ask for as their turn has finally come. After all this is a huge deal.

Edison goes first, he hops up on Santa’s lap and immediately dives into a conversation with Santa. When Santa asks him what he wants, with confidence Edison delivers his wish list: “a cell phone, a laptop and legos”. Santa wasn’t expecting that one and a father in line calls out, “Cameron you start ‘em out young” and a wave of chuckles washes over the parents (everyone knows we’re a high tech family & that Cameron Moll is a household name in the web & creative design industry).

Everest then climbs up on Santa’s knee and picks a candy cane out of Santa’s basket. And when asked what he wants for Christmas he replies with specifics: “a REAL TV, a REAL phone, a REAL dog and a REAL bird”. Santa looks at him and says, “you start out high don’t you, There’s no starting out small for you is there? Straight to the top.” That’s Everest, no fooling around when it comes to what he wants, no substitutes, no gimmicks, just the real genuine stuff, none of that kid stuff. And he can handle it too.

Next Isaac crawls up on Santa’s lap and strikes up some dialogue. Isaac’s legs are swinging with anticipation waiting for the question of the year. When Santa finally pops the big question, “and what would you like?” Isaac grins from ear to ear and his eyes sparkle: “a kitchen set with a phone”. Santa asks “a kitchen set and a phone”. Isaac corrects him, “a kitchen set with a phone”. “Oh,” Santa says,” you boys know what you want don’t you?” and promises to deliver.

Finally Hudson is placed on Santa’s lap and glances up at him only once. Hudson twirling his candy cane with a sheepish smile, Santa asks him what he’d like and Hudson’s smile deepens without looking up says: “Yoda.” Santa exclaims, “Yoda? Are you wise enough for Yoda? You do know that your parents are the wisest of all don’t you?” Then Hudson quickly slips off of his lap with a candy cane in one hand and smile growing bigger by the second as he holds it up for all to see and whispers in my ear, “I’m getting Yoda”.

Headed for the exit Isaac exclaims with sheer excitement, “I’m going to get a kitchen set with a phone! He said, Santa said”.
Edison informs us, “He’s not the real Santa”
“Oh, did you ask him?” I reply.
“No, his beard is fake. I felt it, it feels like string.”, he said.
Hudson grins the sweetest of grins, “sat in Santa’s lap”.
The boys hop down the hall to the door and Everest leans in: “I think it was the real Santa.”
“Why is that?” I ask.
“He knew all of our names.” Everest had been paying close attention.
Hudson shoves another piece of peppermint candy into his mouth and we all make our way to the car on this bitter cold winter’s night.