“Mom, I’m awake.” I roll over in bed to my right side and squint at the luminescent display of the bedside clock. It’s 5:57 am.
“Cab,” I whisper, “It’s only 5:57. You need to sleep for another hour.”
“Can I climb into bed with you?” he asks.
“Sure,” I reply and scoot to my side enough that he can squeeze between Frank and me. Cabell talks from the doorway to the bed about how it is Christmas Eve and he is too excited to sleep. He can’t wait for Santa to come. He is sure that Santa will bring him the bass fishing computer game and he can’t wait to play it. He stuffs his legs beneath the covers and his head is not yet firmly on the pillow before he begins to sneeze. “Do you need a tissue?” I inquire.
“No,” he protests with a loud sniffle. Eventually I tumble out of bed and grope through the morning grayness for a handkerchief. At my insistence he blows his nose and we all settle back into bed. He closes his eyes, but obviously cannot sleep. As he tosses and turns Frank and I are jabbed mercilessly by sharp eight year old knees. Finally, we give it up and truly wake up to Chrismas Eve a 6:30 am.
Emma joins us for breakfast at 7:30 and, at our leisurely pace, we are away to visit Grammy by 10 o’clock. At Grammy’s we discuss Christmas day plans and review the menu for Christmas dinner. We can’t leave without standing by “Rockin’ Santa” and swinging our hips as he sings “Rocking around the Christmas tree, it’s a happy holiday.”
We wave good-bye to Grammy through the car window and go to the grocery store for sweet potatoes, flour, yeast and a few other last minute items. Emma and Cabell don’t know how they’ll ever survive Christmas Eve just waiting and waiting for Santa Claus presents on Christmas morning, but the afternoon is filled with laundry , baking cinnamon rolls and playing Uno. Cabell, Emma and I play swift hands of Uno and I take an early lead with 258 points. Emma is dealt a string of hands with draw four wild cards and we are nearly tied at close to 300 points when I have to take a break to put the puffy cinnamon rolls in the oven. After intermission Emma returns to sweep us away and win with 546 points. Cabell is deinitely handicapped by the fact that we see his cards every time he leans forward to draw a card. “Keep your hand up, Cabbie. Keep your hand up, Cabbie,” Emma and I say in unison.
In the evening we follow our Christmas Eve tradition and drive around to look at Christmas lights in the city. On Christmas Eve we always dine out and we always eat Italian. This year we find Pino’s open for business and stop by for lasagna and spaghetti. We finish dinner just in time to make the 7 o’clock movie at Ballou Park. “The Prince of Egypt” is showing. We are spellbound by two hours of God talking to Moses. We are silenced by rivers of blood, pestilence and plague falling upon the Egyptians.
On the drive home we get back to the birth of Christ and our Christmas Eve enthusiasm. Since Cabell’s day started early he is pretty tired and he proposes to fall immediately to sleep when he gets home. He and Emma agree that a good nights’ sleep will make Christmas morning seem to come more quickly. They agree to sleep until 7:29 am on Christmas morning, so that they will only have one minute to wait for Grammy and Granpa to arrive at 7:30 before they come downstairs to see presents. At home the children get into pajamas and set out carrots for the reindeer and cookies for Santa. Frank needs an hour alone in the study to wrap gifts. I frost the cinnamon buns. At midnight on Christmas Eve Frank and I slump into bed. “At least,” I say, “Cabell isn’t getting up until 7:29 in the morning.”
Don’t count on it,” Frank replies.
“Mom, I can’t sleep, ” Cabell says from the doorway of my bedroom. I peer at the digital clock display. 5:58 am.
“Cabell,” I complain, “It’s too early. You’ve got to sleep one more hour.”
“Okay,” he says disappointedly, but he doesn’t return to his room before he turns on our bathroom light, uses the potty and blows his nose.
“I told you so,” chuckles Frank as Cabell leaves the room. Who can sleep, anyway, on Christmas morning? I lie in the warm sheets beneath the quilt that julia made for me twenty-two Christmases ago and can’t think of a happier time. I feel certain that Santa has come in the night and left behind gifts for Emma and Cabell. Just like every Christmas before we will find Emma’s gifts laid out on the chair to the right of the fireplace and Cabell’s on the chair to the left. The reindeer will have nibbled the carrots around the middle and there will be a few cookie crumbs on Santa’s plate. 5:58 am. Cabell did sleep one minute later than yesterday and what a wonderful 24 hours filled with:
- Twelve cinnamon buns
- Eleven hands of Uno
- Ten commandments from God to Moses
- Nine gifts to wrap
- Eight grocery items
- Seven reindeer carrots
- Six hours of sleep
- Five Rockin’ Santa dancers
- Four watery sneezes
- Three loud sniffles
- Two sharp knee jabs
- And a Christmas Eve conversation with Cabell at 5:57 am.
The pieces of our Christmas Eve which are altogether a joyful whole. Ho,Ho,Ho- Merry Christmas!