The Night Before Christmas

It seems that everyone loves Christmas day, but I've always loved Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve is spent visiting grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins; the exact same people I spend Christmas Day with. But Christmas was always different, special. 

My family always had our big Christmas Eve meal at home, just my parents and siblings, and we would go to my aunt's house for dessert. We still do this. 

When we were little, my uncle ALWAYS forgot to buy ice cream to accompany dessert. So my aunt would send him out to buy some. While my uncle was gone, his sister would pull out a copy of The Night Before Christmas and read to us.

Image via greenbookblog.org

In the middle of the book, we hear what sounded like reindeer on the roof. We'd all rush to a window and see if we could see anything, like Santa's sleigh. We never did see that sleigh, but while we were looking Santa would walk into the house!

This was, clearly, the most exciting thing ever. We all got to talk to Santa and get candy canes. He'd remind us to go to bed when we were told too so that he could come back with his presents. After a visit with Santa, we would wish us a Merry Christmas and tell us he had to get going- it was a busy night for him after all. 

A few minutes after Santa left, my uncle would return with ice cream. Upon his return, he would also be informed that he just missed Santa, but we gave him all the details. 

Looking back, I can't believe that my uncle missed seeing Santa every. single. year. If only he had picked up ice cream on his way home from work, like he was supposed too...