The Christmas Vote

One of my favorite Christmas memories is from my childhood. I was probably about seven years old, and my older sister and brother were nine and twelve, respectively. Our family always opened presents on Christmas morning. We'd never done it any other way. But we kids were so excited on Christmas Eve we could hardly stand it.

My family on Christmas morning a few years prior to the telling
of this story. I'm the cute one on the right. 

We had asked repeatedly if we could open our presents on Christmas Eve instead of waiting until morning and we'd been turned down. Finally, on Christmas Eve, my parents brought us all together and said, "Let's vote on when we should open gifts."

A sizzle of excitement ran between my siblings and me knowing we were a majority all by ourselves. We had this!  We grinned. "OK! Let's vote!"

When my dad said, "Who wants to open presents tonight?" every hand went up including Mom and Dad's. Our jaws dropped for a moment before we began laughing and hugging them. I think they may have been the most loved parents in the whole world in that moment. They'd really pulled one over on us.

I don't recall the circumstances, if Christmas fell on a Sunday, or if my parents just decided to switch things up. I imagine they wanted to see the delight on the faces of their children more than anything. Whatever their reason, they gave us a Christmas to remember, not because of the gifts they bought us, but because of the surprise of when we opened them.

Do you recall a Christmas surprise? Share it in the comments.