When I think of Christmas morning, my best memories are of
waking up to find my Christmas stocking on the end of my bed. My sisters and I
would spend at least an hour or more going through the contents, sometimes trading
the tiny gifts, and almost always sampling a little piece of candy or two.
Each year there was a variety of toys to keep us occupied,
like the little plastic maze games, that had a tiny ball inside. You had to tip
the toy in different directions to get the ball to go through the maze and end
up at the finish.
We always, always had one of the Life Saver books with about a dozen rolls of Life Savers in it. I’d trade my Pep O mint roll for my sister’s Fruit flavor. If there was anything root beer flavored, she’d get that and grudgingly give me something in exchange. At least a few foil-covered Santas nestled among the other occupants of the stocking.
And then at the bottom, snugly sitting inside the toe, was an
orange. Once we got older and understood who filled the stockings, we realized
the orange was to take up space. And the stocking on the end of the bed was to
keep us upstairs a little longer so mom and dad could sleep later. Especially
since my mom stayed up much of the night wrapping her last-minute gifts.
It was a brilliant idea and one I used with my own children.
And if you wrap most of the little gifts, you get even more time to sleep as
they have to unwrap each one. And cleanup and throw away the wrapping paper
before they could open new gifts.
Some of the other candy I loved, that only made an
appearance at Christmas time, were the filled raspberry candies and the chocolate
oranges. Without a doubt, those would be on the counter or coffee table when
everyone else showed up for dinner. And I’d nibble on them happily all day
long.
What are some of the candies you remember, either good or
bad, that were always there at Christmas when you were young? What was, or still is, your favorite?
In my newest book, Elusive Dreams, Erik and Tessa are
adopting two children he rescued from Kandahar. They have to start their own
Christmas traditions with their new family. Here’s a little snippet of
Christmas morning:
~~
“Santa came. Daddy, Mama, Santa
came.”
Erik opened one eye and turned
toward the voice. Matty’s curl-covered head rested on the bed next to him. It
was too early for this. Glancing at his watch, he noted it was a little after
six. But if they were going to open gifts and get down to New Hampshire, they
should probably get started.
“How do you know he came already?”
Could he buy himself a few more seconds of Tessa’s warmth by playing Devil’s
Advocate?
“There’s stuff under the tree,”
Matty whispered like it was a secret. Were he and his siblings ever so adorable
on Christmas morning? For some reason, he figured they were more obnoxious than
anything.
Tessa stirred, her head nestling on
his chest, her hand moving to play with his dog tags. He loved when she did
this. Though this morning, he couldn’t really enjoy it.
“Wake up, my sleeping beauty. We’ve
got some very anxious elves waiting to get Christmas started.”
~~
Of course, there's more. There's CANDY CANE KISSES, our December Rafflecopter!
Remember to enter CANDY CANE KISSES. For all the details, visit our Monthly Giveaway page. Or, go straight to the ENTRY FORM.
