The Real Christmas Rush

Quote from Ann today: "It's not Christmas any more. We have to eat the candy." Turned out she meant the Hello Kitty candy canes hanging on the tree. Actually, the canes are pink, yellow, blue and green -- and HK appears only on the wrapper. So I unwrapped one for her, and the sad long wrapper sporting about 10 HK faces now sits in the nearby trash can.

Below is the rush for Christmas presents, caught in mid-moment. This is the first Christmas that Ann, almost five, actually anticipated. It was hard for her to go to sleep on Christmas Eve, asking more than once, "Why is Santa taking so long?" I told her what I was told, more than 40 years ago: he does not, in fact, arrive at midnight, since he has so many places to go. More like 3 a.m. And anyway, he doesn't come when you're awake.

Lilly, of course, knows the truth of the Santa Claus business. Or maybe not "of course." She informs me that she knows fourth graders who still cling to the literalness of Santa Claus. Something's wrong about that.

I didn't have to stay up late Christmas Eve wrapping presents, since I'd done most of the wrapping on the 23rd, but I stayed up late anyway, meaning that I was still fairly tired at about 7:30 Christmas morning, when I was awakened. At that moment, Ann was as giddy as I'd ever seen her, but I guess if you're going to be giddy in the extreme, Christmas morning just before your fifth birthday is the time for it.