Christmas Pasts: The top of the stairs

Early in the morning,
My sisters woke me up.
It was still a little dark out.
The three of us sat on the very top step.
Waiting in our pajamas,
Until Mom and Dad woke up and let us go downstairs.

My parents bedroom door creaked open...
Then in a dangerous thunder of skinny legs and elbows,
We stampeded down the stairs.
I don't remember half of what I got.
But I remember sitting on that step with my sisters,
The feeling in my heart of anticipation.
The camaraderie we felt.
The time I spent with my family,
That was the real magic of it all.

Christmas Pasts: The Big Production

Christmas Eve,
The big production:
No scripts,
Ridiculous characters,
A suggested plot that was ever changing.
We would come up with the most outrageous stories.
Everyone had a part to play.
In a family with mostly girls,
Somehow I always got stuck with the boys part.
We would laugh like crazy,
As my uncle used an apron as a sleeping cap,
Or my grandfather gave me his golf club to use as a crutch.
My family was never shy of the lime light.
Afterwards we would go caroling or play outrageous games.
I always feel closest to my family, in the moments when we would share a good laugh.