By Gosh Have a Holly Jolly Christmas!

Despite the fact that the only presents beneath the Christmas tree are a couple of pregnancy cravings, and items for baby that I requested from my mother, I still couldn't shake the age old habit of waking up at the crack ass of dawn!

As a child, I usually stumbled downstairs sleepy eyed somewhere between 4 and 5am only to have to stare at the beautifully decorated tree and its monstrosity of gifts beneath its branches in the company of a few remaining gingerbread heads that hadn't yet entered the father/daughter coffee/hot chocolate slaughter house. When I tired of this I usually raced upstairs to awaken my brothers and announce that it was Christmas, it was Christmas, it was Christmas! As if they needed a reminder. Matt usually humoured me and raced downstairs as quick as he could, that is if he wasn't already awake.  Benny, on the other hand, was more sensible/lazy and grumpily rolled over stating that it was far too early to get up and that we wouldn't be able to open the presents for several more hours anyway.  For me, it was always impossible to sleep during such exciting times, and when I couldn't take it any longer, I made a lot of noise in the hope of waking my parents, or I just cut to the chase and told them it was time to wake up. Fortunately, having grown up on a farm, my parents were up pretty early. Unfortunately, they insisted on waiting until all of the children had awoken from their slumber before we opened the gifts, this was bad news because if you thought it was difficult to get Benny to stir you never met my sister Sarah, and since she was 7 years older than me, I couldn't bribe her with Santa Claus. But I digress ...

Before bed last night Josh turned to me and said, "I'm not setting the alarm because I know you'll be up really early anyway." Well he was right, and here I am staring at an adequately decorated Christmas tree with a pitiful amount of gifts beneath its branches waiting for my husband to wake up so we can make homemade chollah french toast. Somehow, despite this very different Christmas, I can still feel the magic in it all, and who wouldn't when Santa Claus brought the whole family a pair of Vans!

Any guesses on the name? Good Luck!