Oh I bet there were mice stirring the night before Christmas!

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

Well, I generally try and stand behind my literary brethren but this guy was just a liar. Liar I say! I want to know how many of you out there are sound asleep the night before Christmas? If I remember correctly from my childhood, we’d get home at about midnight from 10 o’clock midnight mass, then we had to brush and get ready for bed. By the time we fell asleep, I bet it was close to 1 am. That’s when Mom and Dad had to fill the stockings, wrap presents, eat Santa’s milk & cookies, deliver presents under the tree, and get ready for Christmas Day at the Carlson’s. Estimated bedtime for a busy Mom and Dad? 3am.

As every good kid should, I’ve learned from my past, I started wrapping last week. It’s like the 12 days or wrapping because that’s how long it’s taken. It looks as though someone delivered a Christmas bomb to my house that was set to go off every day. I have wrapping paper, ribbons and presents in one area; I have cookie ingredients, pans, and flour all over the kitchen. Unplaced decorations fill up yet another section of the house. This perfect storm of Christmas excess sets me up to fall into succession in a long line of 3am bedtimes before Christmas.

If I were to rewrite this Christmas tradition, I’d probably say;

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, Mom and Dad were tiptoeing around filling stockings, trying to be as quiet as a mouse.

PS-Quick tip that I started doing last year after getting married; I wrap each families presents in different paper, and then on top of that I write, To: Mom and Dad and depending upon which family they go to, that kid's name goes first in the “From”field. No, I don’t consider myself a genius, just a gal who likes to be organized.