The build-up to Christmas can be excruciating.
Particularly for children.
Five more days, four, three two…
Am I on the naughty list or the nice one?
Will Santa bring me what I want?
In the days before Christmas, children are like kernels of corn in a pot full of boiling oil.
Shivering, shaking, trembling, just about to pop.
And then it comes.
In our house, at least, Christmas Eve bedtime is one of the easiest ones of the year, and that’s saying a lot because we don’t have many bedtime woes in our house.
Yet, on Christmas Eve, it’s like they’ve given in to the inevitable.
Santa’s on his way and what will be will be.
They close their eyes and sugarplums dance and all is well with the world.
They wake in the morning and it’s Christmas and dreams are fulfilled and life is good.
But don’t blink, because just like that, Christmas is over.
It’s always been amazing to me that something for which we have so much anticipation just ends so very, very quickly.
I’ve always thought Christmas should last for a few days, so the event matches the build-up.
But it doesn’t.
So, now we spend our days playing with our toys and trying to unwind and rid ourselves of the remaining tension of the build-up.
Because even though Monkey in the Middle declared this “The Best Christmas Ever,” they are already talk about next Christmas.
And so it begins.
