It is over

      Wellsir, it is Christmas Day and half the presents have been opened, oohed and ahhed over and now the day begins.  One family was here for the day before and Christmas day. The rest will arrive later today and then, to quote Maurice Sendak, "Let the wild rumpus begin." When everyone gets here, there will be four children under 10 years, two children just barely over that and a large gaggle of adults and that always makes for some interesting times at Christmas. The children are naturally excited whilst the adults are naturally tired, usually frazzled and ready to rest.
      Everyone wants to have a good time, enjoy the day and enjoy each other. The small kids want to run and play and yell and act like kids. Unfortunately for both groups, this house is too small to accommodate both groups wishes.  Isn't there some genii in a bottle we could get to increase the size for 24 hours?
      The most popular toy among the younger technology set seems to be a DS X, and no, I am not sure what it is. It was the most asked for to Santa as I had direct knowledge of requests to him. Santa, being very old and very wise, always said, "Hmmm, well, we will see what we can do." Then he would thoughtfully repeat the request while looking directly at parents and/or grandparents. Hopefully some of the requests were filled.  Hopefully the item is worth  all the longing.
      There is one story about Christmas that almost haunts me and you may find it interesting. People about my age can remember that Christmas meant one toy or item from Santa, new underwear and new socks. There could possibly be a shirt mixed in there. One very unusual year my little sister got a large tricycle and it had mud on the tire.  We were convinced that an elf had ridden it from the sleigh to inside the house and didn't tell Santa he had gotten it dirty.
      Right, there had to be a cover story of some kind there, and since it was Christmas Day, even hard evidence could be ignored and suspended belief continued.
      My grandfather used to visit around and on one particular Christmas, it was our turn. My grandfather was fun and funny up to a point but one would learn early that one did not cross that point. Having him visit was a great delight, especially since it was Christmas.
      I woke up that night to hear my dad and granddad talking and I kept hearing this snapping noise. I heard my dad say something like, "I always wanted a pair of pearl handled pistols when I was a kid."    My heart  stopped, my breathing increased a hundred-fold and the world began to spin. All those impossible things happened within the space of a couple of seconds.
      Then  my consciousness returned and I knew what the snapping sound was. Yessir, the next morning Santa had left me a pearl handled cap pistol. The mystic ended for me at that point but having a real cap pistol made it worthwhile. I never told my Dad of what I had heard. He would have been crushed.
      To this day I like for Christmas Day to be sunny, warm and totally without snow. I do not want to see the proverbial White Christmas. On a sunny day we could go outside and play with our new toy and we could run and hoop and holler and work off the past weeks of anticipatory energy. Being cooped up inside because of wet snow would be enough to put our parents 'round the bend. 
      And besides that, school would be out for another week and all that time was just beginning to be stretched out before us.