Just love all your favorite Christmas stories. Here's mine.
When we were little (my brother, sister and I being the oldest), Mom & Dad would take us joy riding to see the Christmas lights on Christmas Eve. As we piled into the car, Mom always had to run back into the house for something she forgot and it took her forever in kid time to get back to the car. Dad would drive us around for about two to three hours seeing the decoration lights people put on the outside of their houses. Before going back home, we would stop at Frischs for hot chocolate and donuts. Once home Dad would go into the house first to turn on the lights and make sure we didn't have strangers in the house like raccoons, squirrels, bats, or even humans as we never locked our doors in those days. Seemed to take him a long time before we were allowed in. Then he would come out and say did you see that flash overhead? We'd say what and start looking up at the sky. Mom would say what was that over there and point over the back of the house. By now you have guessed, Santa had come. He put lights and decorations on the artificial blue tree with the glittered box stand (4 ft tall). He had added lots of presents around the tree and filled out stockings. Us kids were wide awake then and so happy. We couldn't believe it, Santa had come while we were gone. We opened our presents, including a stocking with an apple, orange, and small sack of nuts. We stayed up until 2 am having fun. Christmas day, Dad had to work, so this was our Christmas celebration. We had turkey sandwiches for Christmas dinner with a Christmas cookie.
Years later before Mom & Dad died, Mom told me she had the tree decorated and sitting in the closet. She set up the round stool where she wanted the tree to go and she stacked the presents on the couch before we left for the ride. All Dad had to do was set up the tree on the round stool, nail the tree stand down to the stool so it would tip over, plug in the lights and dump the presents under the tree. Then do his acting job. We didn't have much but Mom and Dad sure made us some sweet memories.