As a child, this was my 2nd or 3rd favorite day of the year. The anticipation of what "Santa" might bring or not bring me for Christmas. It seemed that night time would never come! My siblings and I all wanted to go to bed about 7PM in hopes that Santa would somehow visit our home first. Mama wouldn't let us go to bed that early because we would wake up about midnight. But, even when we did go to sleep, we really didn't sleep. The Christmas I remember most was the Christmas we didn't expect much from Santa. Mama told us that Santa wouldn't be bringing us many toys that year for reasons we couldn't understand at the time. But, as we sadly went to bed that night, we just couldn't help but believe Santa would somehow come through for us.

My sister woke up first that Christmas...screaming! We both had bicycles...totally unexpected!!! My brother and I had b-b guns, plastic soldiers with which we would wage war against each other for hours. We had more candy, cookies and cake than we would ever be able to eat. So, what happened? It seems that a good Samaritan group (which is no longer in business) came to our aid that year as "Santa." I'll never forget the tears in Mama's eyes as we all squealed with delight. For her, those squeals of joy were her "Christmas presents." Merry Christmas, Mama. We all miss you.