Writing Club 2004-12-

Double Christmas
December, 2004
by Samantha Weber, Writing Club, 7th grade

“Foot massager, Spiderman 1 and 2, Ella Enchanted, Miracle, Toby Mac CD, Return of the King, The Fellowship of the Ring, and University of North Carolina hoody.” That’s my Christmas list, mom!”

Thank you, dear, but you’re kind of late; I have all your gifts already.”

Oh, man! How could I have been so stupid to have not done this earlier?


It was December 23d, the day we trimmed the tree. My family and I were relaxing on the couch, looking up at the Christmas tree – lights, bulbs, and memories all strung or hung now on our enormous Douglas Fir. To every member of our immediate family this was going to be a special Christmas, not because we were expecting lots of stuff, but because we were all home together. It had been exactly 6 months and 3 days since we had all been together. In June, my sister, Alexa, had gotten married and moved to Columbus, and my brother, Zach, had flown to Texas and into the Air Force. Now that our work on the tree was finished, my Dad said it was time to go to bed. After a quick prayer and a couple of hugs, we were all sound asleep in our beds.

The next morning, the 24th, I jumped out of bed to the sound of my sister and brother-in-law, Seth, packing up to go back to Columbus to spend Christmas day with his family. It might have seemed there was no way for us to be together for Christmas this year, but not so: We were going to have a traditional Christmas at home on December 25th, without Seth and Alexa, but we were also going to save all of their gifts until the 26th, when we would do Christmas again! That’s right, get up early, eat cake for breakfast, do stockings, open gifts, have Hannah over, and watch movies all day in our pj’s.

We all walked downstairs and outside with Alexa and Seth to the car where we hugged and said goodbye. I thought to myself, “Now that they were going, I could have Zach all to myself and have some fun! Much to my surprise, however, I was informed that he was going to a friend’s house and would meet us at church for Christmas eve service. Now, I had nothing to do but stay home, eat cookies, and wait. After a long day of cleaning the house and wrapping gifts, it was finally time to get ready for our Christmas eve service at CCF. Dressed in my white corduroy pants with my long sleeve blue t-shirt and red vest, I walked out the door to the car with my parents.

We met up at church with Zach and had a good time listening to the Christmas story, singing carols, and seeing old friends. Afterwards, we went over to the Morris’ for their traditional Christmas eve party. When we got there, it really hit me: It was Christmas eve, my brother was home, and did I mention, it was CHRISTMAS EVE! I started to feel excited and anxious. At about quarter to midnight we left to go home and sleep. I had decided earlier that I was going to sleep in on Christmas morning for the first time. When we got home I went straight to my room and laid down; I fell asleep picturing the pleased and happy faces of my family when I gave them their gifts.

I woke up at 9:00 a.m. on the dot. Then I sneaked into my brother’s room where I put my face about 2 inches from his and started singing, “You gotta get up, you gotta get up, it’s Christmas morning!” He jumped up; and with much difficulty, I dragged him into the living room where we sat down with my parents. I was ready to open gifts! As always, though, we first had our birthday cake for Jesus, read the Bible, and prayed. Then I ran and sat down beside the tree and pulled my mother’s gift from where it was hidden underneath the tree. I stood up and walked over to her, sat down on her lap, and watched her peel away the silver wrapping paper. She lifted the lid off the box and pulled out a soccer Snowbaby figurine to add to her most-prized collection. She immediately gave me a hug and said thank you. With her smile cemented into my memory I knew this was going to be a wonderful Christmas!

The next morning, December 26th :

“Sam, wake up! Wake up! Wake up”:

“What?”

“Merry Christmas!”

I woke up. Alexa and Seth were home and excited to start our “second” Christmas. It was 11:00 a.m. and everyone was waiting for me. After a breakfast of leftover birthday cake, I was again in the living room and we were all exchanging gifts. Most of the gifts were just for us Webers and not for Seth. When it appeared we were finished, my sister pulled out one last present, which had been hidden behind the tree, and handed the large carton to Seth, and he carefully opened the box. He looked inside and couldn’t believe his eyes. Inside was an antique train set just like he had wanted. What a surprise! He hugged everyone and said thank you over and over to all of us because we had all gone in together to get it for him. Although I didn’t get everything on my list, I was just as happy knowing that all my gifts were greatly appreciated.