Santa Claus is comin to Town (18)

Christmas Eve has got to be the best night of the year. Now, we are not your typical American family that just assumes that Santa brings gifts in. We don't just wait until our parents say its ok to come upstairs. Oh no! We have the real deal! We know for sure that Santa exists. In fact, we see him every year. We hide from him as he brings in the gifts. I better keep this on the "down low" so that it doesn't get out of control and every family will be trying to be like ours. Christmas Eve, after we get back from the cabin and doing the Nativity scene and Christmas games with the Hull side of the family, the first thing we check is the mailbox. One of Santa's elves hand deliver a letter to our house on Christmas Eve. It usually takes 3 or 4 times to check the mailbox before it appears. This is the one time our mom allows us to run outside without any shoes on and no coats. Usually there is snow and ice on the ground, but we could care less as we are just filled with excitement. We are not allowed to open the mailbox until we are all there. When the letter finally appears, we run triumphantly inside with the letter held high! 
The letter is ripped opened, and as always, there is chocolate smeared on the sides because Santa always spills a little hot chocolate on his letters. He usually writes and thanks us for the letters we have sent him and he tells us he has our gifts already for us, and then he tells us what time he thinks he will be at our house. Normally, he comes between 6 and 6:30 a.m. With the time in mind, we quickly start shifting things around in the family room to make our hiding spots. 

Two of us can fit under the Christmas tree, with all the presents stacked strategically around it, two kids can each hide behind a giant speaker. 4 or more of us can fit behind the couch, and then one of us is in the coat closet- prime hiding spot if I do say so myself. My dad then turns off the lights and walks in pretending to be Santa and just checks to make sure he can't see any of us. If everything looks good, then we come out of our spots and do our Christmas dance, finish our special Christmas story, and then all the kids are sent downstairs to the basement to try and sleep and keep the excitement under control. We are so wired on candy and excitement that we don't fall asleep until 2 or 3 in the morning. 5 minutes before the time that Santa says he will arrive, we can hear the clomping of my dad's feet as he runs down the stairs to wake us up. We all run, half asleep up the stairs, the adrenaline taking us. We wait in utter silence, when suddenly, the door is opened and we can hear Santa's jingle bells and hear the clomping of the boots. He runs in and immediately starts talking to himself as he brings our gifts in. "Sydney was such a good girl this year. And I've heard how she has worked so hard at soccer. She will love this new nike soccer ball." We all wait patiently as each of our names are stated and our gifts are brought in. As soon as Santa is finished, he runs out whispering," Merry Christmas to the Hull family!" and we wait a few seconds to make sure he is really gone. We then creep out of our hiding places to see the spoils. It is so fun to receive the long awaited gifts, but more fun than that is the excitement and joy we have in the hours preceding the actual event.