Christmas in the Cavanaugh household had some great traditions, most of which revolved around the fact that us kids couldn't sleep past 4:00 am until we were teenagers. So Christmas morning went something like this:
4:00 am - Each of us wakes up gradually in our own bed
30 second later - we look for our Christmas stockings which Santa left by the end of our beds
5 minutes later - we have gone through the entire contents of our stocking, eaten a piece of candy, opened a wrapped CD, and are now anxious to see if siblings are awake
Pause for one minute of silent tiptoeing to see if you can look beyond the banister at the Christmas Tree
Another quiet minute of creeking open siblings doors to see if the other two are awake
10 minutes - whispers can be heard downstairs of the three Cavanaugh siblings opening up our stockings for each other
At this point it's almost 4:20/ 4:30 ish, and we were NOT aloud to wake my parents up until 7:00 am, 6:00 am if we're lucky. So the night before we stacked all the Christmas VHS movies we own next to the kids TV, and at 4:30 am we started watching them until Dad came in to check on us. This is probably what the list of options would have looked like:
Classic home movie Christmases - of course
The first, and real, Toy Story - Jim Henson's The Christmas Toy
Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas
The Muppet Christmas Carol
Nightmare Before Christmas
Mickey's Christmas Carol
We are big Jim Henson and Tim Burton fans! Can I just say how much I have come to LOVE DVR at the Chandler home in Sacramento?! I can check out which of my favorite holiday specials will be airing ahead of time and schedule to record them. This just plays to my organization obsession.
When my Dad approached us we knew it was time... time for torture! The Christmas Torture tradition involves my dad standing at the top or bottom of the stairs (depending on the house we lived in) to video tape us kids' excitement as we waited to run to the Christmas tree and rip open presents. It usually lasted around two minutes, but felt more like twenty. My dad told us when we were older that this special time was meant more so that my mom could put together anything they didn't finish at midnight and turn on the Christmas tree lights.
I wish I had some torture time footage to show you. It's kind of awesome! We love watching the home movies every year. My dad actually is in the process of moving old VHS footage to DVDs using the present we gave him last Christmas (DVD converter). So I may upload some Cavanaugh Christmas Classics later.
Two minutes of torture?? You had it easy :). My parents didn't do stockings, and we couldn't open presents until after they woke up AND we had eaten a full, homemade breakfast together as a family at the table. Then we each opened one present at a time and cleaned up wrapping paper as we went. The one good thing about this process is that the event lasted ALOT longer!! :) hehehe, it's so fun reminiscing, and passing on the same great tortures to my own children!! (except the stocking part - I do those for my kids!!)
ReplyDeletethats so fun. i cant wait to have kids and start our fun traditions.
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