My Entry In The Dear Santa Wish List Contest ~ A Christmas Morning!

This is my submission for the #dearsanta contest from @goldendawne. I couldn’t think of something I wanted, specifically, for myself so I’ve decided to share a story. It is a little funny (to me) and I hope anyone reading will find it a bit entertaining and or funny! Many thanks to @goldendawne for creating the contest and she is a pretty awesome person! Not trying to get "brownie points" as if you are following her than I think you would agree!

When I was little, my father put a little money away each week in what was known as a Christmas account at his bank. My parents had nine children…yes, I said nine! We didn’t have much growing up and had to take turns getting new shoes or had hand-me-downs. Being a middle child meant those hand-me-downs had already been handed down previously as I had three older sisters. I will tell you now though that I wouldn’t have changed a thing as I love my family and appreciate some of our times growing up (notice, I said some). Christmas was something we all looked forward to as it meant new stuff. I was probably eleven or twelve years old at the time of this story. My parents said that each child was allowed to choose fifty dollars worth of items from the Montgomery Wards catalog that came in the mail every year. Montgomery Wards, as some of you may remember, was a department store that has since gone out of business. Back then they sent out a Christmas catalog that you could order from and, if my memory serves me right, they would ship the items to your home. My siblings and I would pour through that catalog and decide what we wanted and do the math to keep it within the price range allotted. This year, I did the math and was able to get several items and I will also say I spent darn near every cent of that fifty dollars.
When I was a kid I loved stuffed animals also known as plush animals. My Christmas list that year consisted of a Curious George stuffed monkey, another Curious George musical monkey, a Talking Smokey Bear and two blouses. Everyone picked their items and the order was placed. I don’t know what happened but half of the orders were held up and some of the items would not make it in time for Christmas. The half that did come was hidden by my parents and everyone was informed that NO presents would be opened until everything was delivered. So, this particular Christmas morning for our family happened in January. I was a little disappointed but understood but, more importantly, I was worried if any of my items were here or if they would come at all.
This is where it gets a little sneaky on my part. I knew where the first batch of gifts were hidden and I just wanted to know if my gifts had come or were being held up or worse yet, may not come at all. I decided I just had to know so I decided I would just take a peek and give myself some assurance. I planned my time carefully and it wasn’t easy with nine kids. While my parents were at the store with a couple of siblings and the others were still asleep, I found my opportunity and peeked in those big boxes hidden under a blanket in our dining room. It was quite obvious that was where the presents were and they had not been wrapped yet. I was delighted to see that every one of my gifts were in those boxes.
Christmas came and went and those gifts stayed hidden. First week in January came and went as well. Now, I knew my gifts were there and I really really wanted them so a couple of times I did visit with them. Making sure I put everything back the way my mom had it. Finally, just after the first week of January the rest of the gifts arrived from the Department Store. Our “Christmas morning” was planned for the following weekend. It was a beautiful morning with family, laughter and those long awaited gifts. I was just as happy opening those gifts that morning as I was the several times I visited them. I still have the two Curious George monkeys. Unfortunately, Smokey Bear was ruined in a leaky closet. This concludes my story and Christmas morning resumed at the regular time the following years with the exception of one year when we didn’t have presents at all because money was short that year. Here are a couple of photos of the two gifts that survived all these years.

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