Fireplace

I think of Christmas Stockings of course!

The rule in our house was that after 6am, we could go downstairs and open our Christmas Stockings on our own, and that we were allowed to play with those toys until our parents woke up. - That was part of the deal. Let the parents keep sleeping!

I remember one year my stocking looked empty from a distance and I was so sad. Had I really been that bad? Had my parents really done that to me? When I took the stocking down I saw it actually was packed with gifts. It had just looked flat (not bulky) so I hadn't been able to tell until I felt it.

I still remember that feeling. Believing my parents had acted that way and  deliberately left me an empty stocking. I didn't put it past them. And yet, they hadn't, and I had gifts that year after all.