Morning People

My oldest child is a morning person. As a small child, she was always awake before we were, and is usually awake and cheerful, even as an almost teen. This is why we set the rule that morning offically starts at 7 am. We don't want to be up earlier than that. Period. Even at Christmas.

Christmas when I was growing up was all about how early we could get the adults up so we could open presents. Because we were awake at 2 am, and ready to go, while the grownups were yelling at us to go back to bed. I remember a Christmas or two where we were able to convince them to get up at 5 am to open the gifts.

NOT so, our house. Presents do not happen until 7 am. Period. No arguments. I don't care HOW early you wake up. And mostly, this hasn't been a problem. Except for the year my brother-in-law came to spend Christmas with us.

He and my sister were engaged, and this was our first Christmas with him. He ended up sleeping on the couch in the living room, right under the tree and the presents. Mostly, he slept pretty well. He was able to weather the dog coming and sticking her nose in his face, and the noise from late-night people wandering back and forth to the bathroom. But when we opened his eyes very early Christmas morning and found my daughter staring at him with her big eyes, he was very startled. He was even more startled when he saw how very early it was. She had come down to quietly check the presents, and then stood in front of the couch hoping that he'd notice and maybe it would be okay to start Christmas early this year.

No such luck. He told her to go back to bed. Morning does not start until 7 am around here. Period.