The Secret's Out

Christmas secrets can be lots of fun. Some are hard to keep. Some are fun to share.
As parents, we had Christmas secrets, but it seems our children had secrets of their own.

When our children were young, they had late night Christmas Eve Parties downstairs. We stocked the party room with videos and goodies. We watched a movie or two with them and then went upstairs to wait for Santa.

When we left the party we wrapped the connecting doorway with noisy wrapping paper, so that no one could sneak upstairs to spy on Santa, unnanounced. The doorway would be unwrapped at 6:00 a.m. and the Christmas Mayhem would commence. After all, we needed our rest.

It seemed foolproof enough.

When the children were grown, they told us one unsuspecting afternoon how they cracked our security system, year after year.

One brave child would leave the cozy nest and climb the roof of our house, gaining access to the overhang that bordered our front windows. He would enter through the windows, take inventory, and return with a full report of the goods.

Particularly noteworthy was the year that Santa brought new roller skates for everyone. The courageous one returned to the mostly unfinished basement with the skates in hand, where everyone happily skated most of the night.

The skates were returned to their proper places in plenty of time so that neither Santa or his helpers ever suspected. Because of our strick ban on starting Christmas Morning before 6:00 a.m., they had only to watch the time.

The little darlings managed to look appropriately surprised and delighted on Christmas Morning. If Hollywood had known of their great acting ability, they would probably be big stars today.

The secret's out.

Do you have a Christmas secret you would like to share? It could be fun.

Linda Garner