From The Storyteller
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Waiting
I have a “traditionalist” younger sister, who to this day remains stuck in what I consider to be a most unnatural lifestyle. History for context. After all the kids in our family aged out of the idea that Santa would arrive on Christmas Eve, we were offered an option. We could open our presents on Christmas Eve, or we could wait until early the next morning. Clearly our folks wanted the evening option for obvious reasons, and my older sister and I were ready to start yesterday. Our youngest sister agreed with us, but when the four kid family vote happened, the result was a surprising three for evening, and one for morning. That Christmas my parents had the gift opening right after the Christmas Eve church service, assuming “traditionalist kid” would fall into line once the present opening started. They were wrong. She watched and waited as we opened presents with all the normal Christmas excitement. When the wrapping and ribbons were shuffled aside, we ate Christmas “junk” and went to bed. The next morning we all got up early so we could watch my "traditionalist" younger sister open her presents. I don’t remember it being fun. That is the year I learned about delayed gratification, how unnatural it is, and how potentially disappointing it could be. Waiting to open Christmas gifts, only eating dessert after dinner, and not taste-testing part of a turkey while carving it are simply bad ideas. After all, it is possible that some natural disaster, like a tornado, might hit our home before Christmas morning or before we ate that turkey dinner. If that happened, simply the thought of potentially missing out on some of the best parts of Christmas, is scary. Moral: When it comes to Christmas and the turkey dinner, delayed gratification is a lifestyle choice to avoid. |