Hannah Castle's eyes popped open. Today was Christmas! She loved Christmas; at least she loved it this year. She sort of remembered last year's Christmas, the Christmas when she was two, but she didn't remember any other. But Mama always said that she was like Daddy, and Daddy loved Christmas.
Their house looked so pretty. They had a big Christmas tree, and a train set. Daddy and Mama put lights everywhere inside and some guys came and put lights outside. Daddy would play all sorts of Christmas music during the day, or he would sing. He liked it when the family sang together, and Hannah liked that too. Gram liked to play the piano and she and Hannah and Mama would sing. Daddy would smile as he listened to them sing. Sometimes he would dance with Mama. They would end up near that green stuff –that toe stuff - and Daddy would kiss Mama until she laughed.
And she loved it when they baked cookies. Lexie came over and helped. She had to sit down a lot because she had a baby in her tummy. Mama used to have a baby in her tummy too, but Alex came out of Mama's tummy. But he couldn't do much yet, he was still a baby. She and her big brother Jamie couldn't wait for Alex to be able to play with them.
She was a big girl now, she even went to school some days. She loved going to school, even if that meant she didn't get to play all day. She even made Daddy a present – a pretty pencil holder. He had lots of pens and pencils on his desk, so now he would have someplace to put them. Mama had helped her wrap it in Star Wars wrapping paper 'cause the whole family loves Star Wars.
So she is all awake now. She can't wait to go downstairs to see what Santa brought her. But she's not allowed to go downstairs until Mama and Daddy say they can go downstairs. Before they tucked her into bed, they told her the rules of Christmas morning. "Everybody goes downstairs together, sweet pea," Daddy had said with his serious voice. "So no sneaking around, okay? And if people aren't awake, you can't wake them up," he continued. Wow, how did Daddy know that was her plan? She always was the first one awake. Daddy said that she was like Mama, because Mama always woke up first. Most times, she would play with her dolls or look at a picture book, pretending to read it like Jamie did. But she wanted to see all the presents.
Maybe if she tiptoed into Jamie's room, she could see if he was awake already. And if he wasn't awake, maybe she could do something to wake him up that wasn't really waking him up. So she slid out of her bed and walked quietly across the hall to his room. She walked in, and saw that he was sound asleep. Maybe if she stared at him, he'd wake up. That worked on Daddy when he fell asleep on the couch. But it wasn't working. Maybe because she was too excited to stand still and stare at him, or maybe because he was sleeping on his stomach and his face was smashed into his pillow.
She went back into her room and tried to think what she should do. She knew she wouldn't be able to sleep right now, and she didn't feel like playing with her dolls or reading a book. She really wanted to go downstairs and look at the tree. Hannah knew she shouldn't do it, but she really wanted to. She was sure Santa had been here already. She'll just go downstairs, quietly open the door, get a peek at the presents, and come back upstairs. No-one would know.
With that decision made, Hannah walked down the hall and then carefully down the stairs, holding on to the railing like Mama always told her to do. Now she was downstairs, and she walked a little faster to the living room door. She noticed the door wasn't closed all the way, so it was easy to open it. She walked into the room and gasped. Wow, Santa had been there and he left a lot of presents! She was mesmerized by the twinkling lights on the tree. Santa must have turned them on when he left. Then she heard a sound, and someone talked to her.
"Merry Christmas, Hannah!" said Mama's voice. Hannah turned around to see Mama sitting in a comfortable chair. She was feeding Alex; Hannah hadn't seen her there when she walked in.
"Merry Christmas, Mama," she said in a tiny voice. She then turned around and ran out of the room and up the stairs. Oh no, Mama saw her! So did Alex. Good thing he couldn't talk so he couldn't tell Santa, but Mama could. Hannah threw herself on her bed and cried. A few minutes later, Mama came into her room and Hannah could feel her rubbing her back.
"Sweetheart, it's all right. You couldn't help yourself. I won't tell Santa," her mother said. With that, Hannah sat up and put her arms around Kate's neck. Kate murmured nonsense words into her hair as her little girl cried some more.
"I'm so sorry, Mama! Jamie was sleeping and I wanted to see. I know I'm not 'posed to look, but I couldn't help it!" She wailed as Kate wiped her eyes. Kate knew this was hurting her daughter; she was such a rule follower. This was probably the first time she knowingly broke a rule, and she got caught. Poor kid. Kate continued to rub her back, and she slowly stopped crying.
"It's okay baby. I know you weren't going to look too much. I know you're sorry, right?" Hannah nodded her head. "So it will be okay." Hannah buried her head in Kate's neck and Kate soothed her. "Okay, I bet Jamie is awake now. I left Alex with Daddy so I know they are awake. I think it's time for presents, how about you?" Hannah nodded her head, and Kate got off the bed with Hannah still in her arms.
And when they checked, James was awake, and they all went downstairs where Daddy and Alex were waiting for them. Daddy opened the door and this time, Hannah saw everything. It was amazing!
A/N: My family had the same rule on Christmas morning – no peeking. When I was 9, I decided to break a rule and I peeked. And I got caught the same way Hannah did – my mom was sitting on a chair feeding my baby sister. I ran upstairs really quickly after that. And when I was in kindergarten, I made my dad a pencil holder for his desk at work – and he still has it almost 50 years later. It's now on his dresser.