Schools

Patience for Presents

A winning essay in the Rotary Club of Farmington Essay Contest.

By Ally Dolmanisth

Grade 6

Teacher: Mrs. Alvarez

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“Yay, hurry!” my siblings and I scream while sprinting down the spiraling staircase.  We are as excited as an artist who sees the sun when it rises and all of the colors blend together like a water color painting.  Our eyes widen even more at the sight of shiny bows and decorative wrapping paper.  The Christmas tree’s lights burst out like the song, “Oh Christmas Tree…”  Finally, done glaring and fantasizing at the gifts, we realize that something, or in this case someone, is missing and nothing can be done yet.

I listen at my parents’ bedroom door.  “SNORE…”  My excitement dies and I flop into a chair. 

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“Well, isn’t this wonderful,” I say in an agitated tone. 

My sisters moan and groan, then look to me for help.  I get up to enter the lair of doom … my parent’s bedroom.  The door slowly opens creaking anxiously.  They stir in their sleep.  I walk toward their bed, purposely making loud stomps. 

A monstrous voice booms out, “What do you want?”  

I shudder and then regain my composure before I scream at the top of my lungs, “It’s Christmas!” 

My frightened parents look startled, but then they realize what is going on and frown at me.  Instead of going into the living room, they sloppily drag their moaning selves into the kitchen for a mug of coffee.  How many more years are we going to have to wait?

 Apparently, other sixth graders also have had trouble rousing their parents on Christmas morning.  Suhaib Abu talked about how he jumped up and down like a maniac on his parents’ bed yelling until they woke up.  He also made coffee and waved the mug under his parents’ noses, hoping they would wake up from the aroma.  I had no idea that my sisters and I had company with this problem, and that there were so many creative ways of dealing with it.  My classmate Haley Prisloe said, “Parents and adults really should get up on Christmas morning.”

In fact, I recently discovered from the internet that there are five categories of kids waking parents up on Christmas morning. 

1. The Peeper.  You wait, but at any sudden movement you assume they’re awake. 

2. The Thunderbolt.  You go ballistic and make LOTS of noise. 

3. The Indian Pacer.  You patiently wait in the hallway and pace the floor.

4. The Slowpoke.  You sleep-in and don’t even think about waking up yourself or your parents.  (That one will probably give the best parent reaction). 

And lastly,

5. The Greg Louganis (an Olympic diver).  You jump on your parents’ bed going head-first into the mattress. 

While it would be nice to let your parents sleep in . . . it is a holiday!  But, wait, no!  It is not as if they did anything special the night before – after all, Santa Claus did all the heavy work.  Moreover, Christmas is only once a year!  It’s just one time they have to get up early.  Is that too much to ask?

Again this past Christmas morning, my sisters and I were extremely excited and once again we encountered zonked out parents.  We galloped down the stairs and dashed to our stockings and Christmas tree.  We were dying to start ripping open the surprises.  As I gulped and sighed, I made my way to their room. 

Their response was, “It’s too early - wait a half hour!”

We were devastated, and just sat on the couch looking at the presents.  “A half hour?  Thirty whole minutes?”  we thought.  The too-good-to-be-true sights were torturing us as we had to overpower our urge to tear open the presents. 

After exactly thirty minutes we poked mom and dad, and they reluctantly rolled over.  Those might have been the longest thirty minutes of my life.  I will remember this almost-ruined, torture-filled Christmas morning forever as I learned a hard lesson about having patience for presents.

Obviously, I have a strong opinion on this topic.  Parents and adults should get up on Christmas morning to enjoy the holiday pleasure with their families.  But don’t even get me started on birthdays…                         


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