Remember when you were a youngster waiting for Christmas?  The wait was unbearable.  You would sit by the Christmas tree and stare at the packages.  Shake a few.  Try to see if anything could be seen through the wrapping paper.   If you were really a trouble maker you might actually open up that big one, take a peek, and try to wrap it back up.

Yeah, I did that.  Once.  My mom was little but she was tough.

Maybe it’s just me.  But waiting is not easy; especially at this time of the year.

I am a little embarrassed by one of my Christmas waiting memories.

I wanted a toy machine gun.  Yeah, I know.  Not exactly what we’re supposed to be getting our kids these days.  But this was about 1964 – and all the kids in our little town liked to play Army.