On the 25th of December when I was 7 years old, my cousin Margot and I got up quite early and ran downstairs to the Christmas tree.

My grandma, Nannie, told us we had to wait for the rest of the family to wake up before we opened our presents. It was a whole hour and a half before anyone else came downstairs, but the time flew by as Margot and I talked about what we hoped our gifts would be over a delicious pancake breakfast. I can’t remember what we got that Christmas, but I do remember we couldn’t wait to rip open the wrapping!

As more and more of the family walked into the big living room it was almost time to open our gifts. Finally, my Mom, who has a reputation for always being late for everything, walked in. As we opened our gifts, wrapping paper flew on the floor and when we had opened all our presents, we were swimming in ribbons and colorful paper scraps. After that, we dove into our stockings and Christmas games, which are normally board games. After the gifts, the celebration, and all the games, we lay beside the fire exhausted and satisfied. We looked around the room blown away by the magic of the moment. It looked like everything had a sparkle. We started collecting wrapping paper to feed into the fire, while its flame shimmered with different colors, blue, green, white, red and yellow. It was majestic.

After we regained some of our energy, we started for the stairs again. At the top we arrived at Nannie’s door. We loved that room, it was big, warm and welcoming. We walked in, found our favorite spots, and watched TV. But after thirty minutes, we were bored again.

So we decided to try to fix the lock on Nannie’s bedroom door. We failed. Actually, we managed to lock ourselves and our grandma out of her room, and the only way to unlock the door was from the inside. So my Dad and Granddad fetched the ladder from the barn and brought it to the slippery snow-covered deck. Nannie got on the ladder and climbed up to the roof. Then, stepping very carefully on the roof, she reached the window. The bedroom window was on the second floor and the only way this was going to work was if the window was unlocked. We were in luck! Nannie wiggled it open and climbed in, and from the inside she was able to unlock the door. While all this was happening, the culprits (Margot and I) were having a snowball fight in the back yard with all of our other cousins.

At the end of this holiday adventure, we learned our lesson: we were too small to mend anything on our own, and if we wanted to fix something, we should ask for help before we make it even worse.

It was a wonderful Crazy Christmas, and one I’ll always remember!

How about sharing YOUR crazy Christmas Story?