His grandfather started the tradition of waking everyone in the family up on Christmas morning (December 25^th) at the crack of dawn several decades ago. He was the kind of man who was always very excited for the holidays and wanted the younger kids (who could never sleep anyways) to be able to get up as early as they wanted to look at what Santa brought them in their stockings.

The adults would get their coffee first, and would keep the kids out of the living room where the stockings were until everyone was at least sort of awake and ready for presents. Then whoever was guarding the doorway would step aside and let the kids run into the living room. They would spend the early morning watching the sunrise, opening presents together. The adults would always make pancakes and cinnamon rolls for the kids. He would say a prayer with the family before breakfast.

He keeps this tradition alive today with his own grandchildren. Every Christmas, they look forward to getting up early for presents and cinnamon rolls. In fact, he finds that most of them are already awake and waiting in their beds and sleeping bags for him to come tell them it’s time to get up.