A Very Green Christmas

Jenny awoke just after daybreak.  In the next bed, she saw her sister Becky, still asleep.  She quietly tiptoed past her snoozing sister to their bedroom door.  Once clear, she carefully navigated past her brothers’ room.  They were also still sleeping.  She could barely contain her glee.  “First one up, first one up,” she quietly exclaimed to herself.

Like a cat bugler, she precisely steered down the stairs and into the living room, without making a single sound.  She passed the crumbed plate, the missing milk and the nibbled carrots to verify.  He was here, he was here, she thought.  Then she saw it, the kid holy grail.  She plopped on the floor with one swift movement and grabbed the angel stocking embroidered with her name.   Santa had come and left her clues as to where to find her presents.

Based on her playground research, Santa did not choose this method for every family.  Sometimes he just left the presents under the tree.  But for families with exceptional children, he reserved his special Christmas morning game…find the presents.  Santa left clues in their stockings, along with some fruit and a little candy for nourishment and energy to begin the hunt.

By this time, her sister and two brothers had also joined the quest, but she had a head start.  Green Clue #1, Listen for the sounds of snap, crackle and pop.  Aha, Santa was off his game, she thought.  Too easy.  She raced to the pantry and looked in the box of Rice Krispies cereal.  There was Green clue #2.

Only the knight can save the King and Queen.  She ran to the basement and seized the chess game to find Green Clue #3.  Under the eaves, alone in a furry sleeve.  Hmmm.  That one was a little harder, she thought.  Good a challenge.  Taking a minute to decipher the riddle, she saw her sister and brothers in the basement too.  They caught up.  Motivated to stay in the lead, she thought hard.  Got it! she yelled and scampered up the stairs, then up another stairs, then up one more staircase to their finished attic.  There she found her grandmother’s fur coat and hurriedly stuck her hand in the sleeve to find green clue #4.

A small light illuminates inked new worlds.  Wow, Santa was getting cleaver, she thought.  Sitting on the dusty attic floor, she once again saw her competitors catch up.  Of course, she reasoned and ran like the wind to her bedroom.  She opened her book with her book light laying on her nightstand and laughed aloud. “Santa is so sneaky,” she giggled.  “How did he get this in here right under my nose.”  Gold clue #5 – the final one.  Santa always left 5 clues, like the 5 golden rings in the song.  The 5^th gold one led to the treasure.  Practice, practice everyday and Carnegie Hall is just a few years away.  Jenny beamed and streaked down the stairs like lighting to the family room.  She looked in the space behind the piano and found the craftily concealed booty.  Jenny could hardly wait.

As per tradition, she grabbed her presents and made two trips to the tree in the living room.  She could hardly wait to open her gifts, but now that she had won, she could relax and wait for the others.  She methodically organized her packages from largest to smallest – seven in all, a Christmas record.  Then she carefully broke the tape seals on each gift for quick opening.

Just as her heard her siblings rush toward the room with their presents, she opened all the gifts as quickly as she could, so they would find her sitting there gloating over her glorious victory and their crushing defeat.

She watched as they opened their gifts, smiled at her loot and waiting to lourd it over them.  She looked over at Becky.  She only had 5 gifts, but she noted they were substantially larger than hers.

Annoyed, she then looked at Tim and David’s piles.  Tim had 3 small gifts and a tricycle.  And David, the baby, had 3 enormous gifts.  One was so big, mom and dad brought it in for him.

Jenny turned red with outrage.  They were not better than her this year, she thought.  And especially the boys, they were always getting into things.  As the oldest child, and the best behaved, she was entitled to the best gifts, she thought.

“How do you like your gifts Jenny?” yawned Jenny’s mother.  Now sitting with cross legs and arms, Jenny’s face contracted with jealous rage.

“They were not as good as I was this year,” she said pointing accusingly at the others.  “Their gifts are bigger than mine.”

Her mother paused and raised an eyebrow as she sat next to Jenny.  “Did you even look at your gifts?” she asked.  Jenny frowned and shook her head.  “Go ahead,” her mother said.

Jenny looked down for the first time to see a new piano book, a beautiful silver set of combs and brushes, and a trilogy of books from her favorite author.  All things she wrote Santa for.  She raised her eyes now pink-faced with embarrassment.  “You are older, so your gifts are smaller, but just as good as the ones your brothers and sister received,” her mother told.

Jenny watched as everyone happily played with their new toys, then picked up her new silver brush, smiled and started to brush her hair.