A Little Christmas Story

I watched the clock turn from reading 11:59 12-23 to showing 12:00 12-24.  It’s christmas eve.  It had been christmas eve for about twenty-five minutes already.  The radio-clock was that slow.

I was not in my bed.  All of my lights were off—my parents (based on the sounds I could hear coming from outside my room) were still awake for some reason—and I was sitting on the floor, cross-legged, with my guitar strapped around my back and in my hands.  I was strumming a variety of melodies, rhythms, as well as throwing in an occasional riff not as much memorized as invented on that spot.  I found solace from the world in my improvisations and from mixing songs together on that guitar that night.  Sometimes I would be playing gently, soft, almost as if playing myself a lullaby.  Other times, I would strum out a sound that, while not particularly loud, (for my parents sake) was very much energized and engaged.  It’s christmas eve.

I did this for half an hour more before I put down the guitar and climbed back into bed to not sleep some more.  Ok, I did sleep.  A little.  But not much.  I’ve never been a heavy sleeper.  My grandma, on the other hand, can sit down and fall asleep while my brother plays heavy rock on guitar hero.  That happened on a christmas past.  But it’s not christmas past.  It’s christmas eve.

Ten o’clock, and I “wake up,” or rather, roll out of bed.  To open the advent calendar, my turn, it is.  Star Wars themed, the calendar is.  Dressed as Santa Clause, a Yoda figure is.  So speak silly, I do.  Then, cutting out the weird arrangements of sentences, I get myself a bowl of cereal and eat.  I’m Bored.  It’s christmas eve.

Lunch time.  Not hungry.  It’s christmas eve.

And so the day passes.  We have dinner.  We watch the polar express.  It’s christmas eve.

Ten o’clock rolls around again.  This time, it’s evening.  I’m going to bed.  Not to sleep, but to bed.  And then it hits me.  I mean, it actually hits me.  All day I knew, but it didn't mean anything until now: It’s christmas eve.

I didn’t sleep that night.