When I was younger, so much younger than today, I worked through November marking final year exams. It required me to work four till nine each night and nine to five on Saturday.
The evenings were often hard work because after a long day’s work you were never really motivated to mark examination papers. But the goal was worth it.
In those days my kids were little and the work I did ensured we could have a good Christmas. So it was with relief that the marking ended and the wait for the Christmas cheque to arrive.
The cheque always arrived close to Christmas Eve or on Christmas Eve. It meant a rush trip to the bank, to present the cheque and argue that I needed the money there and then as it was my kids Christmas present as we’d always have many lay-bys awaiting the money to retrieve them in time.
Thankfully the tellers were understanding enough even though the cheques were written on forms that betrayed the banks previous name and caused some curiosity among the bank staff.
So with money in hand it was a dash to the store to get out the lay-bys. Then the process of getting the kids to bed and for us to place all the requested items in the correct Christmas stocking.
It meant of course that whilst my kids were little there wasn’t a lot of sleep on Christmas Day as they were told not to get out of bed until there was daylight which in Australia at Christmas is about 5.30 am.
But present wise, we always had a good time.
Written for: https://scvincent.com/2016/12/15/thursday-photo-prompt-christmas-present-writephoto/
Morpethroad 
I remember those days too, Michael. But my sons seldom made it to 5.30…until they were older, then I ws banging about downstairs until I could wake them up 🙂
I never had any trouble waking them, they woke me….did any of your sons ask for a bike? One year Santa delivered one in a box. What a nightmare that was…..
Bikee, snooker table… oh yes 🙂
them good old days, thanks, Michael 🙂
One year Santa brought me a cardboard kitchen (tab a goes into slot b) that my parents finished about 5 minutes before I woke up.
Your story will bring back lots of memories for folks!
Oh yeah…I remember those days LOL With great fondness I might add.
The fondness is now not then..😊
Yes, exactly. Never seems as stressful when you look back on it :0
Working till 2am putting together a bike was no fun.
LOL so long as there were no bits left over 😀
More like “Where the F does this bit go???
What a sweet memory that is. Thank God banks were so much simpler back in those days.
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Funny how there is always a special glow on back long ago when we were fab! Lovely post Michael! xxxx
What do you mean ‘when we were fab’ aren’t we still fab ? Well in my dreams maybe but it’s fun to still go to those places. Thanks Willow for stopping by. Hope you have a fab Christmas week 😊🎅🏻😀
yes you too , always a pleasure to drop in 🙂
Ah, I remember those days – struggling to get toys with ‘some’ assembly required put together (frequently without the help of my husband who as an OB was at the hospital delivering new present-needers) and then being awakened by flashlights in our eyes at 5 AM! Great memories now!
Yes we can look back now and laugh about it all….thanks for stopping by….
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