AsChristmasiscoming,therearepresentstobebought,cardstobesent,androomstobecleaned.Parentsarefacedwithdifficultjobsofhidingpresentsfromcuriousyoungchildren.Ifthegiftsarelarge,thisissometimesareal   11 .OntheChristmasEve,youngchildrenfindtheexcitementalmostunbearable.TheyaretornbetweenthewishtogotobedearlysothatFatherChristmaswillbringthempresentsquicklyandthewishto  12  uplatesothattheywillnot  13  thefun.Thewishforgiftsusuallyprovesstronger.Butthoughchildrengotobedearly,theyoftenlie  14  foralongtime,hopingtogetashortlookatFatherChristmas.
LastChristmas,mywifeandI  15  hidafewlargepresentsinthestoreroom.I  16  themomentwhenmyson,Jimmy,wouldaskmewherethatnewbikehadcomefrom,butfortunatelyhedidnotseeit.
OnChristmasEve,  17   tookthechildrenhourstogotosleep.Itmusthavebeennearly  18  whenmywifeandIwentquietlyintotheirroomandbegan  19  stockings.ThenIpushedinthe  20  IboughtforJimmyandleftitbesidetheChristmastree.Weknewwewouldnotgetmuchsleepthatnight,forthechildrenwere  21  togetupearly.Ataboutfiveo’clockthenextmorning,wewere  22  byloudsoundscomingfromthechildren’sroom—theywereshoutingexcitedly!  23   Ihadtimetogetoutofbed,youngJimmycameridingintotheroomonhisnewbike,andhissister,Mary,followedclosebehindpushinghernewbabycarriage.  24  thebabyarrived.Hemovedonthehandsandkneesintotheroomdraggingalargeballoon.Wewerewokenup  25  bythematthistime.