I don't know about you, but for me Christmas was the best day of the year (a

close second best was the last day of school before summer vacation).

Christmas morning was always great fun for me and my brother. I stopped

believing in Santa Claus when I was 7 or 8 years old, but I still believed in

getting presents no matter who or what the source.

My parents were happy to oblige us. They were always generous in their gift

giving, and never failed to keep us busy, in the early hours of December

25th, opening gifts.

I don't mind saying that nowadays, though still exciting, Christmas is a lot

less the event it was back then. These Christmas mornings my wife and I usually

sleep in then enjoy a cup of coffee before opening up our gifts.

One Christmas I remember fondly. My parents lacked adequate storage areas in our

row home. This particular holiday my brother and I were getting a couple of

larger items, a pool table and a couple of bikes. One morning, about 5 days

before Christmas, we saw that there was a sign on the basement door. It read

'KEEP OUT'. Due to the fact that our basement door did not lock, keeping us out

of there would have probably required an armed guard. About 2 minutes later, we

snuck down there. Of course on Christmas morning we acted surprised as hell.

One quick note about the pool table. It was not one of the fancier models. In

fact, it was kind of cheap. We had to keep putting stuff under the legs to keep

it level (eventually it was about a foot higher then when purchased). Then to

top it off, the surface beneath the felt was some type of plywood, which

couldn't wait to warp in our humid basement. The good thing was that my brother

and I knew how play the crooked thing. Many of our friends would watch in

amazement as the hit cue ball, after going straight for a while, would suddenly

make a 45 degree turn to knock their ball into the pocket.

But warps and all, I loved that pool table, and I know my brother and our

friends did too.