December 25, 1992

It's Christmas! Cory and I are so excited, well every Christmas is exciting. We spent the night in the same room last night and I set an alarm (yes a 10 year old boy that I am set an alarm) to wake up at 5:30am. I don't know if I have ever gotten up that early but we did. So the alarm goes off and we immediately wake up(we probably only got a few hours of sleep). We creep down the hall and look over the stairs to see if there is anything that Santa brought us and sure enough there it is. A pool table. We cannot believe it, this is probably the best gift Santa has ever brought. It is a 6 foot pool table with the set of balls, chalk and two pool sticks. As if we were a couple of pool sharks, Cory and I rack up the balls and begin a game of eight ball. Normally we try and keep the noise down on Christmas morning but not today this is too cool. Cory breaks and the game is under way, its almost 6:00 am. We get going as we are both making some shots and then mom comes in. I'm thinking she is going to be excited too to see what Santa brought us, but instead she comes out furiously and does a whisper yell. She tells us that Grandma is still sleeping and we should be quiet. We ask and plead if we can finish the first game on the pool table but she says no. It is too much noise and it's too early. She literally escorts us back into the room and tells us to go back to sleep for a while.

So we are back in my room talking about how we will finish the game later, and oh yeah open other presents we got from mom, dad, Grandma and whoever else, but we are really just wanting to play some more pool. Somehow we manage to fall asleep and before I know it, it's almost 9:00am. What!? By this time I thought Cory and I would be pros and know new types of games. We go back downstairs and mom and dad are just now getting up and making coffee. Grandma comes in and admires the pool table that Santa brought. We eat a light breakfast and then ask if we can finish the game before we open presents. We do and Cory somehow beats me as I knock the 8 ball in before all my stripes were in. Next we go to the presents, normally we are excited for this too, but not as much this year. I get a Dallas Cowboys winter jacket, some jeans, shoes, a Christmas ornament and some random hot wheels cars too which aren't bad but come on there is a pool table a few feet away. After presents and thank yous we get dad to teach us a few tricks, the best way to hold the pool stick, the real rules of 8 ball and 9 ball (a new game for us).

By late afternoon I can smell the Turkey cooking and Uncle Jerry has arrived for Christmas dinner to join us and make it more exciting. Jerry is always so much fun to be around and we hurry over to him and show him the pool table and he says we must have been good for Santa to bring a pool table all the way from the North Pole. We remark that we are and then quickly show him how good are pool skills are. Later on we eat Turkey and mashed potatoes and have some pumpkin pie with mom, dad, Uncle Jerry, and Grandma. We all watch Christmas Vacation after that. A really funny movie which I think we watched last year too. After the movie Cory and I are supposed to go brush our teeth and get ready for bed, but we have to get in one last game of pool. We cannot wait to have friends over and show them the pool table, and promptly beat them because we are awesome. I take this game from him because he scratches on the eight ball. Eventually we will get better. We go back to my room and keep talking pool with the lights out until we both doze off.