I woke up in the middle of the night. I could hear some noise in the living room. A very unfamiliar noise that I had never heard before. I was about 8 or 9 years old so actually, the middle of the night may have been 10 pm, who knows what time it really was.

So I get up and tiptoe towards the living room, scared and holding my breath, wanting to run back to my bedroom and shut the door behind me and move the dresser against my door to keep the ‘aliens’ from attacking me. Yes, I thought that there were ‘aliens’ in the house!! Thinking back, the imagination of a child is pretty awesome, actually.

Now, instead of turning around, as of today, I am still unsure as to what brave energy pushed me to keep going, I continued my heroic path towards the bizarre noises that seemed to be coming from the living room.

When I got there… I was not sure what to think…. there they were… my parents… playing Pac Man on a brand new machine that they were planning on giving to my brother and me for Christmas. They were practising at night so that they would get ahead a little bit as they knew that as soon as we would have had received the ‘alien-noise-making-gift’, there would be no way they could put their hands on the joysticks!

Sometimes, our deepest fears are actually sources of joy and fun times! To this day, this is still one of my fondest memories of Xmas time!

Have a fantastic time with your loved ones and create fond memories! May this year be the one that you always remember to be one of the Best Christmas Ever!