Do you remember being a kid, when everything about the holidays felt huge?
Christmas didn't just arrive—it loomed. Presents showed up under the tree weeks in advance. There were cookies you only ate once a year. Fancy fruit boxes no one bought any other time. Pears. Grapefruits. Pralines. The whole thing felt cinematic.
In my family, there was one Christmas that has since become a piece of permanent family lore.
I was about six years old, and my aunt and uncle had placed a present for me under the tree that was—without question—the largest gift in the room. My six-year-old brain went into overdrive. This thing was massive. It had to be incredible. I spent weeks mentally opening it.
Christmas morn...