1. It was the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring...

2. Well that’s not exactly true... Alex was stirring. He wasn’t supposed to be.

3. After he ate the great big wonderful dinner his mom made...

4. and after his fantastic warm bubbly bath...

5. after three tremendous bedtime stories...

6. and after prayers and kisses,

7. the light was turned off and the door was closed.

8. But that was just the beginning. It was 8 pm. Alex was ready.

9. He was so excited for Christmas, he was going to stay awake all night and shout with a loud voice “WAKE UP” to the whole house as soon as he could see the light of Christmas day.

10. Under his covers he had his supplies for the night:

11. graham crackers, chocolate chip cookies and potato chips in case he got hungry,

12. a small squirt gun to spray himself with cold water in case he got tired,

13. comic books, coloring books, crayons, picture books, puzzles, 2 LEGO sets – with building maps of course, and a flashlight-

14. he couldn’t turn the overhead light on or mom and dad would know...

15. He counted to 55 and got busy.

16. and he worked a little with LEGO and he ate and he read... He colored and he read and he ate and he colored

17. by 9:30 he was getting very sleepy…

18. Squirt, squirt and back to work he went…

19. and he worked a little more with LEGO He colored and he ate and he read

20. and by 10:00 he was sleepy again…

21. Squirt, squirt, color, read, eat, build, squirt, eat, build, read, squirt, eat, color, squirt, squirt, build, read...

22. By 10:30, he could hardly keep his eyes open and the squirt gun was empty.

23. So up out of bed he jumped – he had expected this and had a plan.

24. 10 jumping jacks later – in slow motion of course and on his toes so no one would hear, he was back in bed.

25. and began to nod off... Where he colored and he read and he built a little more and he ate...

26. How can the night be so long? Surely it must be almost morning!

27. But no... the clock on his bedside table said 11:00.

28. 10 more jumps... a few more Legos... a half a picture colored... a page read... Sleepy... Sleepy... 10 more jumps... a little more coloring... a few more pages...

29. And then, at 11:15, the unexpected happened. The flashlight went out.

30. And he sat in the dark not knowing where mom and dad kept the batteries and not having another flashlight.

31. And he was so tired. “I’ll just take a little nap...”

32. “WAKE UP ALEX! MERRY CHRISTMAS! ALEX, WAKE UP!” shouted Mom and Dad and Alex’s little sister.

33. And Alex woke up. But he was too tired to eat the wonderful big breakfast.

34. And he was too tired to open his presents.

35. Too tired... too tired... too tired. “I’ll just take a little nap.”

36. And Alex slept through Christmas. The End.