My father is a very meticulous man. For as long as I can remember, we weren't allowed to start opening our Christmas presents until Dad was ready at hand with his large garbage bag for the ribbons, bows, and paper. As we unwrapped, Dad was collecting trash. The operation was like an assembly line.

One year, as my mother and I were gathering up the unwrapped gifts, she became insistent that I had not opened all of my presents. I was certain that I had. While taking inventory of the opened gifts, we heard a loud explosion in the backyard by the burning barrel, where my father was already at work incinerating the holiday trash.

"Aha," my mother said. "I believe your father just found your other present." It had been a bottle of expensive perfume that I had requested, which now gave our burning barrel and backyard a wonderful aroma. No one was hurt, and we still laugh about it to this day. I have since married, and we have three children of our own: Joshua, age six, Caleb, five, and Jordan, two. Even at their young ages, our boys know they cannot open another gift until Grandpa has the paper from the previous gift. And they are very careful to place all their unwrapped presents in a pile.

--Ann Dee Bent, Sullivan, Missouri