We celebrate Christmas Eve with my brother's family of five, my own of five, and our mom. With six kids under the age of eight, opening presents has always been exciting but also quite chaotic. Three years ago, my engineer brother, in an effort to impose a more organized system, explained to the kids that whoever sat in the red chair (a small plastic kid's chair) would receive a present to open.

As we prepared to unwrap gifts, we realized that my then two-year-old son, Ryan, was sitting in the red chair and would not leave. We tried to explain that each child would rotate to the chair, open a gift, and move on. His uncle thought his directions were clear, but what Ryan had heard was that this was a magical chair whose occupant received unlimited presents!

--Denise Comstock, Palatine, Illinois