Today, Derek explained to me some of his family's Christmas traditions. On Christmas Eve, they always headed out for Chinese food, but during the first few years; Derek insisted on McDonald's. The only concession that he would make was to eat an egg roll. But as he got older, he found that he enjoyed Chinese food, too. In fact, he and Mike continued the tradition this year.
Christmas morning, Derek and Sean would wake up around 4:30 or so and peek downstairs to see if they could get a glimpse of the presents that they would soon open. There was a rule in the house that they had to wait until their parents woke up and from what Derek tells me, that wasn't always right at 4:30. To pass the time, he and Sean would meet in one of their rooms to guess what they were going to get that day.
Derek's most memorable present was the year that he received a go-kart when he was about twelve. He came downstairs thinking that he might not get it, but Tammie and Mike came through. They may have led him to believe that he was going to get a Barbie doll, but the go-kart was safely in the garage.
Each year, Sean and Derek received gifts at three different spots. First, they opened presents at home, then at Grandma and Grandpa Hachey's, and finally at Ma and Da Hastings. Christmas was very important to Tammie and Mike and they took pains to make everything special.
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