On the TENTH DAY of Christmas Past, Joseph Fielding Smith’s sneaky children woke him from sleep. He decided to get up to read, while his daughter hid under a table all night without making a peep.
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“Early Christmas morning (or maybe it was the middle of the night), the house was quiet and it was still dark outside when one of the Smith’s daughters, Lois, decided to tiptoe down the stairs and see what Santa had brought. She persuaded her younger brother and sister, who were also wideawake, to go with her. The three of them set out, but in order to reach the stairs they had to creep past the door of their parents’ bedroom. Slowly they inched their way down the hall, trying to be as quiet as mice. Just as they passed the last shut door, they heard a voice from behind the door. It was their father, who said loudly, “Who’s there?” The children knew they’d been caught.
Quick as a wink the two younger ones turned around, ran back to their rooms, and jumped in their beds. But Lois had already started down the stairs. When she heard her father get up and walk across the floor, she knew she couldn’t make it back to her bedroom. So instead she flew down the stairs, ran to the basement family room, and crawled under a table, where she couldn’t be seen. Soon her father came walking into the very room where she was hiding. He turned on the light, sat down in his favorite rocking chair, and began to read. And he read, and he read, and he read! All this time Lois was trapped under the table. Eventually it began to get light outside, and Joseph Fielding Smith finally put down his book and went to wake the children to open their presents. Now Lois could come out from under the table. Christmas had arrived at last, but she had lost her chance to get a head start on knowing what Santa had brought.
Everyone laughed when they found out what had happened, and they asked their father if he had known that his daughter was hiding under the table while he read. “He didn’t know, no,” he replied. “He hadn’t looked underneath the table to see if anything was there.” And then they all laughed again. Lois had been stuck for sure. Her escapade became a favorite family story to tell again and again, one of the shared experiences that bond families together in love.”
Taken from: Laura Willes, “Christmas with the Prophets”, p. 102-103.
Think of your own family’s fun Christmas stories and write them down to give to your family for some fun reminiscing.
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