When I was growing up, Christmas morning was a moment of pure joy and happiness. Nobody ever forgets the anticipation of waking up in the morning and finding piles of presents under the Christmas tree, waiting to be opened, okay shredded, and played with for the next few hours.
However, I am now an adult with a wife who never grew up with that tradition. In China, they don't allow the open practice of religion. And even when they did, it was usually Buddhism, not Christianity. Plus back then they were pretty poor so the idea of having Christmas presents was pretty alien.
That partly explains the conflict we had Christmas morning. The children got up earlier than usual, ready to tear into the stacks of presents. My wife, however, had other plans. She told our daughter that before she can open any presents, she first had to finish her Kumon homework from the night before. Of course if she can't open her presents, her little brother can't start opening his either. I intervened and told her that was ridiculous. This IS Christmas! How can she think about doing homework on this day.
She thought about it for a minute then relented. But before they could proceed, she wanted them to get dressed in their best clothes so that she can take videos of them while they unwrap the presents. The children looked at me glumly. They were ready to open presents NOW. Again, I told her that all these rules were taking the fun and spontaneity out of Christmas morning. Then without her consent, I told the kids Go and they tore through their presents. Needless to say this set up quite a row the rest of the day between me and my wife. That is what Christmas morning is like with a Tiger Mom.
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