As Christmas is coming, there are presents to be bought, cards to be sent and rooms to be cleaned．Parents are 1 with a difficul job of hiding presents from curious young children．If the gifts are large, this is sometimes a real 2 ．On Christmas Eve, young children find the excitement almost unbearable．They are torn between the wish to go to bed early so that Father Christmas will bring their presents quickly and the wish to 3 up late so that they will not 4 the fun．The wish for gifts usually proves stronger．But though children go to bed early, they often lie 5 for a long time, hoping to get a short 6 at Father Christmas．?
Last Christmas, my wife and I 7 hid a few large presents in the storeroom．I 8 the moment when my son, Jimmy, would 9 me where that new bike had come from, but 10 he did not see it．
On Christmas Eve, 11 took the children hours to go to sleep．It must have been nearly 12 when my wife and I went quietly into their room and began 13 stockings．Then I pushed in the 14 I bought for Jimmy and left it beside the Christmas tree．We knew we would not get much sleep that night, for the children were 15 to get up early．At about five o’clock the next morning, we were 16 by loud sounds coming from the children’s room．They were shouting excitedly! 17 I had time to get out of bed, young Jimmy came riding into the room on his new bike, and his sister, Mary, followed close behind pushing her new baby carriage． 18 the baby arrived．He moved 19 the hands and knees into the room dragging a large balloon behind him．Suddenly it burst．That woke us up 20 ．The day had really begun with a bang(巨响)．
