Are you the sort of person who saves the best for last? If you sit down at a banquet and find a piece of pie sitting above your place setting, do you dutifully wait until after the remains of the entree have been cleared away? Or do you sneak a bite or two first?

            If you’re reading the newspaper, do you start with the part you like best — the comics, the sports page? Or do you read the minor news first, even the obituaries, rewarding yourself only at the end?

            At Christmas time, especially in houses with small children, “save the best for last” is usually the rule. In many households, parents and children sit down together, around the Christmas tree. Childhood enthusiasm being what it is, parents must enforce a certain amount of order on this occasion or else the gift-giving will swiftly degenerate into chaos. Every once in a while, a child will pick a certain gift up, and father or mother will say, “Don’t open that one yet. Save it for later.” That’s how the kids know that gift is one of the best.

            How many parents have pulled a certain innocent prank when it comes to an intensely desired but very expensive gift? A child is looking for, say, a bicycle. When every package has been opened and the realization begins to dawn that perhaps this is not the year, mother or father says, “Why don’t you take a look out on the porch?” And there, covered by an old blanket, is the shiny, new bike. The best is saved for last!

            Most of us prefer it that way. At the circus, we really don’t expect the show to begin with the high-wire act or the lion tamer. No, we expect the clowns to come out first, then maybe the trick riders, or the trampoline artists. Only when the circus is nearly over, when anticipation has built to the bursting point, are we ready for the big show.

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