Fifth time's the charm

This is our fifth Christmas at the inn--and for the first time, we slept through the night on Christmas Eve without any middle-of-the-night guest interruptions!

Just a recap for those of you who missed the previous Christmases:

• First Christmas--Guests can't figure out thermostat in their room on Christmas Eve and so, because they are too hot, shut off the gas to the heater. When they wake up cold at 4:00 in the morning and have trouble relighting the pilot light, they call us. It turns out they have discovered a problem with the heater. As long as the pilot light stayed on, all was well, but once turned off, it won't relight. We give them several space heaters, and try in vain to get a few more hours of sleep. The gas company is able to send out a repairman in the morning, at the lovely rate they charge for coming on a holiday. (We have since completely replaced that heater.)
• Second Christmas--Take a reservation on Christmas Eve from a travel agent for a group of three men already in route to the Valley. We only have one space that will work for them (they need three beds), and we make arrangements to leave the key out, as they will be arriving late. We are awakened at 2:00 in the morning by these men, talking loudly as they walk around outside, tromping up and down the stairs to their room. Michael goes out to ask them to keep it down. They are not happy with the room. It quickly becomes obvious that they are unfamiliar with the area and are looking for a more up-scale resort. They ask if we can call any of our friends in the area to get them another room. We explain that around here, most places don't answer their phones in the middle of the night. We point them in the direction of the nearest city and feel glad to be rid of them.
• Third Christmas--The father of our student worker from Ecuador calls us at 12:30 to wish us Merry Christmas and thank us for hiring his daughter for the season. It turns out, in South America, everyone stays up until midnight on Christmas Eve and then opens presents, calls relatives, etc. I don't think he realizes he woke us up, but his daughter is mortified the next day when he tells her he called us.
• Fourth Christmas--We get a call at 3:00 in the morning from guests saying that water is leaking into their room from the ceiling. Michael goes to investigate. Sure enough, water is pouring in at a good clip. He goes to the room above theirs and discovers that the men staying there plugged up the bathroom sink and left the water running when they went to bed. Eventually it overflowed and soaked through the floor into the room below. The guests who caused the problem were unapologetic. The guests who were dripped on were remarkably cheerful and understanding. We refunded part of their stay.
• Fifth Christmas--Aaahhh. Sleep. Of course, as Michael pointed out, we only had two rooms staying last night--our busy time starts Thursday this year--and so made less money than in Christmases past. Still, every five years or so, it's nice to have a quiet Christmas.