When Connor McDavid was four or five years old, he awoke at 4:30 on Christmas morning. His parents, Kelly and Brian, heard him get out of bed and run to wake his brother, almost four years older.

Together, the boys sneaked downstairs and peeked beneath the tree at the presents Santa and his reindeer delivered overnight. Then they snatched their stockings, padded back up the stairs and rummaged through them in Cameron's room.

"They were always up at the crack of dawn," Kelly says, wistfully. "They tried to be quiet, but would get excited and then we could hear them talking. Eventually one of us would have to go and tell them to settle down."

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It's been a long time since the McDavids celebrated a family Christmas. As the boys grew older, their holidays revolved around hockey, always a tournament to play here or there. The past two years, Connor was with Team Canada at the World Juniors.

"The year before last, we flew to Sweden on Christmas Eve, landing there on Christmas Day, and didn't get to see him," Kelly said. "Last year, we opened presents on FaceTime so we got to see each other, but it still wasn't the same."

The McDavids will be together for an old-fashioned Christmas this year. Connor, who turns 19 in a few weeks, is enjoying a pause from his first season with the Edmonton Oilers. Cameron, 22, is on a holiday break from Western University, where he is studying at the Ivey Business School.

"I was just telling Brian how much I am looking forward to this," Kelly says. "I can't remember a Christmas where we weren't rushing off to a hockey tournament. It's been a long time."

Still recovering from an injury incurred on Nov. 3, McDavid headed to the airport Monday night after taking in the Oilers' 3-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets. He arrived in Toronto on a red-eye at 6:38 Tuesday morning, and headed directly to the Mattamy Centre in the old Maple Leaf Gardens.

"I am running on Red Bull and a little coffee," he says.

Dressed in blue jeans, Stan Smiths and a red track jacket, McDavid popped in on some peewee players in their dressing rooms. The 11- and 12-year-olds, girls from the Leaside Wildcats and boys from the Leaside Flames, gathered for a friendly scrimmage and some hockey advice from the Oilers' star centre, part of an initiative to give children access to hockey.

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"I'm betting on you to beat the boys," he told the preteen girls, who seemed delighted and a little awestruck. When McDavid visited the neighbouring dressing room, the boys lost their minds, whooping and hollering as he charged around high-fiving and fist-bumping them.

"I try to make it as memorable a day as I can," says McDavid, who grew up in Newmarket, in the Toronto suburbs. "I try to leave them with something to think about, whether it is by something I've said or something I've done. The kids get so excited to see you that you can't get help get excited, too."

McDavid was off to a fast start in his first NHL season when he fell awkwardly and crashed shoulder-first into the boards during a game against the Flyers at Rexall Place. The collision broke his left collarbone, which required surgery the next day.

He was the Oilers' leading scorer at the time, and had just been chosen the league's rookie of the month after registering 11 points in his past seven games.

His parents were at home watching on television when their son was injured.

"I knew right away, as soon as he hit the wall, that something was wrong," Kelly says.

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McDavid is recovering nicely, skating daily and shooting the puck without pain. He doesn't know when he will return, but it is likely he will be playing games sometime in January.

"I feel good," he says. "At this point, I am just trying to strengthen the area, and am waiting for the bone to heal."

The Oilers enter the NHL's holiday break with seven victories in their past 10 games, and are only two points from a playoff position. A year ago, they were 7-21-7 and on the way to missing the postseason for the ninth straight year.

McDavid is happy to be home for a few days, and looking forward to a Christmas with family. This time around, he may have sit out the annual father/son game that he, Cameron and Brian have participated in the day before Christmas against their former minor-hockey teammates and their dads. Each year, the group rents ice time at a local rink, and then has lunch together afterward.

On Chrstmas Eve, the McDavids will gather at a Chinese restaurant for their traditional Christmas Eve feast. Then the boys will sleep in their own beds, and open gifts on Christmas morning.

"Our Christmas gifts definitely revolved around hockey," McDavid says. Once, he received a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey with his number and name on the back. He could have ended up a member of the Maple Leafs, had the Oilers not won the draft lottery last April.

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The McDavids will go to Brian's parents' house for brunch on Dec. 25, and then will have dinner later with Kelly's parents.

"We try to have as traditional a Christmas as possible," she says. "I think all of us are looking forward to it."

This time, the boys will sleep in later.