Dec 29 2006
How Santa Got Here (Pic of the Week)
Ben plays with his new voice changer.
Previously in our Christmas Misadventure, road conditions and worn tire tread joined forces to put us in a motel on Christmas Eve. Now, in the final chapter, we arrive home on Christmas day and hope that Santa came down our chimney.
Shannon figured out that Ben and I could drop her off at our house and then go waste some time while she made sure Santa had shown up in our absence (nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more). The problem was, nothing was open, and it was very windy and cold.
On our way into town, we saw that Blockbuster Video was open. We had a movie (The Proposal) that needed returning, lest we get charged the not-a-late-fee. Those poor, unfortunate souls had to work on a holiday.
Yippee for us!
I drove on to our house and dropped off Shannon, ostensibly so she could let Cassie out and bring me the movie. Ben and I were to return the DVD and then pick out another, Christmas-related show.
I tried to get A Muppet Christmas Carol, but the nice woman behind the counter said they don’t carry it. Instead, she led us to the holiday movie section and showed me that the only one still available was Kelsey Grammer’s version of A Christmas Carol. We walked out with a video that featured the short “Mickey Saves Santa” along with other, non-holiday episodes of “Mickey’s Clubhouse.”
Bah, humbug.
Back in the van, Ben said, “Daddy, can we see what Santa brought?”
Shannon called when I was about one minute from our house to remind me to get Ben worked up about Santa, and to fire up the video camera before bringing him inside. I didn’t tell her the first point was covered.
“Okay, Ben, here we go. We finally get to see what Santa brought.”
On my way to un-strap the boy, I stopped at the back of the van and grabbed the video camera. I turned it on. Check.
Ben bolted for the Christmas tree. Had Shannon not opened the door, I’m not sure it would have remained standing. He opened the packages with a look of concentration rather than sheer elation. Maybe he was befuddled by Santa’s unbelievable yet irrefutable ability to know exactly what he wanted.
We played, played, watched the Mickey video, and played.
At one point, Ben followed me to our bedroom when I went to get his mommy’s present from under my side of the bed (top secret, impenetrable hiding place). On the bed were several rolls of wrapping paper his mommy and I had used this year.
He pointed to one, a confused look on his face. “Mommy wrapped my presents from Santa,” he said.
I looked. It was the same gift wrap he had just torn through almost 10 times opening gifts from Santa.
I should have said something like, “If Santa carried all the presents around wrapped, he’d tear the paper.” Yeah, his magic can take him all around the world in one night, but he can’t use his mojo to protect some giftwrap?
Instead, I said, “No, it just looks the same.” I stuffed Shannon’s “Daughtry” CD into a gift bag, along with some red tissue paper.
Ben pointed to the paper roll again. “It’s right there, Daddy.”
That time, I did what any confident, mature father would do when challenged by a confident, intelligent three-year-old.
I left the room.
Bed time wasn’t too bad, but Ben woke up at about 1:15 a.m. asking to sleep with us. It was another symptom of spending a long weekend out of town. Shannon stuck to our plan and he went back to sleep after a trip to the potty.
When I got up for work, Shannon was asleep on the couch. She goes out there on the rare occasion when Ben’s noisy during the night, so that I can get uninterrupted sleep before work. When I walked into the living room to tell her goodbye for the day, Ben lay under the blanket with her, his head on her shoulder. I knew that I was looking at what really matters.
“A winks as good as a nod to a blind man.”
Busted. That’s too funny. I think maybe they suspect us anyway in some really puzzling way. We never wrap Santa, but rather just set the gifts out on the floor as if Santa had carefully placed them there following his trip down the chimney.
When he walked into the living room, he literally stopped and stood there in amazement. We had a racetrack set up, a castle with various characters, and of course…a “whole wide world of Dinosaurs.” That was what he asked for after all.
He played for a little while, and then said, “Daddy, how did you find all of these Dinosaurs?” Paying attention luckily, I quickly fired back with, “What? Santa’s elves made them.” Thinking I had avoided that issue very well, he finished up the conversation with, “Well…he could have just bought them at Wal-Mart.”
Yep…guess so. :-)
Blitzomatic - I’m not sure exactly what that means, and I haven’t been able to find that exact quote online. It could mean 1) you couldn’t see the video, 2) The kids understand that we’re Santa far before they call us on it, but become players in maintaining the illusion, or 3) I just plain haven’t the foggiest.
Charler - We considered the whole no-wrapping thing, but opted for the satisfaction of the slow reveal.
That’s too funny about what LC said. I heard a story almost exactly like that from someone else, but can’t remember where.
Great video… so what did Mark get for Christmas???
And Shan, what’d she get? We’re all kids at heart you know *chuckling*
Sounds like Ben had a great Christmas nonetheless.. so great job bud!
Happy New Year my friend, to you and your family.
I thought you told me that you said something like, “Well, sometimes Santa needs some help after he delivers the presents,” as to why we had the “Santa paper” on hand.
Dave, our gift to each other this year was our new doggie. Who knew that a rescue dog would be so pricey? Not us, but she’s definitely worth it! Oh, we also got each other a new engine for the van. But we did get each other a small (about $15) gift - mine was the c.d. Mark mentioned (Chris Daughtry from American Idol) and his was a sign for the yard in the shape of Arkansas with a razorback painted on it.
I do love a happy ending and that was a great Christmas tale, Mark…thanks.
There are all sorts of good reasons one could have come up with to explain away the wrapping paper…but at the instant of questioning, I doubt I could have done better. “Nothing to see here! Pay no attention to the wrapping paper! What wrapping paper?”
*laughing*
Shan,
I love the sign part… you’re going to have to take a pic of it and post it here so we all can see “The Hog”!
Dave - I guess the little lady answered your questions. I can’t wait to put my sign out, but I have to put a water sealant on it first.
Moksha - Ha! I guess I got so flustered that I don’t remember exactly what I said, judging from Shannon’s comment.
Well, everybody, little Ben is sick. He’s had stuffed-up sinuses for more than a week, with decreased appetite. Late Thursday afternoon, he had a 102 fever and was lethargic. Didn’t even feel like playing with his new toys at all, but Tylenol knocked it down enough that he felt like playing later.
We were lucky that Shannon had booked him a clinic appointment for this morning at 10. This morning he awoke with a 104 temp (according to the nurse’s thermometer).
They did a CBC (complete blood count) but can’t find anything wrong, and the flu test came back negative.
They sent us home with the boy and instructions to keep his fever down and bring him back in the morning. Doctor says it may have been a little too soon for the CBC, depending on when the fever started, so he’s leaning toward doing all the tests again. Barring a miraculous recovery, I’m sure that’s what they’ll do.
Ben’s only had fever once or twice before now, and not in quite some time, so it’s really getting him down.
We’ve postponed our trip to Shannon’s family Christmas (supposed to leave today at noon), and might not go at all.
Oh no! That just break my heart. Ben is really having to work at keeping the Christmas spirit this year between the storms and the delays and the fevers and the crushing realities brought on by wrapping paper. I’ll keep you guys in my thoughts and hope for that miraculous recovery.
Just now caught up to these last few posts I’ve missed out on, Mark. Being home for the holidays sure does seem to eat up a lot of time.
Very happy that you guys ended up having a Merry Christmas, but not so happy about the flu part. If it’s any consolation, if Ben’s temperature were 104 up here, his blood would be boiling. (That’s a lame attempt at a light-hearted joke. Yeah, I’m not really laughing either.)
Hope that you three can get out to Christmas Chez Shan in enough time to be festive and such.
Loved the video! I’m so glad you caught Ben running through the door like that. Really captured the spirit of the occasion.
1) Glad the Christmas thing worked out.
2) We never give our kid’s brains enough credit.
3) Hope Ben feels way better real soon. Seems like little kids get sick so often with holiday excitement. I’ll say a prayer.
Happy New Year to you and Shannon and Ben. :-)
Thanks, Moksha. Ben’s feeling quite a bit better, but he did that last night, too. Temp’s down to about 99.7. We’re keeping an eye on his fever and doing the ibuprofen as the doctor told us. I just gave him a lukewarm bath.
Once Ben is well, I just hope we get to drive to Tulsa in the rain, because I want to test the tires after having them rotated (the back had much more tread than the front). Yeah, that’s a weird wish.
Simon - Glad you made it back. Looking forward to your chronicle of your water adventure.
Linda - So coherent. I didn’t sense any La-la-Linda in that comment at all.
In case I don’t type to you again before then, Happy New Year, everybody!
Oh, forgot to tell ya, it’s FA-La-La Linda to you. Hee hee ;-)
My, um, “flights” come and go… It’s nothing I really have control over. I blame it on hormones.
Mark, it’s finally up after a week’s silence. You’d think I was Mokker, the way I haven’t posted at all, eh? Merry Christmas and Happy New Years and all that…
Opie Taylor lives!
Your son Ben is ADORABLE!!
Simon - A shot across Moksha’s bow, to be sure. He’s around, though, even if he doesn’t post much.
Marilyn - I hadn’t thought of the Opie comparison. Ha!
Freakish…I just read these comments, and prior to that, I had referenced a “shot across the bow” on your latest entry. WEIRD.
I didn’t know Ben had been so sick. I think it’s freakish how kids can get fevers like that, and then they just go away for no apparent reason. The Doctors are just like…”well, we don’t know for sure what’s causing the fever, but just give him ibuprofen or Tylenol (never aspirin), and call us if it gets over 103 for more than few hours.
Oh…OK then. We’ll be sure to come back next week and fork over another $25 co-pay for another “mystery fever.”