I Got A Box Of Crackers

Well, Christmas has come and gone for another year.

My most memorable moment this year happened on Christmas morning while the kids were opening their presents.

Angel or Devil was opening a gift from my parents. I knew already that it was a Webkinz, which was great, however the packaging caused an event that will stand out in my mind forever. The doll was wrapped inside a saltine cracker box.

As Angel or Devil unwrapped the box she said quietly, "Nana got me crackers." The poor girl actually thought she'd been give a box of crackers. It was heart breaking just to imagine myself at her age and in her place. I could literally feel what she was feeling.

What happened next almost makes a person want to cry.

She tried her very best to be positive about her gift no matter how lame it was. She said in her best fake happy voice, "It's to put on chicken noodle soup."

Normally I would have thought that this whole situation was pretty funny! But this was just too pathetic and sad! You could taste the disappointment that she was struggling so hard to conceal.

"Nana didn't get you crackers for Christmas!" I said, "Open that box up!"

She just sat there holding the box on her lap.

"Open the box, there is something inside!"

"For the love of God open that box!!", I couldn't stand watching her trying to cope with the thought of getting crackers as a Christmas gift. I just wanted her to be relieved of that disappointment.

Finally she put me out of my misery and opened the box and was much happier to see a Black Panther Webkinz rather than 4 rows of crackers. The disappointment was immediately erased and forgotten and she moved on to the next gift as if nothing had happened.

I was lucky enough to have capture the whole thing on video, so I can always go back and see how strong little Angel or Devil was in the face of what must have been a crushing disappointment.

It was a brief moment on our Christmas day but it had a big impact on me.

Stuck! Stuck! Stuck!!!!!

One of my favorite Christmas movies of all time is A Christmas Story. I've watched it countless times and I've made the girls watch it countless times as well.

I guess that is what makes what Devil or Angel did last Tuesday so unexplainable.

Tuesday was a cold one here on the prairies. The temperature was around -10 C (-2 F). On this day after school Devil or Angel decided to stick her tongue on a metal pole. I'm still not sure about the events that led up to this decision. From what I hear from her sisters she just did it all on her own. Personally, I think there might have been a little coaxing going on. But I could see her doing it all by herself. What can I say, the kid is a daredevil.

Of coarse her tongue was immediately frozen to the pole which triggered extreme panic and screaming. I was told that a man came and pulled her off of the pole. At first I was under the impression that he just yanked her head back but was later told by Little Miss Can't Be Wrong that he poured a cup of water over her tongue while he pulled. This was a relief. It doesn't make it great but it does make it much less of a traumatic ordeal.

Regardless of whether it was a dry or wet removal, afterwards she bled like a stuck pig. As she was making her way back into the school she made sure to barf on the floor for good measure. I'm sure the janitor really appreciated that!

When I got home she was walking around and seemed to be doing OK...considering what she'd been through. She couldn't talk much because she had a big wad of tissue sticking out of her mouth.

She spent most of that evening sleeping on the couch. All that shock really does tire a person out!

The next morning she got up and I tried to get her to drink some milk. She took two sips and threw up on the floor. I cleaned that up (while I was trying to eat my own cereal) and then decided to give a cup of water a try. The same thing happened. So she got to stay home from school.

She was able to drink some liquids later on in the day but only via a straw pushed to the back of her mouth. She had some water, juice, thinned out pudding and a bit of soup. She wouldn't swallow her own spit though. She just let it accumulate and then let it fall out into a bowl. She basically didn't do anything that required any movement of her tongue.

Today she was good enough to go to school but still not eating solids. At least she was swallowing her own spit!

One day she will look back at this incident and laugh but it sure won't be anytime soon.

I knew that one of the kids would do this one day. I'm just glad that they were all present to witness a live demonstration of what happens when you put your tongue on metal objects in the winter and that they all get to see the aftermath.

I guess some things you just have to see to believe. At least she is now famous at the school as "The Kid Who Froze Her Tongue To That Pole". I can almost see the kids standing around the pole pointing at the fuzzy bits of tongue still frozen in place.