Earlier this week, our town celebrated the lighting of its Christmas tree in the town center on a chilly evening. Traffic was blocked to accommodate the festivities, which included free hot chocolate/fried dough/cupcakes, face painting, Santa Claus, and the pièce de résistance: fake snow blowing down from the roof of the bank onto a stretch of sidewalk.
This was right before the beloved balloon slipped off of his wrist and floated into the sky, to Little Boy’s profound disappointment. But it was fun while it lasted.
At 6:30pm, Santa turned on the tree lights and got into a house-drawn Christmas chariot (which confused a few wee ones expecting reindeer), and made his way down the street to the bank, where he would pose for photos. I tried to maintain a brisk pace to the bank so we wouldn’t have to wait long to see Santa, but the throng of parents and children made it impossible, and I refused to be one of those aggressive parents who weaved and bobbed rudely through the crowd. By the time we reached the bank, the line was 50-deep and Little Boy was pretty uninterested, so we grabbed a free hot chocolate and sat on a bench.
Mr. P showed up. Little Boy was enjoying his hot chocolate (“I love drinking chocolate,” he repeatedly told us) and was full of news for Daddy about the “snow,” about Santa, about a man in snowman costume, and…. what’s this? “Mommy, boys, one-two!” (In Little Boy speak, he was essentially saying that I associated in some way with two boys/men.)
“Oh really?” Mr. P asked. “That’s very interesting!”
“I have no idea what he’s talking about,” I said.
Then he said it again. “Mommy, boys, one-two!”
“He must be talking about the man at the bank,” I said. “I entered the raffle. I talked to him. But two boys? I don’t know.”
“One-two boys!” Little Boy said, pointing at me.
“Thank you for reporting this to me,” Mr. P said in a serious voice that was brimming with hilarity.
Ha. Sometimes, it can be really cute and funny to have a son with a non-precise grasp on the English language. And other times, it can break up your marriage. Happy holidays!
The only two boys in my life.... looking at the tree
