3.) Tell us about something that is haunting you.
Every year I get the kids a new ornament that they get to hang on the tree and then all their ornaments are collected and put in a box labeled with each of their names. I started this so that when they get grow up they’ll have a collection of their own ornaments to hang on the tree and it will be filled with pleasant memories.
My task every year is to see to it that these ornaments are safely rounded up and placed back in their respective boxes and I take this task very seriously.
Last year there was a little train that didn’t make it into the box. My boy’s train! He loves trains!
I discovered it while emptying a pantry and stuck it on the kitchen counter so that I would remember to pull out the Christmas boxes in the garage, find my boys ornaments, and place the train in it’s safe place.
But when I went to grab it from the counter it was gone. My boy had gotten to it first.
This game of finding the train and losing it to the boy went on allllll year long!
January, February, March…
It became my arch nemesis. I’d find the train and be all, “OH THERE you are!!” but before I could grab it my boy would be all “TRAIN!!!” and I’d shake my fist at them both as he happily ran away with it.
April, May, June…
I’d stumble upon it at the bottom of the bathroom hamper, “That’s IT! You’re mine now!!” but it would disappear before I finished washing the clothes.
July, August, September…
Toy buckets, couch cushions, shoe boxes, food pantry…the train made it’s rounds all through the house and just like the squirrel you see in Ice Age scrambling to get it’s nut…so too did I scramble for this train. Determined to get my hands on it and place it back into it’s respected home.
You might wonder why I did not immediately put this train back into it’s box any of the times I DID have it in my hands and I can only say that it’s because I always found it when I was busy with something else. It’s never a “good time” to go hunting through your garage for a small Christmas ornament box. So I always placed it somewhere safe and elected to put it away when my cleaning task was finished and I had more time. But in doing so, opened a window of opportunity for Mr. Sticky Fingers (who was also thrilled to see it was found again), to sneak on in and swipe it from under my nose.
October, November, December…
I was worried the train wouldn’t survive to see another Christmas, but it DID! I found it just in time, hung it high on the tree myself and vowed to put it in it’s rightful home when the Christmas decorations came down.
This train would haunt me no longer!!
The day after Christmas I pulled the decorations down, but the train was gone. I left the ornament boxes out while I hunted and hunted and hunted for that tiny train. It never turned up.
I put the boxes away, so frustrated that I once again failed and that with my luck this stupid train was going to continue haunting me until next Christmas…AGAIN.
This morning I struggled to load up a van full of kids for the preschool drop off. I realized I needed to switch out car seats to accommodate a little one and while shoving, strapping, and locking it into place, discovered THE TRAIN. “AHA! SO WE MEET AGAIN!” But we were late for school so I shoved it into my purse.
Safekeeping until a better time.
I am determined to pass this piece of plastic on to his family!
It’s a train dammit! Albeit a haunted train, but still…HE LOVES TRAINS!
Now it’s your turn!