I can only hope my son makes my wife cry again this Christmas.
Stay with me – the tears are a good thing.
My wife and I are entering our sixth Christmas with children after we were blessed with twins in July 2018.
While the first four Christmases were great, last year when the kids were 4 years old really brought a new spirit to the holiday.
They were aware of what was happening last year, and they also started to grasp the concept of receiving presents.
Fortunately, they also started understanding giving presents as well. However, they did not quite get the idea of surprising someone with a gift.
It will be hard to pick a more humorous and slightly annoying moment than as a father being brave enough to bring two 4-year-olds to a store during the holiday season, giving them the reins to pick a gift for Mom, only for them to burst through the door when we got home, run to Mom and tell her everything she is getting for Christmas.
They were so happy to remove any surprise from Christmas morning that you had to smile and laugh. While also thinking, ‘Well, geez, I could have just sent them with my wife to pick out a present and saved myself a few hours of kid wrangling and shopping.’
Anyway, back to why my crying wife is a happy memory.
My son and daughter enjoy the cartoon “Spidey and His Amazing Friends.” It’s a banner day when new episodes are added to the Disney Plus streaming service as the kids like having something new to watch and my wife and I finally get to watch something besides the two or three most recent offerings.
For those without children or who have not discovered this iteration of the Marvel comic book character Spider-Man, “Spidey and His Amazing Friends” is a fun, child-centric cartoon that follows the adventures of the well-known Peter Parker version of Spider-Man as well as fairly recent characters Gwen Stacy as Ghost Spider and Miles Morales as Spin.
Like with all good children’s cartoons, there is plenty of merchandise available.
Because our son enjoys the tales of the three web-slingers more than our daughter, it was determined that Santa Claus would deliver Spider-Man, Ghost Spider and Spin action figures to him on Christmas.
As the kids tore into their presents, my son announced he got a Spider-Man and that he got a Spin.
At this point, my daughter furiously started looking through her pile of presents for a Ghost Spider, which is her favorite character for no other reason than they both are girls.
But alas, my daughter was not going to find Ghost Spider in her pile. Still unopened, it was in our son’s pile.
My wife and I locked gazes and through parental ESP shared the same thought: “Oh boy, we should have gone with Ghost Spider for our daughter and added a different toy to our son’s haul.”
The panic associated with the imminent complete ruination of a 4-year-old girl’s Christmas faded quickly because as our daughter searched for Ghost Spider, our son came across the action figure.
And in the true spirit of Christmas and an act of brotherly love, he said, “Here’s Ghost Spidey. You can have it.”
It was a heartwarming moment.
Cue my wife’s happy water works.
Fast forward a year, and the kids are still adding joy to Christmas.
At age 5, the twins were much more excited about cutting down a Christmas tree. Though my son did steal my mother’s selected tree. After she set her sights on the tree, he immediately turned to my wife and asked, ‘Please, Mommy, can we get this one?’
Of course, being the wonderful grandmother she is, my mother gave up her claim to the tree and let us display it in our living room. Though by playground rules of “I saw it first” and “finders’ keepers,” she knew she was well within her rights to claim the lovely tree for herself.
The children also were much more involved in decorating the house this year.
Their enthusiasm was likely being heard by at least half, if not all, our neighbors, as they took turns yelling, “It’s Christmas!”
This year also has brought a new joy to seeing Santa Claus and other seasonal characters such as the Grinch and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer at various events we have attended. My children are nearly impossible to hold back when they see these characters.
That’s a huge turnaround from when they were 1 and both began crying after being placed on Santa Claus’ lap. (A side note: You never know how much crying is involved during Christmas before you have children.)
Our children really have made Christmas that much more enjoyable as their innocent enthusiasm really does make the holiday brighter.
I can’t wait for more memories to be made this year and in the many Christmases to come.
