Sons and Christmastime: 2 Stories

David and the Chimney Story One



The fall that David started school our house had a flat roof. As November passed Thanksgiving, David suddenly became interested in getting up on the roof. He scouted around the house from all angles. After a couple of days, on a Saturday, he came to me and asked if I would help him up onto the roof. We didn't have a ladder, and there was no way I was about to help him up onto the fence to get on the roof. Still, he seemed to feel this was an especially necessary height to accomplish. Eventually, I went to our carpenter neighbor and borrowed his ladder. 

David's legs could barely make the stretch from rung to rung, so I had to keep him secure every step. But he was so intent on getting to the top that he let me keep him secure. 

Once we were on the roof, he took off like a jack rabbit directly to the chimney, grasped the top edges, leaned over the flue, studied it for several seconds, then slid off the top, turned to me, and stated flatly,

"No way."


He headed back toward the ladder, but about half way stopped and returned. Leaning well over the flue, he stared down for several seconds. Then at last he stood away from the chimney again, he said with vigor, "Never."

David lost interest in visiting Santa after that; but it didn’t diminish the season for him in other way we could tell. 




Jeffrey's Christmas Gift to His Mother  Story Two


The Christmas season before Jeffrey started school, he came to me to ask if I would help him buy a present for his mother. He wouldn’t tell me what he had in mind, but the place was "downtown."

The first evening I could, I drove him past the Stanford campus into Palo Alto. Since he wouldn’t tell me what kind of store he needed, I trailed along after him as he weaved his way from one shop to another.


When he turned into a year-round toy store, I thought, uh-oh. Of course he would! Whatever Jeffrey had in mind for his mother, this store would erase it. I was glad that I had given over the whole evening to his request, because this diversion was apparently going to use up most of it.


But NO!  Suddenly, with clear resolution, Jeffrey darted along an aisle toward something. He stopped in front of an array of hand sized vehicles, cars, trucks, wagons, and the Christmas gift for his mother.


He picked off a shelf a shiny red…

                                                                    …fire engine.