I\u2019ve never heard my father talk that way. Stern. Forceful. Commanding. A little like a general. It scared me, a bit. He\u2019s an understanding man. A great listener. Compassionate. Reasonable. One who would rather help you see the way than simply tell you which direction to go. I appreciate that about him. It\u2019s a great trait. <\/p>\n
But this was different. \u201cOK, just go away,\u201d he said. I think it\u2019s the only time in my life he\u2019s ever spoken like that to me. <\/p>\n
Head down, I trudged off. I knew I was doomed. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd shut the door, please,\u201d my daughter said as I went. <\/p>\n
I left her alone in the office. On the computer. Using Skype. With my dad. To talk about \u2026 CHRISTMAS PRESENTS!!! <\/p>\n
He has been bugging me. Cryptic emails that read, \u201cFor your eyes only!\u201d in the subject line, and then Web links to a toy page on Amazon.com. It had specific instructions: \u201cidentify the circus ones she most likes and RANK them (and no holding her back, I\u2019ll filter them).\u201d<\/p>\n
What does that even mean? Aside from the fact that I have completely lost control. That the mild-mannered man has gone Christmas mad and has every intention of doing whatever he wants. Grandfathers spoil kids. They can buy whatever they want. I\u2019ve learned that now. <\/p>\n
For a half hour the two of them chatted back and forth on Skype, wandering through Web page after page as they mulled over various Playmobil sets. I sat in the other room sweating and chewing my nails. \u201cWhat are they doing in there?!?\u201d I wondered. \u201cWhy didn\u2019t I install those security cameras like my wife wanted?!?\u201d<\/p>\n
Finally, the door opened and my daughter poked her head out. She sounded like a nurse: \u201cWe are ready to see you now.\u201d <\/p>\n
I was ushered in, sat before the screen and explained what was going on. Shown a list of toys. <\/p>\n
\u201cAre you crazy!\u201d I said. \u201cYou can\u2019t buy all that stuff!\u201d <\/p>\n
My dad laughed. But it wasn\u2019t his typical jovial laugh. This was a \u201cGodfather\u201d mafia laugh. A \u201cson, this is happening\u201d laugh. <\/p>\n
\u201cOK, it\u2019s time for you to go,\u201d my daughter said. \u201cI need to talk to Pop some more.\u201d <\/p>\n
And I was shuffled out. More laughter ensued. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have lost total control over Christmas,\u201d I muttered, wondering if I will need to add on to the house. Wondering if I would one day do this to my daughter, too. <\/p>\n
\u201cOh, yes!\u201d I thought while making a permanent mental note. One day I will carry on this Christmas tradition with her children. And I\u2019ll have plenty of time to perfect my own crazy-grandfather-mafia-\u201cthis-is-happening\u201d laugh for my season of OVER-giving. <\/p>\n
In the meantime, Merry Christmas to all! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019ve never heard my father talk that way. Stern. Forceful. Commanding. A little like a general. It scared me, a bit. He\u2019s an understanding man. A great listener. Compassionate. Reasonable. One who would rather help you see the way than simply tell you which direction to go. I appreciate that about him. It\u2019s a great trait. But this was different. \u201cOK, just go away,\u201d he said. I think it\u2019s the only time in my life he\u2019s ever spoken like that to me. Head down, I trudged off. I knew I was doomed. \u201cAnd shut the door, please,\u201d my daughter said as I went. I left her alone in the office. On the computer. Using Skype. With my dad. To talk about \u2026 CHRISTMAS PRESENTS!!! He has been bugging me. Cryptic emails that read, \u201cFor your eyes only!\u201d in the subject line, and then Web links to a toy page on Amazon.com. It had specific instructions: \u201cidentify the circus ones she most likes and RANK them (and no holding her back, I\u2019ll filter them).\u201d What does that even mean? Aside from the fact that I have completely lost control. That the mild-mannered man has gone Christmas mad and has every intention of doing whatever he wants. Grandfathers spoil kids. They can buy whatever they want. I\u2019ve learned that now. For a half hour the two of them chatted back and forth on Skype, wandering through Web page after page as they mulled over various Playmobil sets. I sat in the other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[543,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2014-nutshells","category-parenthoodandchildren"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1235"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1236,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1235\/revisions\/1236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}