Christmas Gifts That Take On A Life Of Their Own

My wonderful wife pays attention to the details.  And it's one of those qualities that equally drives me crazy and makes me grateful at the same time.  Because outside of the current BCS ranking of the Notre Dame football team, which requires very little analysis these days, I run from the details in life.  Given that many details are fundamental to living somewhere north of the survival zone,that's not always a good thing, so I am blessed to have that balance in my life. 

With that disclaimer provided, I'll start my story.

Some details in life are not fundamental to survival.  For instance, Katie recently came home from a Christmas shopping trip and wondered out loud if Santa might be filling Elliott's wish list more generously than Ian's.  And so I wondered out loud in return, which is quite different from questioning your wife's sanity, how on earth that might come to light even if it were true.  I mean would Ian really, at two years old, take some sort of inventory of gifts.  He is doing well with his numbers, but does he even have the capacity to balance the books on that one?  And even if he could, if he detected an imbalance, what does he do, sue Santa Claus?  Now that would be a brilliant idea.  If there are offenses that possibly land you permanently on the naughty list, suing Santa Claus has got to be among them. 

I got a look from Katie that said, like it so frequently does in situations like this, that my wondering was all useless.  She had already determined the answer to her question before she asked it and had solved it.  There was an imbalance.  Our baby Ian was beeing cheated - by Jolly Old Saint Nicholas himself.  So much for Saint.

And so, the great equalizer, the gift that made sure that all Santa lists were delivered if indeed not created - equal.  That last bit of elf overtime, the star on the Christmas tree: a Pterodactyl.

As I watched the scene below unfold, I was reminded as I so often am, that just because my wife drives me crazy, it doesn't mean she is crazy.  In fact, she's most often the brains of this operation we call a family.