At Thanksgiving dinner, I was reminded by Emily of one of my (occasional) parenting blunders. Several years ago, Rob and I had the idea to spend Christmas with Emily and Claire at Dalhousie Castle in Scotland. It was not an inexpensive trip, and trying to make up for that fact, plus an honest attempt at trying to simplify Christmas, we told the girls that the trip would be their Christmas gift that year. (Get that, girls? We said that Christmas in the castle would be our gift.) This was a case of two relatively bright parents blissfully going through Christmas week without a care in the world, thinking we've given the girls the best Christmas ever, having not a single clue that things were amiss within the thick-walled fortress. And two wonderfully bright girls, ecstatic to be in a Scottish castle to be sure, but, none-the-less, certain that we were bluffing. The more we reminded them of the deal, the more they thought we were trying to fool them.
Looking back, Rob and I apparently had no idea that they were still anticipating even one little gift. Right up to the last moments of Christmas day, they thought their parents would lean gracefully out of a turret while gazing at said daughters upon the lawn below at a falconry demonstration, and shout, "Merry Christmas! Come up and see what Santa must have brought!"
We didn't find out the truth until years later.
They both say that it didn't detract from a week in such glorious surroundings (surroundings where Claire was heard to say whilst dining in the dungeon, "Mmmm... that's delicious boar!"). For me it was peace on earth. I suspect Rob thought the same. But it's funny to imagine how they were busy trying to interpret every nuance that week, all for naught. Lesson learned. Become like the Wise Men. Bear a gift.
1 comment:
That being said, it was still one of the most wonderful experiences ever. Falconry!
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