Christmas

By: Allison Norris

Single mom Allison Norris writes about the holidays with her son.

Christmas was a success. Baylor was utterly confused and excited by ginormous gifts sitting in his living room. I got him a fold-out tent that is the shape of a truck. It folds down into flat nothingness and pops up into a huge structure that takes over my entire living room. Genius and obnoxious all at the same time.

My mother gave Baylor Play-Doh. It’s all he wants to do. I’m sure when he finally closes his eyes at night, he dreams of dog and giraffe play-doh cut outs dancing around. Visions of shoving the soft, sweet smelling material into the fun factory where he can crank out noodles or long strips of blue dough force him to scream “DOH!” when I walk into his room each morning. It’s his new obsession. Specks of neon pink and blue are all over my floor and carpet. I try to clean up after each play time, but it manages to stick to my feet and then it’s tracked all over my house.

After screaming “DOH” since the day after Christmas, we walk out into the living room each morning and he gasps like there will be more new toys waiting for him. He goes over to his new tractor and truck tent and touches them like it’s the first time he’s ever seen them. His wonder and excitement fill the room and he plays quietly for the next hour, rediscovering his new treasures.

And then he locks me in the truck tent.

It’s a fairly small area, but with a door. Each “wall” has some sort of cut out – a window, a circle crawl space, or the door. With his chest puffed out, he drags me into the truck and shuts the door hard and fast. He then stomps around the room and finds items that he can throw at me through the door.Last night, he cracked open the door just enough to fit his juice cup and said “JUICE” and shoved it in my mouth. He took it back and shut the door just as fast as he’d opened it. Next it was a harmonica, a fruit snack, a raisin shoved into my mouth (who knows where it came from), and a dump truck. I was his prisoner and he totally loved it.

Christmas was a total success. Good food, great times, a truck tent and no drama. Everything I had hoped Santa would bring!