Children have a special view of their world. . . this little Christmas memory reminded me of that.
Many years ago, and close to Christmas, Mom promised my little brother, Monty, and I that we were going Christmas shopping just as soon as Dad got home from work. We were really excited. (I am about 4 1/2 years older than Monty and I was young, so he was probably about 3 years old).
We arrived at the store , I don't remember the name of the store, but there was Christmas music, decorations, and toys everywhere! I headed one way and Monty went the other. I had just begun to re-think my Santa list (for the umpteenth time) when I heard the unmistakable sound of my brother crying - make that screaming - no, actually, make that wailing.
He had seen a little red fire engine that he wanted right then (neither of us realized that Santa had already planned to bring it to him). My parents tried to "shush" him and reminded him that he should ask Santa to bring it to him for Christmas.There were also quiet reminders about "being a good little boy" ( that seemed reasonable to me). However, the screams seemed to escalate when he realized that the little red fire engine would not be coming home with us that evening. Indeed, he laid down on the floor, put his head on his arm, still sobbing, and refused all reasonable suggestions (even from me). At that point, Mom or Dad picked Monty up off the floor, the other one took my hand, and off we went . . just like that the shopping trip was over.
When we got home, Monty went to his room. A few minutes later, Mom went in and gave him a hug and said something like "Monty, do you want to come into the living room and say you are sorry?
He nodded, and still sniffling, the little guy got up, walked into the living room, came over to all of us and said,
"I'm sorry I didn't get that little red fire engine."
(You've got to love that)!
