The Story Of The Chair

Christmas Eve we went to Steve's Aunt's place for his family's annual Holiday get-together. Someone usually buys a bunch of inexpensive gifts and we all play a yankee swap, choosing numbers and then getting the good stuff stolen from us. I lost a box of chocolates to Steve's cousin Mark, and ended up with a couple of make-your-own-art painting sets and a stuffed snowman hugging a jar of candies.

Nicholas and Nathan, predictably, were bouncing off the walls. Some kind relatives gave them some gifts which they opened and fought over. They bounced around trying to eat food off other people's plates. They refused to eat food off their own plates. They climbed up on every single chair in the place. Nicholas kept stealing sweets from the table...

And finally Steve's uncle Neal brought out THE CHAIR. It sat on the floor, it had a back to it, and it RUMBLED! That is, it was a massage chair. The boys loved it. They fought over it. They both squeezed in it together. They pressed the button turning it on and off and on and off on off on off on off... It was funny.

The next day, Christmas, Steve's mother came over with a billion wrapped boxes for the boys and two large Santa Style Sacks filled with goodies for me and for Steve. I reached into mine and the first thing I pull out... IS THE CHAIR! My first thought was that she stole it, but no, Lillian wouldn't do that. Actually, she had no idea Neal HAD one. You can imagine how she felt when he walked out of his bedroom with it. She thought he somehow had the chair! How did he get that? Did she bring the wrong gifts? HOW AWKWARD!

It all turned out fine. I can't actually USE the chair for more than a few moments because the boys have a way of SQUEEZING themselves in between my back and the chair itself... I have to figure out how they do that.