It was snowing outside and I remember dad calling us out to show us the snowman he made. It looked like our neighbor Mr. Jefferson. Long nose, beady eyes, a large belly and cold. If there was one person I despised to the full potential of a two year old, it'd be him, followed by none other than Amanda. Mom and I were given the mission of finding twigs for Jeff's hands. I did it well. Got one hand which looked like a crowbar and the other looked like that of a T-Rex. Perfect!
That night was the first night I met the barbeque grill. Dad went to the basement and brought this dull black washing machine along with him. Almost everything in this house was meant to tower over me. Made me feel so...small. I loved how the quail wings my daddy was making smelled. Although I was allowed the tiniest piece from mom's share, I remember that it was the best thing I had tasted so far.
It was the eve of Christmas and I was introduced to a new character in my life. A chubby old man in red dress who brought us gifts. I thought it was Mr. Donato, the old man at the gas station who gave me a balloon each time I went there with dad. He was a cheerful man. But I was mistaken. This was another person who came all the way from the North Pole to give us presents. Santa Claus. He rode on a sleigh, pulled by flying reindeers which had red, glowing noses. When I think of it now, all I can conclude is that adults are a strange bunch and they make you believe in Santa, elves, gods and what not. Next morning, when it was still dark, Santa sneaked into my room, put a few Hershey's kisses in the sock that hung from the mistletoe. I woke up at the sound of the closing door, emptied the sock and went back to sleep with a happy mouth.
The room lit up, I felt mum pulling me out of bed. brushed my teeth and it felt like the entire neighborhood was alive. It was 7 in the morning and I heard the jingle of the ice-cream van, the chirping of the children, the bleat of old Mrs. Hess through her megaphone and the "HO!HO!HO!" of my dad from the living room. I went down and I found an awkward looking pointy tree which looked like the hat Stacey wore on her birthday. Underneath the tree, lurking in the shadows was a box. A box wrapped in sparkly, slippery paper. My imagination led me to believe that it'd be something like the Halloween.
Mom and dad pushed me to the box, another addition to the house of giants. I mustered all my courage and pulled the ribbon. Out came the Funskool Laptop I wished to have since I learnt to crawl. It had puzzles, songs, dictionary and so many cool stuff. If I had a tail back then, I would have wagged it so hard, it could have come apart.
Mom dressed me up as a ball. I was wearing 2 jackets, gloves and a winter cap. I ran out to get the cookies Mrs. Hess was giving out on her front porch. Some lunatic kid with a baseball bat ran towards me and before dad could even make it to the mailbox, I was lying there on the ground. All grew dark.
