3.) Tell us about something that is haunting you.
Every year I get the kids a new ornament that they get to hang on the tree and then all their ornaments are collected and put in a box labeled with each of their names. I started this so that when they get grow up they’ll have a collection of their own ornaments to hang on the tree and it will be filled with pleasant memories.
My task every year is to see to it that these ornaments are safely rounded up and placed back in their respective boxes and I take this task very seriously.
Last year there was a little train that didn’t make it into the box. My boy’s train! He loves trains!
I discovered it while emptying a pantry and stuck it on the kitchen counter so that I would remember to pull out the Christmas boxes in the garage, find my boys ornaments, and place the train in it’s safe place.
But when I went to grab it from the counter it was gone. My boy had gotten to it first.
This game of finding the train and losing it to the boy went on allllll year long!
January, February, March…
It became my arch nemesis. I’d find the train and be all, “OH THERE you are!!” but before I could grab it my boy would be all “TRAIN!!!” and I’d shake my fist at them both as he happily ran away with it.
April, May, June…
I’d stumble upon it at the bottom of the bathroom hamper, “That’s IT! You’re mine now!!” but it would disappear before I finished washing the clothes.
July, August, September…
Toy buckets, couch cushions, shoe boxes, food pantry…the train made it’s rounds all through the house and just like the squirrel you see in Ice Age scrambling to get it’s nut…so too did I scramble for this train. Determined to get my hands on it and place it back into it’s respected home.
You might wonder why I did not immediately put this train back into it’s box any of the times I DID have it in my hands and I can only say that it’s because I always found it when I was busy with something else. It’s never a “good time” to go hunting through your garage for a small Christmas ornament box. So I always placed it somewhere safe and elected to put it away when my cleaning task was finished and I had more time. But in doing so, opened a window of opportunity for Mr. Sticky Fingers (who was also thrilled to see it was found again), to sneak on in and swipe it from under my nose.
October, November, December…
I was worried the train wouldn’t survive to see another Christmas, but it DID! I found it just in time, hung it high on the tree myself and vowed to put it in it’s rightful home when the Christmas decorations came down.
This train would haunt me no longer!!
The day after Christmas I pulled the decorations down, but the train was gone. I left the ornament boxes out while I hunted and hunted and hunted for that tiny train. It never turned up.
I put the boxes away, so frustrated that I once again failed and that with my luck this stupid train was going to continue haunting me until next Christmas…AGAIN.
This morning I struggled to load up a van full of kids for the preschool drop off. I realized I needed to switch out car seats to accommodate a little one and while shoving, strapping, and locking it into place, discovered THE TRAIN. “AHA! SO WE MEET AGAIN!” But we were late for school so I shoved it into my purse.
Safekeeping until a better time.
I am determined to pass this piece of plastic on to his family!
It’s a train dammit! Albeit a haunted train, but still…HE LOVES TRAINS!
Now it’s your turn!
Natalie says
Your arch nemesis! When/where will you find it next???
Gretchen says
Ah, I love this! This year, my son kept slipping a small sleigh ornament off the tree and flying it around his room, and I swear I can’t find it now! I think I’ve got a haunted sleigh on my hands!
Mo @ The Baby Is Fine says
Go put it away right now!!! :)
Jamie@SouthMainMuse says
This post is exactly why I love you. Or the blogging/vlogging you. I too give the kids an ornament every year. Name and date the box. (When you’re old the years run together. You never think you’ll forget that 2006 was the year that your daughter was into the Pink Pony but believe me you will.) I have problems with the ones that have fallen off the tree and I have to glue back together. I find them months later, whatever corner I left them in waiting for the glue to dry.
Kim@Co-Pilot Mom says
This is something that happens to me all the time! Toys disappear from right under my nose whenever I put them somewhere safe until I can get back to them. It is an ongoing battle.
natteringnic says
I think this train needs its own mini-series!
Ginny Marie says
My kids have some of their own ornaments, too, and when I find it after the decorations are put away it’s impossible to get it back into the Christmas boxes! They get buried in the basement so quickly!
Paula Kiger says
Great story! Choo choo!!
Southern Angel says
We do the name on each ornament and they all go in one box. But every year there is one decoration of some sort that never makes it back into the boxes of the garage.
Kim says
Far more upsetting than the disappearing/appearing train:
You take the tree down the day after Christmas? Bah, humbug!
Kristen says
We have a walkable Littlest Pet Shop Toy that has a mind of its own. We don’t turn it on and still finds away to scurry around the house! Freaky!!!
Sue says
I get this. There is NEVER a good time to go hunting through boxes of ornaments in the middle of January. Or May. Or what have you. And so…it looks as if this is to be your fate. Forever. Muahahahahaaaaaa!
AnnMarie says
You have the train, I have the Fisher Price Baby Jesus. All year long, it is everywhere. Come time to put the Nativity scene under the tree, it is nowhere to be found. So funny to have the same thing happen but with different things and both revolving around Christmas. And I constantly have something in my grasp only to lose it ten seconds later.
Kate says
We have the same thing happen with a Razorback ornament. It sat on our wet bar for 12 months & then when it came time to put the tree up it was gone. Then as we were taking the tree down what did we find?!! The Razorback ornament, in it’s box no less!
Connie Weiss says
I love that you and your boy have this train to play with. Maybe you shouldn’t put it away just yet…..
Emily @ My Pajama Days says
I am so bummed I hadn’t heard of this idea YEARS ago! What a wonderful gift to your children. I wonder if it is too late to “back-date” ornament purchases. Hmmm…
Darcy says
I was thinking about starting this ornament tradition with my kids next year… hopefully none of ours will go rogue!
Maggie S. says
I have a couple of things around the house like that. And… the Christmas decs will never ALL go in the box.
Miriam Gomberg says
I hope you realize that the train only has it’s power over you because you showed fear. Tell it that you aren’t going to take the haunting anymore and that you will simply ignore it. Then it will probably give up and get in the box.
Jen says
Ok, that’s funny.
But I wonder, is the train still in your purse or has it escaped your clutches yet again?!
Jennifer says
The littlest things drive us the most crazy.
Diane@BeStillaMinute says
When my boys were younger, I always had in my possession (either in a pocket or in my purse) some kind of truck, dinosaur or yes…train! I hope you finally won the battle and returned it safely to its rightful place in the garage!
Lisa @ The Meaning of Me says
That is so funny. We play a similar game with a tiny stuffed toy (actually, I believe it originally was an ornament…) that looks like a cross between a Zebra and an Aardvark. One of us hides it, the next finds it. Our daughter has gotten in on the game now, too. Great fun.
Your ornament collection tradition is great. My mom did that for each of us growing up and when we moved out, our ornaments went with us so we would have a nice first Christmas tree to look at and remember home. We’ve started it for our daughter, too. So much fun to add to the collection each year!
Tonya says
Chugginton, chuga chuga chuga! :)
@PamelaMKramer - A Renaissance Woman says
Whoa! I almost forgot to link up. Glad I made it. :)
omg – I have that train issue. It didn’t make it in the box. It’s was sitting on the fireplace mantel. Now it’s gone…. :-O
Angie@TheLittleMumma says
Oh man, this happened to me, too! And with a Christmas ornament! I find the thing that’s meant to go in the place but then the kid finds the thing before it can get into the place and the cycle repeats.
But this year, the thing is in the place and ain’t no little hands gonna take it out of the place again until Dec 1. Yes!
Leslie says
First, as a child, I loved opening the box of Christmas ornaments that were accumulated under my name. After seeing those “old friends” I’d peak over and see my sister looking through her box. These were some of my earliest memories.
Your train game sounds especially fun. My mom and I had the “guess what” game where one of us would say “guess what” with some inflection to trick the other into believing we had something to say other than I love you.
laura says
That is too funny!
I do buy the yearly special ornament, but this was the first year I’ve let them know what it is. I usually buy it and stick it in the trunks. I don’t know why I don’t think to hang them on the tree. Probably like yours it’ll vanish and haunt me.