Hi there, it’s Ken Bolt from Brant Florist and the holidays are a great time of year for some sort of family gathering. Take Christmas for instance, in our home it’s a time for children – of all ages!
It’s always a time when there are children running and yelling, adults trying to quiet them down to no avail, and old folks smirking at the memories of doing the same for those adults not too long ago.
One year, I don’t recall which exactly, we all came together as usual and were gathering in our living room sipping hot beverages and talking as people arrived, took of coats and hats, and generally made the walk around the room to say hello and give hugs. On this occasion one of the children, who was perhaps three or four, took it upon himself to be very manly about his introductions – shaking hands, formally calling us by Mr or Mrs, and so forth. It was quite amusing.
A few hours into the night, the meal served and eaten, and all of us still sitting at the table too content to stand up and leave the room just yet, the little guy stood on his chair and used his spoon to tink his plastic cup to get our attention. I guess he’d seen this in a movie and thought it was the way you got attention at a gathering such as this. He announced:
“Ladies and gentlemen, family and friends. Today I want to announce a happy occasion to all of you.” His exact words weren’t so well-elucidated, of course, but this was the gist. His announcement?
“I can now use the grownup’s potty. Mommy is quite proud!”
He said it deadpan, with a completely straight face, as if it were, in fact, an exceedingly important announcement. His mother gasped and stared, not sure what to do. I was having trouble processing this myself. Then a huge guffaw erupted and his father, standing and running to hug his son, let out a woop of laughter. That put the rest of us into the carpet too.
To this day, years later, we still bring up that story and laugh about it. I wanted to share it with you all.
Merry Christmas or if you prefer, Happy Holidays 🙂
Until next time,
Ken Bolt
