Merry Christmas Camden!

Christmas Day at my house was lots of fun. You came over late morning and stayed the day.  After opening lots of presents and stockings, I announced we would be having a surprise scavenger hunt…. I gave Ben the instructions and he read them aloud.

The object of the game was to go into eight different rooms and find one white envelope in each.  Inside each envelope were letters… each one spelling a word. Put the words together in the proper sequence…. and an exciting message would emerge.

As usual, the three Musketeers were critical players in the whole grand expedition,  with Ainsley and Molly doing their thing along the way.

After lots of running around and craziness, you all returned to the Great Room and figured out the puzzle.  Here’s what it spelled:

Whooo- hooo!

We’re going to Disney World!

Even though your family went just last year, you were VERY excited we’ll be doing it again… this time all 13 of us!

presents for the kids

Before Christmas, I got in touch with St. Charles Children’s Home in Rochester, NH, inquiring what the kids might need for gifts under the tree.

Three specific items were requested… two pairs of sneakers and a Patriot’s blanket.  I promised to get them there before Christmas.

The next day I got in touch with your Mom & Dad and asked if you might want to wrap one of the presents and join me, Ben & Emma when I brought them to the Home. You decided to join our little posse.

When I picked you up at your house, we were alone on the ride to the Clickman’s.  I asked you if you knew what an orphanage is and you answered, “Yes, it’s a place where kids live who don’t have any parents.”

I said, “That’s right… how do  you know that?”  You replied, “My Daddy told me.”

“Did you guys talk about it?”

“Yes.”

I pressed for more detail: “Do you know the name of this orphanage
we’re going to?”

You paused. I looked in the rear view mirror and saw your expression.

“I don’t want to talk about it any more.”

I was stunned by this response… really surprised.  So I probed again… “What do you mean Camden? You don’t want to know the name?”

“I don’t want to talk about it anymore because it makes me so sad I want to cry.”

How precious is that?

You’ve come out with some funny material over the years Mr. C.  Here are a few of them:

Shortly before Zoey joined your family, you & your Mom were talking about getting a dog. Your Mom said, under her breath (she thought) “We can’t get a dog until Macy croaks.” Of course, you heard this and responded:

“We can dead her by hitting her and then we can step on her to smoosh her and then we can get a dog, of course.”

The good news is you got your dog, and Macy, the senior pet of the household, is still alive and kicking.

I like this one:

“I did get in trouble once at school, but I don’t want to talk about it.” 

About Starbursts, the tart chewy candy you and your Dad love:

“These things are terrific!”

This one’s a classic:

“When I am a teenager, I am not going to go in any time outs.”

Sometimes it just doesn’t make sense:

“I think this orange juice is gonna be gone when I’m a teenager!”

There’s always something brewing in that brilliant brain of yours…

You’re already a hockey boy.

Grammy and I watched you for an hour and a half at Jackson’s Landing in Durham and were blown away with the progress you’ve made in such a short time.  It’s only been a month, but already you have incredible balance, can move around with purpose and understand the game basics.

Watching this progress made me recall an earlier moment.  When you were three at your old house, your Dad had enthusiasstically flooded the backyard to make a skating rink…hoping you’d get the hang of skating.  He was hoping you’d like to play hockey someday.  The experiment didn’t work out very well… you were still too little.

Flash forward three years (a doubling of your lifetime!), it was so cool seeing your Daddy’s future hope become a reality.

But what stuck in my mind on this Camden hockey day wasn’t your evolution as much as your hunger, persistence and enthusiasm.

You really wanted to be out there… couldn’t wait.  The coach gave your team many  challenging tasks.. push this mini tire forward with your hockey stick… skate/walk across five hockey sticks … crash to your belly on the ice and go under a bridge.  You did each exercise with gusto… real gusto.  And every time, you got better.  The first time you tried walking over those sticks you were all over the ice!  But by the fourth time, you did it!

During the aggressive scrimmage (with boys twice your size in some cases) your hockey stick jammed your stomach and you fell to the ice and play stopped. You cried very discreetly… your Dad went out to see you and it wasn’t clear if you were done for the day or would somehow go on.  I wasn’t surprised when you sucked it up and got right back into the scrimmage.  That’s what I mean by persistence, hunger and enthusiasm… and competitiveness!

After the practice ended, your teammates left the ice.  But knowing Grammy and I were still watching, you stayed on the ice and skated around several times.  You wanted us to see what you could do.

You’re a competitor Mr. C, and you will go places in this world.  I’m proud of you!

Mr. Hockey going through drills at Jackson's landing

The other day, I went to your house to pick up you & Ainsley for a “play date” at Grammy/Papa’s house.

When I got there, you and your sister brought me over to your Christmas tree and pointed out all the “presents” you had made, laid out at the bottom.

I said, “Wow, you guys have been busy!”

You replied, “They’re for you.”  I thought ONE of them was for me… because there were so many, and told you so.  Then you said, “No, they’re ALL for you.”

I was blown away and felt so incredibly special. Here’s a photo of all the “presents,” many of which had special envelopes.

I’m a very lucky Papa…

presents for papa by Ainsley & mostly Camden

the cardboard "town" you & I made - years later, it's still fun

“Papa can we go in the basement?”  That’s a familiar cry when you guys come over.  The basement – aka the rec room – is a cornucopia of toys, games and activities.  We play football, bowl, shoot pool (or play on top of the pool table), dance to music, make popcorn, play board games, hockey and Wii.

And we run around… a lot.

The other day when you & Ainsley came over, we got re-acquainted with an old friend… the cardboard “town” you and I made a few years ago.  It has streets, a neighborhood, parks, a school, playgrounds and even a hockey rink.  We drive the cars around the town, stop to play frisbee in the park or eat lunch at Panera.  The vehicles are characters with personalities and speech… not inanimate objects.

We had forgotten some of the things we used to do… like take the hockey guys off the play table hockey game (one of three we have) to simulate a game.   We each took a guy, positioned him at center ice for the faceoff and shot the puck into the two-dimensional hand-drawn goals. You asked if my car was still in college… it wasn’t… so he couldn’t sit in the “college section” at the rink.

I’ve often found the best games are the simplest games… the ones that run on one fuel: imagination. A piece of cardboard, a magic marker and pictures we cut out and paste.  Making things up as we go – is fun, uninhibited, inventive freedom.