The Kicking Game

Welcome back. After a nice Thanksgiving Day and night, Friday has settled in like an old friend. The Official beginning of the Christmas Season. I am glad it is finally here. Black Friday, as it is called now, is by far the best post-Holiday day of all. Unlike most post-holiday days, it has an entire season waiting at it's doorstep. It's now okay to turn on your Christmas lights, put up the lawn display, put out your wreath, make cookies for your neighbors and yourself. It's like the gate is up and the park is open, Welcome to Christmas. My wife and I took a walk today, which was big because that meant that we left our almost 11 year old in charge. In charge of cartoons, that is. Then the day was spent putting up the tree. It was incredible to watch my 10 year old and my 8 year old put up the 3 piece tree. It was like they were raising the flag at Iwojima, all the grunting, the sweating, the cursing, and then the victory photo. That triumphant climax of having accomplished something incredible amidst flying bullets and casualties. They were so pleased. Then they dove into the ornaments. Reminiscing about how goofy they looked a few years ago in that picture on the ornament they made in Primary, or how cool the nativity looks way up on top of the armoire. It really is Christmas time. Then in the afternoon I baked a cherry pie and cookies for my wife's extended family Christmas party. Move over Martha, there's a new convicted felon that can bake. Truly a great day.

As the sun began to set and we made final preparations for the party, I sat down to a grilled ham and cheese and listened to the soft plunking of my oldest son on the piano as he played Christmas songs. Matt then came in and invited Brayden to go out on the trampoline and play what he called, The Kicking Game. Brayden declined at first, indicating that he was practicing piano. Matt then told him that he would give him a "15 second head-start." This seemed to be the bait Brayden needed to pull him away from Jingle Bell Rock. I sat at our table and looked into the backyard as the sky began to grey, I munched on my sandwich and eagerly awaited this new tom foolery of a game to be played out before me. I am always curious as to the games children make up and what they title them. It would be nice if adults could come up with the same simplicity and honesty. We could go and see movies with titles like, "Two Dogs that Die" instead of "Where the Red Fern Grows", or read books called "A Really Long Trial" instead of "To Kill A Mockingbird". Well, I guess I should have really understood the simplicity of this game and it's title. I watched Matt get on the tramp and begin counting to 15. Brayden then got on, and with reckless abandon began to kick Matt like he was Kung Fu Fighting. Jumping kicks, sweeping kicks, sitting kicks, standing kicks. Once the 15 second head-start is up, Matt stands up and begins to kick Brayden. I think I am getting the basic outline of the rules of this game. There are few locations that can really give you the ability to be a super hero, the trampoline is one of them. So right before my eyes, Batman is taking it to Robin. During all the mayhem, both of them, of course, are laughing. So as I sit quietly, looking out on the beautiful sunset, George Winston softly playing, "Some Children See Him", my children are going another round in The Kicking Game. It's comforting to see that despite all the distractions of Christmas lights, music, goodies, and warm love, our children still are finding time to be children. There'll be no, "Santa's watching you!" yelled from the house in a vain attempt to get them to stop and be kind to each other. Know why? Because I bet Santa's watching them and his bowl full of jelly is jiggling as we speak. I can just hear him laughing now.