Favorite Vacation Moment, or, Christmas Presents, or, Giving Ty A Bloody Nose.

Without a doubt my favorite moment of the trip to Utah for Christmas was when I gave Ty (7) a bloody nose. It was at the end of a family Christmas party. Some of the kids were having a difficult time, being presented with only one gift. Thomas (3) went from a glee-filled laugh as he sat atop a horse to a painful wail of, “I need another present!” It had already been a long party, and the time was growing late. However, I am a jealous uncle, and demanded that pictures must be taken. I gathered six of my eight nieces and nephews around me. I had to twist arms, pin some down, pinch, pull, and physically coerce a few, but the pictures were taken. Some even smiled. Afterwards, we proceeded to have a WWF-style Royal Rumble. I was wrestling with Ian (9), Ty (7), Claire (6) and Thomas (3), who obviously formed one team. Eliza (2) surprisingly sat out. I was impressed with Clairesey, she usually stays out of the fray with things like that, and Ian/Ty were so good at knowing how to alter their tactics when wrestling Claire or Tom as compared to wrestling me.

At one point, I had one of the boys pinned underneath me. As I, on hand and knees, kept torturing him, Claire climbed on top of my back, grabbed my gray-and-blue rugby by the back of the collar, and started jerking as if I was a mule with the bit firmly in my teeth and she was going to show me who the boss was. She certainly got my attention. At another point, Ian was pinned under me and hitting me repeatedly in the head with a large metal top (!) as I was knuckling his sternum, at the same time Ty kept jumping on my back. The last time I pulled Ty off me he landed on a marble with his hip blade. That hurt a lot, I suppose. As he started crying, I felt the sudden need to coddle him. So I pinned him down and told him he had ten seconds to breathe and get ready. I started counting slowly. It was just so fantastic to see him start laughing, as that of course signaled, “Game on!” It was then that I noticed a rim of blood inside his right nostril. I dismissed it, thinking it was probably old or not too bad as it was not gushing out, but rather staying quietly inside his nose, and we had not seen blood smeared anywhere. Of course, as I picked him up and spun him for the upcoming body-slam, blood poured all over dear Mother’s light tan carpet (“Game Off!”), and I got to enjoy the next thirty minutes with ammonia, scrubbing her carpet. She will never even know.

You could ask him, but I bet Ty liked my present better than Grandma and Grandpa’s.



This is what set it all off.