On Sunday I was still in the sunny southwest with all of my immediate family. My niece is turning eight this year, so she and her parents got to go to a meeting about baptism that evening after dinner. The rest of us stayed around the dinner table, much to Prince Hal's dismay. Prince Hal will be three years old at the end of February, and he does not like to sit in his booster seat (aka prison cell) longer than is absolutely necessary.
Asking anyone and everyone "Can you get me down now?", Prince Hal's only response was from his Grandma. "No, we're going to sit here and tell stories."
"No! I don't want to tell stories!" He writhed in his seat and kicked his legs. But then Grandma had someone turn off the lights.
"We're going to tell scary stories," she said. EJ (5 almost 6) sat down next to his Aunt Sarah, and Prince Hal looked slightly concerned but only enough to stop fussing.
After a few scary stories from the adults, which were mostly true ones, my brave nephews really got into it and started telling their own scary stories. EJ told one about a time when he woke up in the night and it was really dark in his room, but he could see two eyes glowing at him from somewhere near Prince Hal's crib. He knew that Hal was sleeping, so he knew those greenish eyes could not be Hal's. EJ then tried to turn on his flashlight, but it wouldn't work. I think he said he then tried his dad's flashlight too, but the batteries were out in that one too. So he had to sit in his bed and wonder about those glowing eyes until he was too exhausted to stay awake any more. In the light of day, he discovered that the eyes were just two glow-in-the-dark eyes on the cover of a book. But he had had a scary night.
Prince Hal at some point decided that it was his turn to tell a story. He leaned forward in his seat and said in a loud and scratchy whisper, "Once I was in my room, and I heard a noise, and it was a monster!" And with some prompting, we found out the monster had been in his closet, but he slew it with his trusty blade.
Subsequent stories from Prince Hal were combinations of other stories already told. There was one about a noise that he thought was a bear (this from one of the auntie's stories) and his flashlight was out of batteries (borrowed from EJ). The noise the bear was making in Hal's story was a tapping on the table that he did in the very manner that his Uncle Linus had used in his scary story. I don't remember how this particular story from Hal ended. But the best part of Hal's stories was that raspy whisper and the earnest look in his eyes.
We started to get a little silly toward the end of the hour-and-a-half of scary stories. (Can you believe it? Prince Hal and EJ both were so engrossed by the activity. Hal didn't even seem to notice he was still in his prison cell.) EJ toward the end requested a scary story about a witch, so Grandma started to tell the story of Hansel and Gretel. Having recently made gingerbread houses together, the nephews were really impressed with the idea of a life-size edible house. EJ said in delight, "This is a tasty scary story!"
And so, our laughter-filled night of ghost stories and tasty scary stories came to a close. The only sad part was that I had to say goodbye to my brave little nephews, my tall baptism-ready niece, a brand-new baby niece, and of course their parents, my bro and sis-in-law. But, I'm grateful for all the fun memories of this Christmas vacation. I will write more of them soon.
Asking anyone and everyone "Can you get me down now?", Prince Hal's only response was from his Grandma. "No, we're going to sit here and tell stories."
"No! I don't want to tell stories!" He writhed in his seat and kicked his legs. But then Grandma had someone turn off the lights.
"We're going to tell scary stories," she said. EJ (5 almost 6) sat down next to his Aunt Sarah, and Prince Hal looked slightly concerned but only enough to stop fussing.
After a few scary stories from the adults, which were mostly true ones, my brave nephews really got into it and started telling their own scary stories. EJ told one about a time when he woke up in the night and it was really dark in his room, but he could see two eyes glowing at him from somewhere near Prince Hal's crib. He knew that Hal was sleeping, so he knew those greenish eyes could not be Hal's. EJ then tried to turn on his flashlight, but it wouldn't work. I think he said he then tried his dad's flashlight too, but the batteries were out in that one too. So he had to sit in his bed and wonder about those glowing eyes until he was too exhausted to stay awake any more. In the light of day, he discovered that the eyes were just two glow-in-the-dark eyes on the cover of a book. But he had had a scary night.
Prince Hal at some point decided that it was his turn to tell a story. He leaned forward in his seat and said in a loud and scratchy whisper, "Once I was in my room, and I heard a noise, and it was a monster!" And with some prompting, we found out the monster had been in his closet, but he slew it with his trusty blade.
Subsequent stories from Prince Hal were combinations of other stories already told. There was one about a noise that he thought was a bear (this from one of the auntie's stories) and his flashlight was out of batteries (borrowed from EJ). The noise the bear was making in Hal's story was a tapping on the table that he did in the very manner that his Uncle Linus had used in his scary story. I don't remember how this particular story from Hal ended. But the best part of Hal's stories was that raspy whisper and the earnest look in his eyes.
We started to get a little silly toward the end of the hour-and-a-half of scary stories. (Can you believe it? Prince Hal and EJ both were so engrossed by the activity. Hal didn't even seem to notice he was still in his prison cell.) EJ toward the end requested a scary story about a witch, so Grandma started to tell the story of Hansel and Gretel. Having recently made gingerbread houses together, the nephews were really impressed with the idea of a life-size edible house. EJ said in delight, "This is a tasty scary story!"
And so, our laughter-filled night of ghost stories and tasty scary stories came to a close. The only sad part was that I had to say goodbye to my brave little nephews, my tall baptism-ready niece, a brand-new baby niece, and of course their parents, my bro and sis-in-law. But, I'm grateful for all the fun memories of this Christmas vacation. I will write more of them soon.
2 comments:
We had to revisit the stories again tonight. They got pretty silly with farting monsters, etc. And certainly not as long as the other night.
As much as they desired it, the magic of the first night couldn't be recreated. But they wanted it which was great. Maybe sometime all the stars will be aligned, the setting duplicated as much as possible and the beloved Aunts will be present and something magic will happen again. Fun story. Mutti
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