A few tricks left in this old dog

I am glad Christmas is over. Not because of any bad reason. For good reasons in fact. I had planned several surprises for my wife and kids over the season. Sometimes it is hard for me to keep things a surprise. I find myself itching to let someone else in on the surprise. I just want so badly to see the look on someone’s face when they realize the surprise. I love that part. But, I managed to pull off all of my surprises this year without spoiling any of them. One of my favorites was on Christmas Eve.

My wife had been in the US with her mom for two weeks and was due to come home very early Christmas morning. We had agreed that she would take a taxi home from the airport so the kids could sleep peacefully. We had the kids geared up for seeing mommy in the morning too. All expectations were set.

Just before bed time, while the kids were in taking a ‘tub-bath’, having had their dinner and then decorated the World’s Biggest Christmas Tree-shaped Sugar Cookies we had made earlier in the day as a surprise for mommy when she got home, I quietly slipped in to their bedroom and placed a ‘golden ticket’ on each of their pillows. I had made these tickets earlier in the week and kept them hidden from the kids. They said “Christmas Airport Express” on the top and had the kids name on each one with a few departure details, etc.

Once we had done the advent calendar I explained that they both needed to go to bed at the same time (normally one goes and then the other an hour or so later) so that they both had good sleep and would be ready to be happy for Christmas morning with mommy. They both agreed and headed in to the bedroom.

The girl saw the boy’s ticket first and asked what it was. The boy read the ticket and his eyes began to widen. I asked what they thought we should do with the ticket and his reply was ‘We should go to the airport and pick up mommy!” Then the girl turned and saw her ticket on her pillow, and there was much jumping and shouts of joy.

They both went off to bed easily after my assurance that I would wake them when it was time to leave for the airport. At 12:30 am I woke them up and told them to get dressed in clothes I had laid out for them, which they did quickly. We headed down to the car. Once in the car, I asked for their tickets, and made a big production out of ‘punching’ their tickets, having taken a cue from the character in the Polar Express movie. And off we went.

On arrival at the airport, we stopped in to McDonalds (there are two at our airport here) for fries while we waited for mommy to arrive. We then headed to the door nearest where she would come out and ate fries and waited excitedly. As the time for her arrival neared, I handed each of the kids a sign to hold, sort of like when a taxi or chauffeur is waiting for you at the airport with a sign with your name on it. The kids’ signs said ‘Mommy’ in big letters and my sign said ‘Wife’ in big letters.

She had no idea we would be there, so when she rounded the corner and saw the three of us standing with our signs, a big smile and laugh followed. As she neared the exit the kids went and hugged her. A truly fun moment. As we walked the kids told her the story of the ‘golden tickets’ and the trip to the airport.

We pushed the luggage cart (that we knew was full of fun goodies for all of us that she had brought home from America with her) to the car and got in. Before we left I asked the kids for their tickets again, and ‘punched’ them once more. I then asked my wife for her ticket. She said she did not have one. “Check your pockets” I said (just like the Polar Express character again). While pushing the luggage cart I had secretly placed a ‘golden ticket’ in her purse. She found the ticket, and the kids were amazed that mommy got a ‘golden ticket’ too. I punched her ticket and we all headed for home.

It was a simple idea. Take the kids to the airport to get mommy. It was made all the more fun for a few surprises like ‘golden tickets’ and so on. All easy enough to do, and cost almost nothing. Just a little creativity, planning and forethought. I love pulling off surprises. There were a few other surprises too, but those will have to wait for another time.

So what about you? Any surprises this Christmas season?