good things come in small packages

i looked all through here and couldn't find this christmas story. can't believe i haven't told you this one before, so here goes.

back in the day, when we were in elementary school, the crown prince & i would walk to a babysitter's house each day after school. this was an older lady who kept several kids in her house. her husband worked nights, so we had to stay quiet, which was a wee bit difficult for us and also really begs the querschun... why would you keep kids during the day if your old man had to sleep?

at any rate, we were there every day that autumn and into the winter and then christmas came. sitterlady had gifts for all us kids. she gave this one girl a huge - and by huge i mean like 3ft x 3ft with like 50 pieces - plastic tea party set. wow. it was all there in a huge box with the clear cellophane window in the boxtop where you could see the contents with each piece in its little slot. she didn't wrap it - just put a ribbon & bow on it - because how could you hide such beauty, such perfection. ::sigh:: oh, how i wanted that tea set. and, i mean, w-to-the-a--to-the-wanted. wow.

and, what did she give me? a tiny package that i could hold in my hand. it weighed about 2oz. what could possibly be in there? nothing probably. gosh. what a supreme disappointment. so, what did i do? well, of course i threw a fit and cried and said i wanted the tea set. i was just a kid, but old enough to know better, and i know i was old enough to know better because i remember knowing better. i also remember being sort of dragged away. not pretty. but, hell, i wanted that tea set!

i was sure that sitterlady didn't love me at all, at all.

when we got home, i put that crappy little package under the tree. bah! on christmas morning, it was there, so i opened and found that it contained... a hand-knit cap that fit just exactly on my bratty little head and tied under my selfish little chin and had two pompons, one to warm each spoiled little ear. ::sigh:: i distinctly remember feeling crushed by the weight of my terrible monsterness.

i was sure that sitterlady did love me, and i learned a valuable lesson.

good things come in small packages.