Candy Canes

Last week we attended our town's annual holiday tree lighting event, complete with wagon rides, a barely audible middle school chorus, the arrival of Santa via fire truck, and Christmas Carols played by the marching band.

For Quynh, the best part was counting down along with the crowd "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1" and watching the tree light up.  After the initial cheering, she cried, "Again!" but no one else seemed to want to unplug it and start all over.  The good news is that she gets to do this every evening when we get home from work and school in her very own living room.  After (or while) fighting over who gets to flip the switch, she and Tai count backwards from 10 at the top of their lungs and then fill the living room with Christmas Cheer.

For Tai, the highlight of past tree lighting events has always been the marching band, but this year I think it was the simple joy of running around the town common and playing hide-n-seek with his friends.  At dusk.  In a dark green jacket.   Making it impossible for me to keep track of him.

Upon his descent off the fire truck, Santa was swarmed by masses of kids, teenagers, and (pushiest of all) parents thrusting their toddlers in his face.  All in the name of receiving a candy cane that you could just go buy anywhere.

Yes, we were in that mob.  Caught up in a frenzy of BeatleMania-esque excitement, I too was holding out a hand for a candy cane, to give to Quynh.  And Minh lifted Tai high up in the crowd and coached him, "Hold out your hand!  Show Santa you want one!"

Candy canes in hand, we wove our way through the madness over to a slightly less crowded spot to watch the band.  Both kids asked to eat their candy canes right away (an hour before dinner) and I said, "Of course!"  Because what kid has ever finished a whole (full-sized) candy cane?  I figured they would suck on them for 10 minutes and then get over it.  After all, candy canes are not actually that good.

(You already know where this is going, don't you?)

I unwrapped both candy canes and handed them over.  Then we tried to get a picture of our two adorable children with their festive treats, but Quynh kept hiding behind my legs desperately asking to be picked up and Tai was making a nasty face.  "Ugh," said Tai after 3 licks.  "These are mint. I don't like mint."  And he handed his candy cane over to me as trash.

Quynh, on the other hand, has no problem with mint.  Yup, you guessed it.  While watching the band....she worked on her candy cane.  After it fell on the ground....she ate it some more.  When the other kids were all running around playing...she stood on the sidelines and nibbled her candy cane.  On the way to the restaurant for dinner....she kept on licking the damn candy cane.

When we sat down to dinner it was about two-thirds gone and we had to forcibly remove the last third from her little fist.  And there were tears.  And screaming.  In public.  While people were trying to eat.  To shut her up, I promised she could finish it after dinner. but this just meant that after each bite, throughout the whole meal, she asked "Now can I have my candy cane?"  After she had eaten one won ton, a chicken finger, and two bites of something else, I gave up.

"Fine.  Take the (friggen) candy cane."  She won.  But the meal suddenly became more pleasant, so maybe we all won.

As you have figured out by now, she ate the whole damn thing.  I don't know why her capacity for sweets continues to surprise me.  Someone remind me of this next time I am tempted to give her a treat before dinner.

Merry Christmas.