Fishing for Trees

This is the second Christmas that I have spent with my parents and son. Last Christmas I went overboard and bought up a whole bunch of toys for Guy. This year I just bought a few choice gifts such as a toy computer and saxophone, some books and some animals that grow to 20xs their size when placed in water. His favorite gift was the one he got from Grandpa. The same gift that I had in my cart when we were in WalMart and he threw a fit about something else, so I left it along with the other things in my basket and hauled him out of the store. That gift would be a Sponge Bob Square Pants, child size fishing pole.

I took him to Apple Hill a few weeks ago and there was a group of kids there fishing in the pond. We sat on the hill and watched them cast out and bate the hooks and we even saw a few catch a fish. Guy was asking to give it a try and I told him maybe Grandpa would take him out another time to go fishing.

When I told Grandpa about this he was excited to know that he wanted to try fishing. From the time we came to live with my parents, Grandpa has been saying how he can't wait to take him out fishing and hiking and hunting. Guy was only 6 months old when we moved in. Grandpa used to talk into Guy's play phone and say, "Hey Guy, get your fishing gear and come meet me at the lake and bring that cute girlfriend of yours, we'll make it a date, and bring Mommie along too." Then Guy would get on the phone and say,"Going to go!"

Grandpa did his shopping on Christmas Eve and the fishing pole didn't even get wrapped, (which is actually pretty typical for my dad. He gave ours to us from the bag he bought them in) before Guy discovered it and brought it out for me to see. He asked me to "bopen" it for him, translation= open. Thus was the commencement of the "bopening" of the gifts. We have a tradition to open one gift on Christmas Eve, but there has been occasion that we get on a roll and just open them all up that night, as it was for this year.

We decided to keep Guy's fishing pole up in the closet unless someone was helping him use it, or else the line would get tangled up or he might pull Plankton, the weight on the end off again. Guy kept nagging at me about "fooshing". He would take my hand and lead me to the closet where his pole was kept wanting me to get it down for him. I had to explain that we are keeping it safe up there so that it won't be broken when he actually gets to go fishing. Grandpa got it out later and taught him how to cast in the hallway.

When he woke up the next morning, the first thing out of his mouth was, "fooshing". This was as bad as when he was obsessed with basketball. It's not hard to figure out what's on his mind. Grandpa and Guy went in the backyard to practice fooshing some more. Guy immediately went to the bridge and dropped his line down into the creek below. It hadn't even occurred to Grandpa that this was the perfect place to practice. Guy would let the line drop down in the creek and reel in the line and say, "catch' em". He caught Plankton over and over again.

Later that evening Guy had his fishing pole out to show his Aunt and Uncle. While everyone else was in the kitchen having some Martinelli's, I was doing the dishes and I heard Guy in the other room and he sounded like he was in a panic. I came in the room to find the Christmas tree lying in the center of the room! I called for some help to get the tree propped up again. Guy had cast his line into the tree and got it caught in the branches. He tried to reel it in and pulled the tree right over!

"Catch' em!"