Tough Lesson

Marshall and I are curious by nature. We are close enough in age that I really couldn't be the boss of him without some kind of pay off. There wasn't anything we wouldn't try once just to see the end results. Usually the results ended in getting our butts busted.

About the time I was 11 or 12, Marshall was 8 and Boo was 6, Mama decided that I was old enough to tend to them during our Christmas break from school. Kelli was an infant and required much more attention than a 12 year old could handle. Daddy was in and out of the house checking on us between ranch chores. Grandmom was just down the road if we had an emergency.

It was too cold to play outside so we entertained ourselves with board games, dodge ball in the hallway with nerf balls and any other kind of games we could come up with that didn't break fragile things (including pictures on the walls). Mama had chores for us to do every day but we put those off until the last minute. One such chore was laundry. Wash, dry, fold and put up the laundry. As I was putting up clothes in my mother's closet, I saw some bags/sacks that required closer investigation. I remember bringing this to Marshall's attention. Lo and behold, it was CHRISTMAS PRESENTS! We were giddy with excitement but didn't tell Boo about our discovery because she would tell on us.

So for two weeks we kept our secret to ourselves thinking we were cool cats. As he did every Christmas since I could remember, Marshall woke me up early Christmas morning. We grabbed our flashlights and snuck down the hall to the living room. We did a quick search and disappointment settled in. There were absolutely no surprises for us under the tree. We had ruined our own Christmas due to our curiosity. I think it was one of the best Christmas Days that Boo ever had. I don't know if we ever told Mama that we had stumbled upon our presents. Maybe she figured it out and knew that us being nosy would result in disappointment. And that was worse than any butt busting I ever got.