Sorry, first time I've had a chance to sit down on the computer.
So, it was a Thursday night, we took our youngest to see Santa, who was making an appearance at the local pool (small towns have limited spaces to host events). All that went well.
It was an overcast night, and very dark in our neighborhood, and as we pulled up to our driveway our lights were a sight to behold. They twinkled and dance in the darkness, hopefully fulfilling their intent of spreading a little bit of Christmas cheer.
But, there was one problem, the large inflatable snowglobe igloo carousel that was given to us by a neighbor was not inflated (it had been located in front of the doghouse). I send my 16 year old over to investigate (probably just came unplugged), and he yells from where it should have been, "Where is it?"
"What do you mean where is it?, you should be standing on it." I replied.
"Well it's not here." He replied with all the snotty attitude that you would expect from a male of the teenage persuasion that had just returned from a forced visit to Santa (instead of movies with his girlfriend).
I walk over, not believing him, and behold with my own eyes a patch of empty grass. I look for and quickly locate the cord that appears to have been tossed back over by the shop. We do a quick look around the yard and confirm that it is missing.
Not knowing what else to do, we call the local law enforcement (an advantage of small towns is that they will actually look into such a thing). The dispatcher, Carol, greeted me, asked how my wife and kids were doing, and then told me that I was not the first to lose decorations this season, and dispatched an officer to my house. The game was afoot.
Officer Gardiner (who is one of the assistant football coaches) and Officer Smart (the track coach) show up to investigate. We spend the first few minutes catching up, they ask how my boy is doing in Idaho, chide the 16 year old about his grades, and then I explain the situation. They reinforce what the dispatcher had already told me, and we all share our surprise that somebody stole the biggest item in the yard, but left the $150 in laser light decorations I have around the property. We opined at length what kind of person would steal decorations, and I shared photos of the decoration with the officers.
As we are having this discussion, sitting in my front room, drinking hot apple cider (have to make them feel at home), my six year old keeps interrupting. I keep shushing him (the adults are talking). Then he boldly steps into the middle of the room and exclaims, "LISTEN DAD, LISTEN. IT"S IN THE BLACKBERRIES!"
All the adults, stop.
"What? Where?" I ask, the embarrassment starting to creep across my face.
"It's in the blackberries."
Now, just so you know, we have roughly .75 acres, and the blackberries are at the back of the property. With three pine trees between where the inflatable was located.
I exchange glances with the officers, and we all busted up laughing. We went out to the blackberries and sure enough found the inflatable there. Best guess, the windstorm the night before had caught it and threw it about 150 yards, over two fences and past three trees.
