A ‘Blue’ boy for Christmas

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The memories of Christmas remain in your thoughts for years. There is one year that the Christmas memories will live on forever in the entire family’s mind.

Many moons ago before we expanded to a family of five, the middle minion was quite young. That year he received a set of blue flannel sheets. Yes, it was NOT his favorite gift that year, but one that was useful and appreciated through the cold winter months for years to follow.

Being the ever-busy parent, I did not immediately wash the sheet set. I conveniently set them aside and considered I would get around to the “adult” portion of the Christmas gifts after all the festivities settled down in the New Year.

For some reason that specific year the ever-steady spouse received multiple yearend party invites. Mustering enough excitement, we decided to attend the closest event to the Homestead. Relying on the best baby sitter in the business, Grandma reported for duty.

With the start of the New Year also came the start back to school. The usual routine of school days came back into action. However half way through the first week back to school we received correspondence from the minion’s teacher. The teacher inquired into any medical problems our little guy may have. The spouse and I paid little attention to the note; we both knew there was no concern.

The next day I received a surprise, daddy and his mini me came to eat lunch with me at work. While walking back to my department, a coworker asked about the mini me’s heart condition. Puzzled and confused we corrected the colleague and stated there was not a heart problem. The coworker pointed out his pale blue complexion.

Now we were on high alert, receiving the note from the teacher and now a trusted workmate, we did the logical thing and rushed to the Emergency Department.

Sure enough the Doctor looked him over and discovered he did have a pale blue complexion. Going over all the history and the customary questions, we came to the important one of all. Have you gotten new bath towels or bed linens that are blue?

I could tell now my complexion was changing colors, I was turning a brilliant pink. It was an Ah ha moment in life. Quickly my mind was playing the events from the weekend, when we had gone to the yearend celebration. Not realizing I was slacking on my parental duties of laundry, Grandma seen the new blue flannel sheets with the help of the mini me put them on his bed.

The minion had always taken a bath in the evening before bed, with wet hair; the dye from the flannel sheets would get damp causing the blue to rub off on his skin. With the busy weekday schedules, neither dad nor I noticed and carried on with our day sending our young man into the world looking like a smurf.

You can still hear the story to this day, echoing around the Christmas tree. No blue flannel sheets! Merry Christmas!

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By Tonya McKown

Contributing Columnist

Reach this writer at [email protected].

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