Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Pass the peas

7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 5

I used all of my might to exercise restraint as I pulled the bubble wrap from the box. It was for the nativity set; not my stress relief, I reminded myself.

Stepping onto the chair, I reached on top of the refrigerator for the little ceramic characters. One by one, I packed them away: Mary. Joseph. Jesus. Ox. Ass. Shepherd. Camel. Camel. Capser. Melchior. Baltha…

“Where’s Balthazar?” I asked my oldest daughter.

“Who?”

“Balthazar? The third wise man?”

“You’ve named them? Mom, you need a life.”

“No. Capsar, Melchior and Balthazar. Those are the names of the wise men who brought gold, frankincense and myrrh to baby Jesus.”

A smile darted across her face. Was she smirking at me? Or was she thinking about those cards we sent out one year for Christmas? The ones where one of the wise men slaps his forehead and says: “You idiot! I told you to bring frankincense!” as Frankenstein’s monster stands behind them.

“I haven’t seen him. Maybe you left him in the box,” she said as she walked away.

Not possible. I remembered setting them out; I remembered getting Joseph confused with the Magi.

Certain Balthazar had fallen behind the fridge, I finished packing the set away and then muscled the appliance from the corner.

Nothing.

I sighed, thinking that another decoration had slipped into oblivion. Just like my miniature tree ornaments representing the 12 Days of Christmas.

7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 6

With nearly two feet of snow on the ground and more falling from the sky, the trek home was too dangerous. Thank goodness for my sister, who lives only blocks away from the office where I work.

Unfortunately, she and I share the same taste in decor. Her nativity set is identical to mine, and it sat on her end table, taunting me, reminding me of that elusive wise man that I had failed to find the night before.

“So Dana made it home to stay with the girls?” she asked.

“He’s been home since noon,” I said as my cell phone alerted me to an incoming text.

My husband greeted me with this picture.




As it turned out, Balthazar had fallen into the freezer and was hiding behind a bag of frozen peas.

10 comments:

Elana Johnson said...

Phew. At least he was there, right?

Oh and you're not insane. That's good news too.

:)

Anonymous said...

AHHHHH. That's fantastic. Girl, I love coming to your blog. Never know what I'm gonna find. LOVE IT

Have a great day.

molly said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Kate Karyus Quinn said...

OMG- love the picture! I actually just packed all my Christmas decorations away too - and while none of my nativity set went astray, my husband did find a missing ornament on the front lawn after the tree was taken away by the garbage men.

Christine Fonseca said...

LOL! I ALWAYS forget something...after the 30+ boxes are packed and stored...I find something. Every year. no matter what!

KM Wilsher said...

Bravo, bravo! Great writing. Awesome story. And I learned something - the 3 wismen had names ;)
One of my favs, Kat!

Unknown said...

What a story... Now how in the world did he get there?? Crazy!

Jennifer Shirk said...

Ha! That is hilarious!!

Anonymous said...

Wait, wasn't Balthazar the name of the demon Phoebe loved in Charmed??? LOL

T. Powell Coltrin said...

That is very funny and happens to me. I am so use to this type of thing I just automatically start looking in obscure places.