Santa the Troublemaker

My housemate N who just moved back to New Zealand did not have a car in the UK. He thought driving in England was dreadful and travelled almost everywhere by bike as well as public transportation. Back in September he had a biking accident which put his bike out of commission so he was borrowing a bike from L at the B&B until he moved. Why am I telling you this? It plays an interesting part in little B’s Christmas morning.

L and P just got back from their trip to America today (more on that later) and so this evening we watched a video they took of B on Christmas morning after Father Christmas left a bike on the porch for B. As B walked out onto the porch to see what was out there, mother L prompted him for the camera by saying “Look, what is that?” Very matter of fact, little B looked back at the camera and said “it’s a bike for N”. Even though this bike was covered with Christmas tinsel and was obviously built for a six year old boy, in B’s mind, that bike was not his, it was N’s. As the video came to an end, it had never occurred to B that the bike was his, it was pretty amazing. He even thought at one point that the bike was for his friend down the street and Father Christmas had just made a mistake.

L had emailed me after Christmas to tell me about this so when I got back on Monday and saw B, the first thing I asked him was what he got for Christmas. A bike never entered the conversation. I think he is playing along with the parents, but in his heart he still doesn’t think that bike is his.