I'd Say it Was a Carnival.

Raffle baskets are a difficult concept for a 4 (3/4) year old.  All he saw was a HUGE basket with Legos piled high inside.  He walked by it, stopped to smell it, touched it a bit, wiped his drool off of the table it was set up on and dove into the carnival games.

We went to the kids' school Fall Fest Carnival last night.  In case you missed that in my warm up.

I was feeling generous in my "support the school" spirit and purchased way too may tickets for any 4 and 2 year old to work through (especially at 6pm).  We fished for plastic fish.  We weighed our odds and grabbed ducks out a pond.  We threw rope circles on to the horns of a plastic bull.  We sent disks down a pegged board, trying to get 5 prize tickets.  We picked our suckers from the Lollipop Tree in hopes of finding one with the right color on the bottom.  Many, if not most of the games had an element of 'chance' to them.  BB and Michael ignored this...just enjoying the process of handing over a ticket and then never really understanding that they could have gotten more prize tickets, had they Lady Luck gone their way.

At least I thought that was what was going on.  Once we had done all the games, BB announced it was time to head over to collect his prize.  He headed in the exact opposite direction of the actual prize table.  "BB, it is over here."  Then I saw where he was headed with his 30 prize tickets.  The Lego Raffle Basket.
"BB, those are a special, different part of the night.  The adults bought tickets and put them in each basket for....a chance at winning.  They may not call our names." (and your mother never wins anything...so don't hang with me, kid.)

This did not go over well.  While I think he got the message that we may not win, he never fully absorbed the game rules.  I think it had a hard time making it through the layers of his imagination that had him taking home that box of Lego sets.

We got him over the the prize table.  To make matters worse the only way he could get what he wanted was to pool resources with little 'Miss I've Been Pouting and Crying and Making Daddy's Life Miserable for that Last 15 Mins While Mommy Talks to People.'  She didn't honestly get any of the economics of the night, so she never knew she gave My Husband permission to hand over her prize tickets to BB.  50 tickets got them a cowboy hat.  to. share.

Then the raffle started and BB and his his best bud caught wind of this.  The two of them got front row seats.  My Husband was done with the night and took Michael to the car.  I waited with friends and BB until the Lego Basket came up.

You know this story doesn't have a happy ending.

Perhaps, the worst part of the whole thing was the face and attitude of the boy who won.  I imagine that he didn't realize what the heck was going on any more than my kids did, so I give him that.  But seriously, kid, you just won THE LEGO BASKET.  THE LEGO BASKET.  He calmly stood to accept his prize.  His face registered no joy, no interest, no enthusiasm...at. all.  He calmly took it, nearly falling at the weight of the box, and sat down.  Where was the passion?  Come, on!!!  If you would have looked across the room, you would have seen what passion looks like--Sad, hot tears on the face of a little boy clinging to his mom's legs.  It wasn't pretty.  It got loud.

We had a great night.  No, seriously.  It didn't end well.  It ended loud and angry.  People had very hurt feelings.  We feel things around here.  We feel them deeply. We feel them for a long, long time...well into bed time.  Well after Mom and Dad have shut the doors and turned off the lights...the passion continues.

This morning, everyone woke up happy.  No one is mentioning the night before.

It was a carnival.


p.s.  I nearly forgot...our house is still for sale.