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According to Hofmann: Kid versus adults: the holiday edition

By Mark Hofmann mhofmann@heraldstandard.Com 4 min read
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Christmas is a strange time when you’re an adult — the full moon rises, and you become hairy, angry, grow fangs and you want to chase your food through the forest.

For those adults who are not werewolves, itĢƵ strange to see you kids enjoying the holiday as you start seeing weird parallels between childhood and adulthood and Robin Hood and Boyz n the Hood.

For example, when you’re a kid and you’re going to a family memberĢƵ home on Christmas, you are asked questions like, “What did you get for Christmas?” or “What did Santa bring you?” or if you’re Jewish, “Happy Hanukkah! What presents did you get these last eight days?”

As an adult in the same situation, you’ve mostly asked, “Do you have to go into work tomorrow or are you off?”

Yes, for some reason, information of your post-holiday work schedule is of great interest to other adults followed by the number of places you’ve been to that day.

“Where’ve you been to so far?,” “Where you heading after this?,” “How many more places do you have to go?,” or “Why are you growing fangs and licking your hairy lips at me?”

Adults may get the occasional tongue-and-cheek question like “was Santa good to you?” and I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to give the full-fledged flamboyant holly-jolly-merry-and-bright answer of, “Oh me oh my yes, friend of friends! Santa was so great to me because he loves me so much, and I’ve been so good this year that he granted to me my only Christmas wish of receiving a brand-new flush valve seal for my toilet!”

I also find it interesting to compare the stamina between the young and the old, and I know that you’re saying, “Mark, you grinchy, yet boisterously-spirited, goon! You can’t compare childrenĢƵ stamina to adults. ItĢƵ like comparing a rocket ship to an older rocket ship thatĢƵ out of fuel and resting in a dumpster.”

True, but you have to marvel at the stamina of the next generation since kids are the ones who have the sleepless Christmas Eve nights, but are also the ones who madly rush to the Christmas tree to rip open presents like coked-up zombies going after wrapped brains, kids are the ones that scream and carry on with their fellow child relatives to run around, scream and play with dangerous toys like chainsaws and dynamite, scream and shovel food fuel in their mouth and scream at every house they visit…and they scream.

Adults, on the other hand, are startled out of bed by the sounds of screaming, they sit on the couch and watch the kids scream and open presents, the adults sit or stand to watch their kids rush around at other peopleĢƵ homes and occasionally yell at them to stop moving or stop screaming because, you know, they scream.

At the end of the day, the kids are hopped up and ready to enter a triathlon of playtime with their toys, games and dynamite while the adults are crashing to sleep by just seeing a commercial for a twin bed set.

When the children (eventually) come down from their holiday high, they take stock on what they’ve received — noting if they can checkmark everything on their list so they can categorize the ratio between toys and clothing as well as the ratio in the contents in their stockings between sweets and responsible things like a toothbrush, floss and dynamite. Kids also inventory and compare their presents from last yearĢƵ total. That, by the way, is the most number crunching many kids will voluntarily do in the course of their childhood.

If satisfied, the children stand over their bounty, nod their heads and mutter, “It was a good year.”

Parents also take note of whatĢƵ been received.

For women, itĢƵ if the kids received enough to qualify for a truly Merry Christmas and for men, itĢƵ trying to determine if they received enough underwear and socks for the next 365 days.

But, whether itĢƵ toys, socks, underwear, merriment, work schedule, travel schedule or dynamite, in the end, as long as someone can mutter, “It was a good year” and crash on the couch to catch a few ZĢƵ before the full moon appears, then so be it.

According to Hofmann is written by staff reporter Mark Hofmann of Rostraver Township. He hosts the “Locally Yours” radio show on WMBS 590 AM every Friday. His book, ”Stupid Brain,” is available on Amazon.com.

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