Santa Claus, Tickety Tock and Mike Wasowski

My loving husband bought our daughter a talking Santa. Or, should I call it an answering Santa? When you ask this Santa certain questions it will answer you. It is very very cute....at least for the first five minutes. I am sure you are guessing right...no it doesn't have an OFF switch. Don't you just love those kind of toys? One thing about my husband is that he lives for sales and clearance items. Oh, I forgot to mention YARD SALES! He has calmed down a lot since we have gotten together. Maybe he is tired of going through all of his bins in the attic?

Well, there is a standing joke with my mom that my step-grandmother Edna makes toys go off. It is probably because she was fun and silly and loved animals and children. She never had any of her own. Yes, she has passed. In fact it was only matter of a month or two that she passed after my grandfather {see yesterday's blog}. I remember when I lived with my parents after my divorce to my sons father, going down to the basement to do laundry. The basement was where my son had his playroom. One thing I didn't mention in yesterdays story is that my grandfather also was an avid picture taker (I won't say photographer since he was not professional) and he also painted. His paintings were mostly of Edna. Down in the basement my parents had one of his paintings of Edna. Almost every time I passed this painting I said hello to her and told her I missed her. This particular day I came up the stairs and faintly heard something talking. Now, thankfully my mother was there so I knew I was not hearing things. Cautiously I walked down the stairs to hear it again. It was my sons Tickety Tock from Blue's Clues. You must know that it says a number of phrases. However, on this day all it would say is, "Hi, I am Tickity!" Laughing, I told my mom that I had said hi to Edna's painting. We both agree that she was saying Hi back.

Another time when I was vacuuming, home all alone, I hear a faint noise. So, I turn off the vacuum, to hear, "I've got my eye on you!" You can imagine the goose bumps I got at that moment. I knew my son had a Mike Wasowski talking toy from Monsters Inc....love that movie! It said the same comment again. Like the Tickety Tock, it says about 5 different phrases. This time I was determined to make this thing stop. I was thinking...ok, something is laying on top of it to make it do that. The batteries must be dying....etc. I take it out of the toy box and sit it on top of it. I start vacuuming again to hear this thing say, "I've got my eye on you." Out loud, I said, "Ok Edna, I get it....you've got your eye on me." It stopped. (No, I didn't take out the batteries and I didn't get rid of it either....the thought did cross my mind.)

Then came this morning. The talking Santa laying on the back of the couch. I am sitting there thinking....will Makenna notice if I hide it until next year? I didn't have the heart to hide Santa even though I was not looking forward to it answering again. I sit down with my coffee to check my email which is my daily morning routine once Gavin is off to school. Makenna is a late sleeper so I always have time to myself in the morning. So, Santa starts talking.....and talking....and I cannot get this thing to shut up! So, I run it into the mudroom and stuck a bunch of coats on top of it. Do you know that this thing went off all day?!?!?!?! My thought now is.......Edna must have loved yesterdays blog....a lot! I just wish she would pick less annoying toys.