Men Sure Don't Do Things like Women!

Case in point: I'm trying to get a box out to Don's parents with their Christmas presents so it'll actually arrive before December 24. I wrapped all their presents, found a large box, and carefully fit all the gifts in it. I was just ready to tape it up and put an address label on it when I realized that the children may have presents for their Grandparents.

"Deanna," I bellowed, "don't you have presents for Grandma and Grandpa Doughty?"

"Well," she drawled, "I have something for Grandpa, but I haven't had a chance to get anything for Grandma yet."

"Go get me your present for Grandpa so I can get it in the box!"

Then I found the boys.

"Dane, don't you have Christmas presents for Grandma and Grandpa Doughty that I need to mail to them?"

Dane was watching afternoon cartoons and was very distracted. Half-heartedly, he responded, "Nope."

"Turn the TV off!" I instructed, sternly. When I finally had his full attention, I asked the question again.

"No, Mama. I don't have anything for anybody."

Now, that's just pitiful! I told him to follow me and marched into his bedroom. I found the box, still sitting in the corner, where we put it when he returned after his week in West Virginia. I put it on Daelyn's bed, began removing all the toys from the top and digging down to the stuff at the bottom. Sure enough, out I pulled several crafts projects I bought for him and left at Grandma's for him to work on while he was there over the summer. These crafts items were to be his Christmas presents to family members. There were paint-by-number paintings, refrigerator magnets, and stained glass light catchers just waiting to be painted. This was more than I could take. I had paid good money for those crafts and he hadn't done A SINGLE THING with them.

I chose my words very carefully, made sure I didn't holler at him, then pointed out the beautiful pieces he had the opportunity to make as gifts of love for his family.

"I better go work on them right now!" He grabbed the stained glass items and took off for the kitchen. Daelyn commented that he wanted to do some painting, too, grabbed the refrigerator magnets, and followed his brother.

I showed Dane how to paint the suncatchers. Don laid out newspaper for the boys and opened the paints. He got a cup of water for cleaning the paint brush inbetween colors. Just then, the phone rang and I had to handle an important matter. I left the room and went into the living room to finish my call. When I returned to the kitchen, Don said,

"Well, Dane had an accident."

"What kind of accident?"

"A PAINT accident," he explained. Apparently, one of the paint buckets (little tiny things) had overturned and poured all over Dane and his clothes. Don was trying to clean him up.

A few minutes later, I walked past the halfbath. Dane's clothes were wet and were in a heap on the floor. I shook my head. Daddy had at least washed them out by hand, but they were on the floor of the bathroom, not in the laundry room.

I went into the kitchen to do a little more work on dinner when Dane appeared. He was wearing an old robe of Don's, had it on backwards with the belt tied in the back, and the bell sleeves came down 4 inches below his hands.

"Mama, could you please roll my sleeves up for me?"

"Son, why on earth are you wearing that robe?"

"Daddy said this would be my paint shirt from now on."

Paint shirt. A floor-length robe with sleeves almost as long - when Dane has at least 15 t-shirts that are ripped or are in poor shape.

Men sure don't do things like women!