Bet you'd never imagine a little girl, with a newly lost tooth rolled up in a tissue, about to put it under her pillow while saying to herself "I hope the tooth fairy doesn't come, I hope the tooth fairy doesn't come."
That's 'cause you didn't know me.
The reason I hoped that tooth fairy was extra busy tonight? Well, that had a lot to do with the last time I'd lost a tooth. The tooth fairy taught me a lesson. An expensive lesson. About patience.
Let me explain.
But before I tell that story, let me just tell you something about my mom. When it came to celebrations, she did it all. Not just Thanksgiving and birthdays and Valentine's Day, etc, but so many more. She had Hanukkah and Passover because we're Jewish. But she also had to be Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny because it wouldn't go over well to have the Jewish kids telling the Christian kids that neither of those exist. So we got the best of all worlds. It would be understandable if sometimes, rarely, she might miss something.
Add to all of that, she was also (I found out much later), the tooth fairy.
Everyone loves the tooth fairy. You lose a tooth, or pull one out, as the case may be, wrap it up, put it under your pillow, and the next morning you've got a whole quarter to spend. That's a lot of penny candy, friends.
So, one day, when I'd finally worked the latest loose tooth out of my mouth and, as kids will do, pulled it out at the dinner table, showed it off to the family, and gushed about my upcoming 25 cent fortune.
Roasted Green Beans
I went to bed with that little money maker under my pillow, anxiously awaiting its transformation.
Morning came, I reached under my pillow, and there it was. The tooth. I reached again but no, nothing but the tooth.
I was, well, apoplectic. Crying so hard it was hard for mom to even know what I was saying. And when I produced the tooth, didn't even see the stricken look that must have been on her face.
Needless to say, this was the topic of conversation for most of the day. The tooth fairy had snubbed me, skipped over me, forgotten me altogether.
Now mom tried her best. The tooth fairy sometimes gets overwhelmed (this was mom's story and she was sticking to it). I wasn't forgotten, there were just more little teeth than she was able to collect that night. I needed to be patient, put the tooth back under my pillow tonight.
Patient? I was not a patient person. I was not going to wait another whole day, it just wasn't fair.
After a day of talking, cajoling, begging, pleading an explaining, mom had clearly had enough. She offered to buy that tooth from me for the 25 cents I (felt I) was owed.
Hah, patience my foot, I turned over the tooth and grabbed my quarter.
And, she would then put it under her own pillow to prove to me that the tooth fairy had not skipped or forgotten me.
Good luck with that!
The next morning, we checked under mom's pillow. The tooth was gone. "See," mom explained, "you just needed to be patient."
But what about the money? Had the tooth fairy left mom a quarter?
Nope.
She'd left mom a dollar!
Roasted Green Beans
©www.BakingInATornado.com
1 thin slice of onion, cut in half
4 mushrooms, sliced
1 TBSP butter, melted
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup Canadian bacon, chopped
Directions:
*Lightly grease a shallow baking pan or dish. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
*Lightly grease a shallow baking pan or dish. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
*Arrange the green beans in the dish, then arrange the onion slices and mushrooms along the sides of the green beans.
*Drizzle the melted butter over the green beans. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and top with the Canadian bacon.
*Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and toss all of the ingredients together to serve.
A sweet story, Karen!
ReplyDeleteA fun memory and a lesson learned.
DeleteOMG I Love your Mom already, what a great Lesson and Story! *Ha ha ha* I always do the Holidays and that's what my Kids remember most, how Special we made every Holiday and how many we Adopted into our Traditions and Rituals. I grew up Nomadic and Traveling extensively, so, our Family always Adopted Cultural Holidays not our own and enjoyed Celebrating those too. There's just something about Traditions, Rituals and Holidays that is very visceral to Human Beings and those that incorporate them seem to have more of a Peace about them than those that loathe them and don't participate.
ReplyDeleteYes, adding others' traditions to our own just adds more fun and interest, and fosters acceptance.
DeleteWhat I would like to know, is where the Tooth Fairy came from and where did we get an Easter Bunny. Talk about silly.Donna
ReplyDeleteGood questions, I may need to do some research.
DeleteAww I love that story. My mom did the same thing for us kids. We always got a quarter too. I bought about 20 small toys when my daughter was a baby and put them in a box in the closet and when she lost a tooth, I put a toy under her pillow. A little troll doll or something. I always had that toy box filled just in case I needed a toy.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great idea.
DeleteOh how I loved the tooth fairy as a child and even as a young mother seeing the look of joy on their face when they saw what the tooth fairy had left them.
ReplyDeleteSo much fun. Well, except for that one time for me, anyway.
DeleteI loved your tooth fairy story and its moral. Wise Mom! And I would have loved your recipe except that some animal ate all our bean plants and we got almost nothing.
ReplyDeleteOh no, how upsetting. I hope you figure out some way of making sure that doesn't happen next year.
DeleteI realized that when I was reading your story I don't remember the Tooth Fairy coming to my house...but I also don't remember it NOT coming.
ReplyDeleteI think I mostly remember because of this story.
DeleteHahahaha! Clever Fairy.
ReplyDeleteAnd sneaky too.
Delete