Day 35: Creep Crawly Christmas

Merry Christmas.
I know I promised you the story of the Christmas slug, and I'm sure you're just dying for me to post it. But tonight, as I was (shoving stuff into the closet) putting away our new gifts, I saw a thin, wriggling tail disappear under the closet door. So I (screamed) calmly kept my composure, and told my husband to come take care of the SNAKE that was in our CLOSET.

Okay, it was not a large snake. It was a small snake. But, as I reminded the man of the house, baby copperhead snakes are just as venomous as adult copperhead snakes. He asked me how to know if it was a copperhead. (Oh, because the neighbor boys caught a copperhead in our yard a few weeks ago, so I know these things.) I told him that copperheads have triangle heads and move slowly. “Oh, good. They move slowly.” he said. Well. When he went to put the tupperware down to catch it, it moved like the devil, so maybe it wasn't a copperhead. And it's wee beady eyes looked round. So it probably wasn't poisonous.

In the meantime, my oldest daughter had come to see the snake. She retrieved the Boy, who was already in his room for bed. Both of them crouched over the tupperware, enthralled. The Girl so happily and wisely suggested “We could die it.” Yes, yes we could. But we already have it under the tupperware, you see. So the Man humanely slid a piece of paper under it and took the wriggling little beast out the door, down the block, to the pond.

After all this excitement, the kids were in no mood for bed. Their dad was a HERO and he had left CARRYING a snake. So, we (ordered) calmed and soothed them into bed. As I was helping the Boy say his prayers, I was trying to prompt him to be grateful for many things: his gifts, our family, Christmas. But what was he truly, emphatically, delightfully grateful for? “SNAKE!”
So that's why I'm in no mood to write about the Christmas slug. I've had far too much of creepy crawlies for the day.