Christmas Soaking
Posted by Robert on December 26, 2021 at 00:13:19
Merry Soaking Christmas
I had said I had something planned for Robbie and Sam this morning, and I did. Here's how it went. Some other slightly unexpected things happened today too, which ended up working out well.
When the boys got up (at 6 AM!!!) they came out in what they wear to bed. Robbie wears a sleeveless shirt and underwear while Sam had on just pyjama pants. Of course we were already up (we meaning my wife and I - we had been up "prepping" for the planned event), so we went to the tree right away. The boys opened their presents while we had Christmas music playing from the TV. When they finished what looked to be the last one each, Robbie kind of looked at me disappointed. There was mostly clothes - we'd gotten Robbie a pair of faded jeans as he likes, and skinny-ish white shirts which are also his fave, but also some other things like a pair of cargo khakis. Sam received similar, except he was more into sweatpants, so he got a couple pair. Of course, they each also got a computer game they wanted.
"Uh, thanks Mom, thanks Dad," said Robbie in a sullen voice.
"No problem, son. But you're both missing one. Why don't you check your stockings?" I said.
We never usually put anything in the stockings - they are usually just up for decoration. But there are 4 that we hang on the mantel with our names on them every year anyway. (Got the boys ones for a wedding anniversary a while back, and had our own made for our first Christmas as a couple.)
Robbie ran over to his stocking and opened it. "There's a card in it," he said.
"Check your's too, Sam," I said to Sam.
"Mine has a card too," he quipped.
Basically, it was a "Christmas Hunt" to find their gifts, during which they either had to do weird things or solve a riddle to find the next clue. I won't put all of the cards here that they had, but I will discuss the relevant ones here. After each getting a card at the beginning, all subsequent ones were joint for the two of them.
After a couple of "go here" and "go there" riddles, we came to one of the good ones. "Go under the cold water in the shower for 2 minutes," the card read. My wife turned the shower on in our bathroom (the ensuite) and made sure it was cold.
"Get in," she said to Robbie and Sam. "One at a time."
Robbie didn't hesitate and went in right away. "Ah! Refreshing!" he said as the water ran all over him. He ran his hands through his still-too-long hair (he used to have really short hair... but long is the new COVID trend, ha ha) and got pretty much fully soaked. Didn't flinch once about the cold water.
"Must be too warm," said my wife, who reached her hand in and immediately pulled it out when she realized it was darn cold.
He "showed" a bit when he got out. "Your turn Sam!" said Robbie.
Sam went in - remember, he was shirtless but had on long pyjama pants. "Argh it's cold!" he quipped, his voice breaking quite a bit. He just stood there to bear it, hunched over himself to try to make it run down his back only and not his front. He didn't get nearly as wet because of this, but thems the breaks...
"What's next, that was awesome!" said Robbie.
"That was cold!" said Sam. "Aren't you cold?" he asked Robbie.
"Nope," said Robbie.
The same as at the river, he is never cold at the moment, but will feel cold later. Anyway, the joys of a teenage boy.
"Alright, here's your next card," said my wife.
The next couple involved things like doing pushups, situps, jumping jacks, etc. to get their next cards. Until finally, we reached the last one. We had gotten them out to the garage - Sam had since put a shirt on because he was freezing - and they solved the riddle to determine their presents were in the trunk of our car.
"Wow, thanks!" said Robbie, whose eyes almost popped out.
I wasn't sure what his reaction would be to a brand new, machine washable, suit. Many teenage boys hate getting clothes like that, but methinks he was itching to get wet in that again and since the last one got ruined by the water, we decided to get him this one. It was actually a tad big - we wanted to make sure it was ready for the family reunion we have mid-2022 (if we can travel to it - fingers crossed), and the rate he's been growing, we got it unhemmed and a bit big. But good for now as a "play" suit, and will be perfect for the reunion later.
"What's this?" asked Sam when he saw a box.
"Your present," said my wife.
Sam opened it to find a pair of black running tights, a pair of black compression arm sleeves, and a new pair of custom Nike shoes (I don't know what these are called, honestly, my wife ordered them with a custom message on them - oodles of $$...). They are mostly red, with a blue tongue, neon green laces, pink along the back, a silver "swoosh", and a black inside. Written on the top of the tongue is "SAM 2021" (of course, it was actually his real name, not "Sam" which is the online name I give him here.).
"Whoa, oh my God!" said Sam, whose eyes also popped out. "I've always wanted shoes like these!" he quipped.
Of course, with Sam not being as much of a wackywetter as Robbie, the first thing he thought of was wearing them to school and showing them off to his friends. Suddenly, Robbie looked really, really jealous.
"Don't worry, we didn't forget you too," said my wife to Robbie. "Look on the back seat."
Robbie saw the box and his eyes popped out again.
We got basically the same style, slightly different colours, and a different message. My wife thought it would be funny, since he was almost certainly going to do this, to put "SOAK ME" on the tongues instead.
I could tell that Robbie's heart had started racing with anticipation, so I planted the seed.
"Ok, the last part of the hunt is that you have to put on some of your new clothes, get fully soaked, and then go out and shovel the snow," I said. (We had a doozy dump of snow overnight.)
Robbie ran so fast inside that he slipped on the laminate floor right onto his butt. "Ow!" he yelled, also laughing. Remember, he was still wet.
"Sam, I have a great idea. Why don't we each put on something, get soaked, then put our jackets, mitts and toques on over top and go out. That way, we'll look mostly dry, but in reality we'll actually be soaked," said Robbie.
Yup, the way a wackywetter thinks - good kid. Sam was up for it, and decided to put on his new jeans and one of his new long-sleeved shirts, and Robbie talked him into wearing the new shoes. I was going to say he had to anyway, but Robbie made sure I didn't have to say anything.
"I don't want to ruin them," said Sam. "I want to wear them to school when we go back."
"Don't worry, that's a myth that water ruins shoes. You just have to dry them out properly," said Robbie.
I thought Robbie may wear the suit, but he said, "I'm saving that for another occasion - is that ok?"
"Of course," I said, grinning.
He ended up wearing the new skinny jeans, one of the new very-short-sleeved white shirts (his "fad" thing now - not quite sleeveless, but really doesn't cover anything if you lift your arms up - all his friends dress like this, pretty much, either that or wear long-sleeved shirts or full sleeveless shirts), and put on the shoes that said "SOAK ME" right on them.
"C'mon, Sam," he said. "Let's get soaking wet!"
The boys went into their bathroom, got soaked, and got out. I had already left their winter stuff outside the door and they put it all on. Sam also put on some snowboarding pants on top of his now-soaked jeans, but Robbie wanted to ensure that everyone could at least see his pants were wet - he didn't mind if anyone saw him. Wish I had that kind of courage at his age, then maybe I'd have it now...
The shoes made squelching sounds so loud you could hear them over anything else. They went out and shovelled the snow from our drive, and shovelled the neighbours drive too - both of our neighbours on each side, as well as the one right across the street. Keep in mind we live in a rural area, so each of our neighbours' driveways are not that close. When they got to the one across the street, they were "invited in for hot chocolate". They decided not to, since the neighbours are old and we didn't want to go inside due to the pandemic, but she brought it out to them and they sat on their steps. It was a dry area of the property as it was under an awning, so when they sat, you could see the wet spot their pants made. Sam actually looked like he'd wet himself since he had the snowboard pants on top of his wet pants, but Robbie's were directly wet.
"Wow, did you boys fall in the snow?" the lady apparently asked.
"Nah, got wet first. More fun that way when you're gonna work up a sweat clearing snow," said Robbie.
The lady apparently just laughed them off as "teens" and went back inside.
They finished the drive and came back over - both were actually sweating heavily despite it being minus 10 or so, Celsius. Sam took off his snowboard pants, jacket, toque and mitts in the garage. Robbie took off his stuff too.
"Wow, until Mrs. C. (the neighbour across the street) said something about us looking wet, I completely forgot. But boy, that felt f***ing awesome," said Robbie just as I was coming out to the garage.
"Are you frozen?" I asked.
"Not at all, we're actually hot," said Sam. "My feet are cold, but that's it."
"Wimp," Robbie whispered to Sam.
"I'll bet you're cold too, just don't wanna say!" said Sam.
"Just my feet a bit, the rest of me is actually hot. But you wouldn't know from my shirt being soaked," said Robbie.
The boys came back in and went to their rooms. They hadn't stripped anything else off yet. Finally, Robbie came out.
"Dad, do you have a minute?" he asked.
"Sure, of course," I said.
"Why is it that this feels so cool? It's not normal to do this, you know. But it just feels so good," said Robbie.
"That's probably why you like it. Because it's not normal," I said. "You've always been a maverick before, but now you have permission to do something - that helps as well."
"Nah, it's kinda different. This feels good in other ways too," said Robbie.
I just smiled. "You're getting to the age where your hormones take over," I said. "Things make you feel different - good and bad - in many ways."
We chatted for a while longer about teenager things, and he went back to his room and stripped. He tends to stay around the house mostly undressed anyway, even in the winter.
Oh, and I didn't mention earlier about Robbie's "white tights". He's gonna wear those "out for a run" one day soon - I know what that means, so I'll post about it. I think I did mention in a previous story that Robbie hadn't worn them soaked, but I had forgotten that he actually had - but he didn't go outside. Now he wants to go outside in all white, after seeing some videos online of a guy that did just that in a pond. He knows he'll show, but he says that's the thrill of it. Ha ha. Go on, Robbie, enjoy it while it lasts. If you're anything like me, the novelty will wear off the minute you have kids.
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