Santa’s Workshop

I have mentioned before my son’s obsession with Minecraft.   He’s not alone as this is a common thing for children in a wide age range to enjoy.   It’s a world in which you can build things in the shape of cubes.   It’s an open-ended activity and he’s been doing a lot of creative things in the game.

Today he wanted me to play with him.   I’m a video game veteran but I haven’t played Minecraft like he has so he was the teacher and showed me what to do.   I asked if there was a Christmas world he could load.   There are worlds people have created that you can load and look around or play in.   Sure, he said, let me find it.

This world was impressive.   The creator had made building blocks representing all things Christmas.   There was an entire village with a huge Christmas tree in the center replete with presents underneath. My son said, “can I be the TNT master?”   I said sure, knowing this meant he planned on blowing something up (he loves blowing things up).

He got the TNT block and placed lots of TNT “presents” under the tree, promising me they wouldn’t blow up—and then he blew them all up.   He explained that by doing this it destroyed “the prize”.   I didn’t get an explanation of what the prize was because at that moment he said, “hey, there’s a secret tunnel underneath the base of the tree!”  

We both climbed down the ladder and followed a very long tunnel and then climbed up, opening a secret trapdoor in the floor.    As we looked around he said very decisively, “we’re in Santa’s workshop.”  I asked him if he’d been here before and he said he didn’t know about the tunnel or this secret place.   How did he know it was Santa’s workshop I asked, “I can just tell” he said.

The Big Boy Update:  My son gets worried when his sister leaves town to have eye surgery.   This afternoon he wanted to spend time on the bed with me with our iPads, side by side.   It’s sort of nice to have him want to be around me, usually he’s off and about doing his own thing.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter and husband just landed in Detroit for eye surgery on my daughter’s right eye tomorrow.   My husband got a call shortly after they touched down that Dr. Trese, our surgeon, is stuck in Atlanta with a power outage.   He’s trying to get back in time for surgery in the morning but we won’t know until tomorrow.   While this is frustrating news to my husband, my daughter is thrilled there is snow on the ground.