Making the Bloody Best of a Bad Situation

Learning to roll with the punches is an invaluable life lesson.  Christmas provides a litmus test for how well your children do this sometimes.


Consider your kid receiving a gift that is the opposite of what they wanted.  Do they cast it aside quickly as the bearer of said gift watches?  Do they outwardly groan and throw their hands down in dismay?  Or maybe they make the most of it, comment, "Oh, cool," and, if they happen to know who the giver of the gift is, look them in the eyes and say, "Thank you Aunt Bertha."


At a family party this past weekend, I had the opportunity to watch my oldest son face gift reception adversity.  I discovered that he was more gracious and optimistic than I gave him credit.


He received from Santa in the form of his costumed cousin a Tron action figure.  It was an old school Tron figure too, so the gift itself actually caused no reason for disappointment in my mind.  Nor did it in his, obviously, as he pulled it from the package shortly afterward and started playing with it.  That's when the potential tragedy struck.


Very early into his play, the arm snapped off irreparably.  Instead of pouting, throwing the toy in the garbage or crying, he calmly collected the pieces, put them back in the gift bag they arrived in and carried on playing other things.


Upon returning home, he showed me the figure.  When I confirmed it was not a break that I could mend and suggested he could use it as an injured guy during his imaginary play, he quickly found a red permanent marker.


"Is it okay if I draw on it with this, dad?" he asked.


"Sure," I said.  "It's your toy."


I did not expect the result pictured below:

Now, if that isn't making the best of a bad situation, I don't know what is.  Humorous amputation FTW!