Whimsy April Fools Day

Posted on Feb 1st 2016

Iâ€™ve Reformed!
Iâ€™m forgetting those practical jokesâ€¦
and going to surprise my family with some loving fun!

Itâ€™s time I atoned for my past April 1^st sins over the last thirty years and thatâ€™s too bad, I had a lot of fun playing practical jokes on my husband and two daughters. I decided to think of some loving ways to celebrate April Fools Day for my grandchildren but couldnâ€™t help silently (and sometimes out loud) chuckling over my past bad behavior.

There was the year when I cut out circles of muslin cloth, dipped in pancake batter and put them on the griddle. No one could cut through the pancakes and I just couldnâ€™t contain myself with giggles. Then there was the time my two daughters were little (ages 4 and 6) and I let them fix their own cereal with lots of milk and sugar, they were in heaven. Then I told them they were having a contest to see who could finish their cereal first. On your markâ€¦ get setâ€¦ GO! Oh how mean I was because the sugar was really salt. Okay, so thatâ€™s an old prank but they didnâ€™t know it. . One year, I let the family have all-you-can-eat, make-your-own ice cream sundaeâ€¦ yes, shaving cream instead of whipped cream. Hey, the ice cream was real! Another year, I set the alarm clock for one minute passed midnight so it was April 1st. The alarm went off, my husband got up, shaved, showered and then came back to the bedroom to get dressed, checked the clock and, well, he didnâ€™t talk to me for two weeks. (My girlfriend did the same thing and her husband got up, made himself lunch, showered and then discovered what time it was as he drank a cup of coffee, they got a divorce years later but no proof this was the cause.)

As I got older, the tricks got better; we wonâ€™t even go there. However, the very last trick I ever pulled on my family made me promise myself to atone for my wickedness. That prank backfired and I was the April Fool!

I got up extra early that last April 1^st morning and smeared honey on the toilet seat. Wouldnâ€™t you know it, my husband didnâ€™t use the toilet as usual and nothing happened. With the usual hectic pace of the morning getting the children ready for school, I forgot about it. I went up to talk to my husband while he shaved and it became a long discussion about something or other. YEP, you guessed it. I sat down on that toilet seat and became glued to the sticky rim. Serves me right you say? I have to agree.

My two daughters are now grown and mothers with their own children. They are much nicer, I have to admit. And because they are â€œmyâ€ grandchildren, I wouldnâ€™t think of inflicting such torture.

What could I do that is a loving celebration of April Firstâ€¦ so this year, Iâ€™m going to tell my grandchildren that Iâ€™m picking them up after school because they all have dentist appointments, then taking them straight to a restaurant for ice cream! Or if they spend the night before at my house, Iâ€™ll make them pizza for breakfast and waffles (with lots of â€œrealâ€ whipped cream) for dinner.

â€¦.OR I could bet them that they canâ€™t jump over a stuffed animal thatâ€™s in the middle of the floor and when they take the dare, Iâ€™ll move that little old stuffed animal into a corner of the room. Iâ€™m trying to reform, honest!