Forehead

Right about where I keep my third eye there's a small scar that will forever remind me of Christmas and my brother.

Christmas at our place, like in most homes that celebrate it, was loaded with traditions and one of ours was a family portrait in front of the tree Christmas Eve. All of us kids would begrudgingly put on our nicest clothes and then get asked why, oh why, did we insist on making this process so hard. Parents and visiting relatives would all be feeling the effects of copious libations and pets would wrangled for the youngest children to hold up. Dad would coordinate placements from behind the camera while Mom would try manage us kids like a herd of cats. A dozen or so clicks later the picture had been taken and Christmas could go on.

However my older brother and I had our own, (even more important), tradition which was to see how much damage we could do to each other's nicest clothes before the photo. A parent was always quick to jump in once the jostling started so the damage had to be done quick. Success, for me at least, came when you'd popped off all of the opponent's shirt buttons so he either had to change into a less-favorite shirt or be mended with safety pins. I stood no chance against him in the early years but as I grew bigger and stronger the tables quickly turned in my favor...but he was smarter.

His tactics became to simply hold me off long enough until we were separated, and then strike!

Usually our jostling took place in the large doorway to the living room which housed the tree. We'd get pulled apart, he'd quickly jump up and, once nobody was looking and I was off guard, he'd smash my forehead into the door frame. Sometimes hard enough to break the skin, but always hard enough to form an egg.

Oh no, our parents were not amused by this because again, why, oh why!, did we insist on making things so difficult? I'd get cleaned up, he'd get yelled at, we'd both be shunned, and then get ready for the photo like nothing had happened.

Like any good army sergeant, my brother learned not to worry about the fight he couldn't win, but instead celebrate the victory that came from having his younger, yet bigger, brother display an obvious battle scar in the family Christmas photo year after year.