December 23, 2002

The festive Christmas tree, laden with ornaments handmade and delicate, stood royally in the corner as clear lights twinkled in the early morning hours. Brightly colored packages of all shapes and sizes crowded beneath the tree and spilled out to the floor surrounding it.

Scents of sugar cookies, gingerbread, and hot chocolate filled the air as the fire began to roar.

The children, Elizabeth and James, ran down the stairs in their footie pajamas, character slippers and robes. Pausing momentarily for the approving nod from their father, Elizabeth and James soon tore into their presents.

James, the baby of the family at a precocious two and a half years of age, carefully picked up a large square package wrapped in shiny red paper with a gigantic white bow. Having learned to recognize the four-letter nickname of his favorite aunt, he quickly knew that something special certainly was inside this box.

His jaw dropped in anticipation and the exuberant smile reached his mischievous green eyes.

Tearing into the wrapping paper and nearly shredding the box in his feverish pace to see what lay inside, James shrieked with excitement. He began to jump up and down, attempting to shake the box away from the bodies of his newest best friends. When he triumphantly freed them from their captivity, James immediately cuddled the large Dale Earnhardt bear and Dale Earnhardt Jr. "All-Star Baseball" bear to his chest.

Nuzzling them to his chin, James snuggled with them in a sweet moment that only his favorite Cuppy Bunny had previously experienced.

His parents stared in awe and amusement, encouraging him to proudly show off his new treasures. The favorite aunt who gave James the bears watched in pure delight as her little racing fanatic gleefully made the rounds with his Dale & Dale bears. Grandparents shook their heads in disbelief that he was so excited over racing bears. "Racing bears?" they kept asking.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth sat in silence, solemnly watching her baby brother with his bears. As James cuddled onto his aunt's lap for a photo and a thank-you kiss, Elizabeth stared down her brother - as if daring him to exceed her love of racing. Afterall, she had been at this racing adoration game for nearly five and a half whole years. James was a rookie - yellow stripe and all. And Elizabeth played the part of the Little Intimidator perfectly. Staring her brother down, never breaking eye contact, never showing any emotion. All she needed was a number three on her purple Tinkerbell jammies.

As the morning progressed, Elizabeth finally discovered a little box wrapped in shiny red paper and big white bow. She read her aunt's name on it and slowly - almost torturously - opened the present. Elizabeth popped open the top of the box and dove into the tissue to discover a baby-sized Dale Earnhardt Jr. Baseball bear. She quickly pulled the tissue out of the box, turning it over and over, looking for something. Frantically, she scanned the room only to discover that her fears were correct. This was indeed her last present.

Looking up at her aunt, Elizabeth's crystal blue eyes quickly filled with tears and her chin quivered. But no tears fell. She willed them not to fall. "Elizabeth, that matches your Dale bear that's upstairs in your bed. Same size. "Now you have a matching set," her aunt explained, trying to explain to Elizabeth.

James, in the way that only two and a half-year old boys can do, walked right up to his sister's face, held up his two larger bears that dwarfed her Dale Jr. bear and declared, "Mine's bigger." And with that, Elizabeth broke down and wailed loudly. Unable to speak because she was crying so hard, her family gathered around her and tried to soothe her hurt feelings.

Her favorite aunt cuddled Elizabeth on her lap and slowly explained that she was the first to love Dale, and that's why she had the little bear already. There were no larger Dale bears when Elizabeth had received her baby Dale bear. But now, she had a matching set of Dale bears with her favorite Dale Jr. baseball car bear. Despite all of this rational explanation, Elizabeth cried uncontrollably before she fell into silent sadness.

An hour later, as the family progressed with opening their presents, Elizabeth skillfully "borrowed" her brother's larger Dale and Dale bears. James screamed in protest. Elizabeth rationally explained, "I'm just looking," as she set them on her lap like baby dolls. Baby Brother made an attempt at yanking them away from her, but she quickly held on by an ear on the Dale Jr. bear.

Suddenly, a Christmas racing bear tug of war ensued that had the aunt that started all this laughing uproariously. (There was just something so ironic about seeing the Dale Jr. bear being pushed and pulled in different directions.) Mom and Dad intervened and tried to pull those little hands off of the bear.

Grandparents continued to say, "Over racing bears? I don't get it." And Elizabeth and James screamed at one another, "Stop! Let go! Stop!"

Of course, the Dale the Daddy bear and two Dale Jr. bears - large and baby-sized alike - were quickly confiscated and put high atop the shelf in the living room where both children could still see them. And they stared at them for the next twenty minutes as if willing them to fall down, while all of their other toys and presents sat untouched.

"No, mine, Elizabeth," James warned his sister.

"Yeah? Well, I love racing more than you," she retorted.

"Nah-ah-ah."

"Uh-huh."

"Nah-ah."

"Uh-huh."

"Nah-ah."

And this continued throughout the morning, into Christmas dinner until both children were escorted upstairs for naptime.

The next morning, Auntie arrived with a large, matching set of Dale & Dale bears for Elizabeth.

The moral of the story here is that if you decide to embark on a racing holiday, make sure that you give equally to your racing fans - big and small alike. If you don't, be prepared to experience expressions of racing frustration, not unlike Ward Burton throwing the booties at Dale Jr. at Bristol. Whatever happens, do not let it get to the Keebler Elf-Mr. Excitement level of absurdity.

Happy NASCAR Christmas! Here's hoping there are no racing tug-of-wars this holiday .


You can send feedback to L.M. Burke at: Insider Racing News

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