Winner! Winner! Free Steak Dinner!

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After a long year of taunting one another back and forth the bet between Sam and his Uncle Chuck was finally settled when the Packers beat the Steelers for the Super Bowl...by one single point...to earn a free dinner, with one guest...at a nice restaurant.

It's about way more than the dinner.

First off, I am so grateful to Chuck for taking on such a task. Through twenty some years I made the exact same sort of bet with Jeff. Those who read Oh Brother! will realize that there was a lot at stake...dinner and bragging rights. Chuck was graceful enough to keep the tradition going with Sam...who is one of the all-time greatest trash talkers at the ripe old age of ten.

Since the bet was settled Sam has tormented Chuck with nightly phone calls reminding him of the final game. There are a lot of belly laughs as they go back and forth. Feeling like he may have had enough, Chuck decided to settle up last night.

Now Sam is not the biggest kid in the world. He is not really known to eat to pain as Jeff and I were sure to do in an effort to get every last nickel out of the guy paying.

But the kid really went at it hard. He ate a half a loaf of bread. He ordered chicken wings for an appetizer. Then the prime rib, with a baked potato, and a salad. To finish it off, a piece of cheesecake. He also had two iced teas and a Shirley Temple.

I, of course, had the biggest steak on the menu...and helped with the blooming onion.

Sam taunted his uncle with every bite. He raised his fork with a piece of prime rib, that his Aunt Corinne had to cut for him, and said, "I won this bite." Then he grabbed another, smiled at Chuck and said, "You lost this bite."

It loses some of its sting when you have to ask someone else to cut up your meat for you, but let me tell you, not much!

I know that his other Uncle was keeping an eye on the scene and laughing his ass off as my son taunted Chuck.

As we returned home, Sam talked non-stop about how much fun he had. He recapped the entire dinner for Kathy, explaining who was seated where and adding up every nickel that Chuck spent.

And it is here that I'm supposed to say that it was all about the good time and that minutes of fun with family means more than the dollars spent to make a memory.

But I can't.

Chuck lost.

Winner! Winner! I got a free steak dinner!

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DQ Queenie said…
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27 February, 2011
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