Texas boy, 12, accidentally sets front-yard lawn on fire after getting magnifying glass for Christmas present
MCKINNEY, TEXAS: One Texas family had a Christmas they would never forget after their young son set their lawn on fire with a magnifying glass they had bought him as a present.
Nissa-Lynn Parson shared her account of the hilarious incident involving her 12-year-old son Cayden on Facebook and revealed they gave him the magnifying glass because he specifically asked for it.
"My twelve-year-old son Cayden, who is an avid reader, an honor student, and interested in science, asked for a magnifying glass for Christmas," she wrote. "We thought it was for reading, but instead he tried to see if he could light a fire with it!"
Parson said Cayden and his two brothers went out to the driveway after opening their presents to "see if they could burn a couple holes in some newspaper," and things soon got out of hand. The wind blew the embers from the newspaper into the lawn, causing the grass to catch fire.
"Everything was under control until the boys came running into the house telling us that a corner of the lawn was on fire and the Christmas lights were melting!" she added.
The mom said the family rushed outside and saw the entire front lawn turning black. She uploaded pictures where everyone dressed in matching pajamas could be seen with garden hoses in hand, working together to put out the fires.
"We grabbed buckets, turned on the hose and sprinklers, and I grabbed blankets to smother and trap it - before it could spread any more into the neighbors' yard!" she wrote. "What a sight to see - a bunch of people running around crazy trying to put a front lawn fire out while wearing matching Christmas jammies!"
However, she said she knows it was an honest mistake from her son, and that it could have been worse. "So instead of a tragedy it will now be a Christmas to remember!" the mom exclaimed. "2019- The Christmas the lawn lit on fire."
Parson revealed it wasn't surprising that Cayden asked for the magnifying glass as it was akin to "a basketball player asking for basketball shoes" but joked that parents should "never buy a magnifying glass" for their sons.