December 7, 2007

Little toy trains, little toy tracks
Little toy drums, comin’ from a sack
Carried by a man dressed in white and red
Little boy, don’t you think it’s time you were in bed.
-From the song, Little Toy Trains, written by Roger Miller. Recorded by Glen Campbell 1968.

As children, we couldn’t wait to rip through the pretty paper and ribbons to get to the actual presents (that our parents had painstakingly wrapped). What goodies would Santa bring us? We may not have been good all year long but, darn it - the week before Christmas, we were angels!

I can remember my brothers, sister and myself going on scavenger hunts through the house looking for the gifts our parents had hidden from us because we had gotten so good at figuring out what our wrapped presents were under the tree. They even stopped putting them out until Christmas Eve.

And our parents telling us not to try and find them - well, that was just an invitation to tear the house apart.

As just mentioned, we perfected the art of unwrapping and rewrapping presents - so we knew everything in advance that we’d be getting. We could remove the tape from the wrapping without ripping the paper. Oh yeah, we were good!

Of course, it was exciting when we discovered the booty. But, then come Christmas morning, it lost its luster since we already knew what we were getting. Sometimes, it was disappointing, even. But, it was also self-inflicted.

However, not to be outdone, our parents then started setting boobytraps. And, if caught, the gifts were swapped for something else - oftentimes for something that we didn’t necessarily want. It kind of changed our approach of “autodiscovery” - and prompted us to wait it out until Christmas day instead.

Fast forward to 1992. Nick is two, and to call him an anti-clotheshorse would be mild. The kid hated clothes. Didn’t want to open them either. The previous year, he tried to throw out the clothes - bury them in the bag with all the used gift wrap. “Ni-Ni no like.” Yeah, whatever.

So Christmas morning, Ni-Ni was up and excited to open his presents. It could take up to five minutes for him just to remove the paper. And he didn’t take too kindly to having spent all that time just to open a box containing an item of clothing. Watch the following clip. Nick had spent a good 5 minutes peeling the paper off the box. Watch the expression on his face. Priceless! It’s like - are you shitting me? I roll over laughing every time I watch it!

Since then, I can happily say he’s gotten over his disdain at receiving clothes for Christmas. But now, we play a little game of Deal or No Deal. He only gets to open one gift on Christmas Eve. If he likes it he can keep it. Or he can trade it in for another. But if he trades it in, he forfeits the first gift, forever. Sometimes, it makes for a long night of wishing he could change back again. (haha) Let’s see how he fares in a couple of weeks!

How about you? Did you try and sneak a peek at your Christmas goodies in advance? Get caught?

Click here for a full listing of the 25 Days of Christmas Challenge.

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