Little vs. Christmas

Every year, Bill O'Reilly over at Fox News Channel has a story or two about the war on Christmas:

Now, I don't know if there's any war on Christmas in America or not, but if there is, it would seem that we might be raising one of the generals in the cause. When Little Anklevich was a baby, he was really drawn to the presents under the tree. We had to build a barrier around the tree to keep him away. He seemed to have put that stuff in the past...until this year.

Little's been having a real problem waiting for Christmas to come. He just can't handle the wait. He's been caught a few times getting into presents under the tree. We've had to re-wrap a couple over the month of December. We got fed up the last time it happened, and gave him a really stern talking to, a bunch of threats, and told him Santa was watching.

It didn't really work, though, it seems. This morning, I woke up, and Little wasn't in bed like usual. I called his name, and went downstairs looking for him, and he stood up from behind the couch, looking more guilty than the cat that ate the canary.

I went down, and found what he was up to. I texted my wife this about the incident:

Little woke up before me, ran straight downstairs, and did this:

He said he just wanted to see what it was.

I yelled at him a lot, then I told him he doesn't get this present for Christmas anymore. Maybe next year or something.

I was so mad at him. He cried, but just because he was being yelled at, and not really out of any sense of guilt. I was just at a loss. I didn't know what to do.

My wife replied with this:

I think we need to move all his presents out. The temptation is too much.

I wasn't convinced. He's opened more than just his own present over the month. I replied:

He'll just open other people's presents.

Earlier in the morning, through my sleep fog, I'd noticed Little creeping through my room headed for the presents for the extended family gift exchange. None of those were his, but he was going to open them anyway. I stopped him in his tracks, but I went back to sleep, and he went to work elsewhere. I told my wife:

Before he opened that one, he woke up, got out of bed, and went straight over and grabbed one of the little presents for the gift exchange. He only didn't open that one too because I woke up and asked him what he was doing.

She was distressed with the news. She responded:

Ahhh! Got to keep him out 2 more days.

Well, he didn't get any more chances to go after things that morning...I thought. We both got ready to go to school and work, and headed out. Later that day, I got another text from my wife, a picture:

And an explanation of just what it was showing me:

He actually opened all the presents, and then hid them. He had his own Christmas this morning.

My response was a little panicked. We were only two days from Christmas, but I didn't think there was anything left that Little hadn't spoiled. I was sure that he'd seen all of his presents now:

Oh crap. So, what do we do? I told him he wasn't getting the one he had opened, but now it's all of them?

My wife had a handle on it:

I'm packing them up right now. Told him he doesn't get them. He doesn't care. Not sad or upset or anything. Says it matter of factly that he just can't wait.

He was out of control. He couldn't hold back at all, and he readily admitted it. He still wasn't even done. My wife texted me again:

And he just barely opened another one. We are packing up all the presents right now.

At last, she sent me this picture, the tree with no presents at all:

With the words:

Sad little Christmas tree.