Scotch Tape

I should have bought some 3M stock about a week ago because we're blazing through the Scotch Tape like nobody's business. I thought I would let the kids indulge in some good ol' fashioned anticipation, so I wrapped all the gifts last night (not to say that they shouldn't have been bought and wrapped weeks ago, but due to the family vacation so close to Christmas...well, that's whole other story) and set them under the tree. This morning you'd have thought it was actually December 25th as excited as they were to discover the piles of pretty boxes. The older three, being the mature children they are, are of course content just to hold each box, weigh it, shake it, feel it, and try to guess its contents (and beg just a little: "Can't we just open one? Pleeeeaaaase?"). The Princess, however...well, she thinks we are subjecting her to some sort of cruel and unusual punishment.

When her Daddy informed her she could not open them until Christmas, she burst into a torrent of her best dramatic tears. And her beligerent colors came shining through this morning when I halted her getaway with the biggest present. I told her she was not allowed to take it upstairs and should put it back under the tree. "Mo! Mo! Mo!" she responded, which in Audreyese means "No! No! No!" I have to be watchful for her quiet moments because if I'm not guarding her, she is in the living room tearing little pieces of wrapping paper little by little off of each package. Each of the presents now looks like it's been through World War II with a succeeding visit to the infirmary whereupon it was pitifully bandaged up. I'm not sure what the gifts will look like 4 days from now, but thankfully at that point we can allow the Princess to rip into them as she wishes. Torture over.