A Grinch in the family

    The holidays are here. I admit that I do enjoy this time of year. My reasons are simple; First and foremost is spending time with family, not just my little family, but parents and siblings as well. Second would have to be all the lights and decorations that brighten an otherwise dark and drab period of short days and long nights. Last but to least is the smells of the season. I have been accused of being a super smeller at times and I don't deny that label...it is both a blessing and a curse. I love the scent of fresh cut fir trees, mulled cider, cinnamon, pumpkin pie, and Greek cookies. You probably have to be Greek to know and appreciate the smell of melomakarona (meh-loh-mah-KAH-roh-nah). For those of you that have not experienced these Greek Christmas cookies, especially when freshly baked in the home, just imagine orange and honey, with freshly ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove, all combined together into one amazing cookie. The fragrance will dazzle your senses. Admittedly, for me, these are all distractions to take my mind off of the shorter days, longer nights, and cooler weather. However, once the holidays are over, I am glad to take all the decorations down and get rid of all the evidence of Christmas for another year.  
  The internet has helped to make the holidays a little more enjoyable for me these past few years as well. I hate going to the malls and stores while fighting the crowds, just to settle on purchasing a gift for the sake of purchasing a gift, hoping that the person never suspects that you made an impulse purchase, just because you were so tired of shopping. Fortunately Amazon, Ebay, and most any large store, are all just a click away. I can shop on my own time, find the best price, and a few clicks later, I am done. I don't think I would like the holidays quite so much were it not for the internet.

Orion with a Walmart Santa

  Orion is too small this year to really understand what is going on or to be able to reap havoc upon the Christmas tree. He does, however, enjoy all the lights. Orion adds to the Christmas spirit with his smiles and laughter. It is such an amazing and heartwarming, joyful experience to have a chronically happy baby. This kid is all smiles. I have not experienced a baby that likes to  smile so much, and one that is so easily appeased. If we would have had Orion first, and then Apollo, I would have thought there was something seriously wrong with Apollo. I would have thought he was possessed (or only inherited Melanie's moody genes). Don't get me wrong, Apollo is perfect to me. I enjoy every minute with him and love everything about his personality and how much he keeps me laughing. He was just a lot of work. So far, Orion and Apollo are so completely different, that I often question if they are from the same mother! (Okay, two jabs at Melanie is enough. She is going to beat me now). Orion is bright, alert, curious, and for someone that can not walk or crawl yet, he is constantly in motion. He grabs everything, which makes cooking or eating while holding him, a difficult endeavor. Melanie has resorted to strapping Orion to her back while she works around the house to keep him from grabbing stuff.
  Apollo completely dislikes Santa Claus. I am sure it is because he has such a good memory and was freaked out by last years (uneventful) visit to Santa. After all, an old bearded guy, in a fuzzy red suit and hat, that likes children, and smells of onions and cheese, is a little creepy. I could bypass the whole "Santa picture" thing, were it not for Melanie. Apollo has been protesting Christmas for the past two months now. He is convinced that Uncle Gooch lives in "Christmas" (Switzerland) and he does not want to ever go there to visit him. We have been explaining to him what Christmas is, why we celebrate it, and that it is a "day" and not a "place". We have watched a lot of different holiday movies, some of the classic animated Christmas stories, as well as some birth of Christ stories, to give him a well rounded understanding of Christmas. We have even read books about Christmas and looked at pictures of past Christmas'. Still, Apollo wants nothing to do with Santa Claus, or Christmas. As I am an opportunist, I have pounced upon these phobias like a puma on a lame deer, and used them for my own entertainment.

"What is baby brother doing on me?"

  Recently, Melanie and I were headed out on date night. Apollo was going to stay home with his older brothers. Once he realized that we were leaving, he wanted to come along. "Dada, I want to come with you!". "You don't want to come with us Apollo." I replied mockingly. "YES...I...DO!!", he refuted. "But we are going to Christmas, Apollo" I replied while exuding an air of pleasure knowing that he would take the bait. "NO! I don't want to go to Christmas! NO WAY! I am staying here with brothers!" he exclaimed. "But it will be so much fun, you should come with me Apollo." "NO WAY!! I am NOT going to Christmas! I want to stay HERE!"

  Then there are the moments that we need to put a stop to a melt down or attitude problem. "Apollo, if you don't stop freaking out, mama will put you in a 'time out' on Santa's lap!" Apollo will protest with a bit of desperation in his voice, "NOOOOOOOO! I don't like Santa! Mama, don't put me in a time out on Santa's lap!" He will instantly put himself in check though, and start whining about Santa instead of whatever else he was whining about, and in the mean time, Melanie will be putting me in check for making her the bad guy.  I can not convey to you the pleasure I feel when I can get Melanie and Apollo both fired up with just one sentence. It is pure satisfaction.
  Apollo expressed to me this week that he wanted me to take down all the Christmas lights, decorations and the tree, (but leave up the train that is around the tree, of course). "Why do you want me to do that Apollo?", I inquired. "I want you to to take all the Christmas stuff down. I don't want this to be a Christmas house any more; I want you to turn it back into a food house." (whatever that means. I couldn't make this stuff up) he continued. "If you take down the christmas stuff, then Santa won't come to our house."
 "But Apollo", I replied, "If Santa doesn't come, you might not get any presents." "I don't want Santa to bring me presents," Apollo insisted, " I want you to bring me presents!" 
  My favorite Apollo Christmas story for this year, came when reading Dr Suess' "How the Grinch stole Christmas"to him.  About half way through the story, Apollo asked me why the Grinch was stealing all the Christmas presents and trees. When I explained to Apollo that the Grinch didn't like Christmas, and he did not want anybody to celebrate Christmas, he paused for a few seconds and then replied, "Dada, I want to go in that book and live with that Grinch." I'm with Apollo, it would be fun to be the Grinch and steal Christmas. Apollo and I both walk around the house now singing, "Your a mean one, Mr. Grinch." 
  After all was said and done, Melanie got her way and had a picture taken of all her boys with Santa Claus. It took some bribing on our part, and a super nice old man dressed up as Santa, that offered Apollo some words of encouragement... and a sucker. After the pictures were taken, Apollo agreed that Santa was nice, but admitted, "I still don't like him."

Father Christmas, with the boys. 2011

  Here is a quick update on the battle to reprogram Apollo's language. Keep in mind that we have given Apollo alternate words to use in place of the naughty ones:
  While driving down the road, Apollo breaks into song, as he often does, but this time with his own twisted Christmas tune; "Jingle farts, jingle farts, jingle all the farts..." "Apollo!" Melanie interjected, "what did I tell you about using that word?" "Sorry mama," came his reply, and after a brief pause, he began singing again, "Tooter bells, tooter bells, tooters all the bells..."