Thank You, Great Grandparents!

Today, after Helios' morning basketball game, we were all sitting in the family room, watching Veggie Tales' Star of Christmas when the doorbell rang.

Helios stood up like a shot and said, "Oooh! Who is that?!" with the sort of wary suspenseful anticipation that he invokes when he sees unfamiliar wildlife in the backyard or some strange vague shape under the bubbles in the bath. (In the last case, the wariness is well deserved, since Helios takes his baths with Hesperos.)

The cause of the doorbell was the mail lady, dropping off a box from Helios' and Hesperos' great grandparents (Daddy's grandparents). Helios carried it into the family room to Mommy, straining all the way saying, "It's too heavy!" in a groaning, quasi-constipated sort of voice. When we told him the box probably had Christmas presents in it, the pitter-patter of his feet increased as he said, "Oh, presents!" with all thoughts of its weight gone.

In a very paternal fashion, Helios stood over the box while Daddy opened it. Hesperos stood there, clapped his hands, squealed and drooled. Gifts for Helios and Hesperos were pulled out and immediately ripped open with the type of vision-blurring speed that is generally only seen in cartoons.

Inside were fleece blankets, one for each. Hesperos pulled his out, pointed at the white snowmen on his blue fleece and giggled. He plopped down on his diapered bottom with a swishy thud, and tried to fan the blanket over his legs, but apparently that wasn't as satisfying as walking with a corner of it stuffed in his mouth, risking tripping.

Helios clambered up on the stuffed chair to sit with Mommy, pulling his red snowflake bedecked blanket with him, and tried to shake it out over his legs yelling, "look! It's a parachute!" That fascination lasted only until Mommy opened the card that accompanied the gift. Out fell a $5 bill. Helios saw the floppy green paper with a sharp eye that we would've expected only pre-teens to have. Breathily he exclaimed, "Money! For which to buy things!" (for some reason, talking about money prompts Helios to start talking like a Prohibition-era gangster ... "for which to buy things"??).

As he clutched and grabbed with Gollum-like intensity, Mommy handed over the dough, prompting him to run upstairs screaming, "I am going to put my money in my wallet now. Don't come upstairs!"

Meanwhile, Hesperos went upstairs for a nap, wrapped in fluffy snowmen (oblivious to money since it doesn't taste very good), followed shortly thereafter by a tired Helios who passed out on the couch.

Thank you, great grandparents!