The time had come. It was the weekend after New Year’s and Steph and I were ready to reclaim some space in our living room. It was a Sunday morning with nothing planned (a rare pleasure for Steph and I) and Steph was convinced to make good use of the day. I was busy snuggling with the kiddos on the couch watching recorded episodes of Dinosaur Train, and Steph was taking the ornaments off the tree and carefully wrapping them for another year’s storage.

Steph finished her task right as the program ended, or at least as Thane’s patience with the program ended. He went to the tree and began picking up an ornament and placing it on the tree. “No Thane, we are taking the tree down today” Mommy said in a gentle voice. I was not prepared for what would happen next.

Thane’s eyes widened. The edges of lips dropped below his chin. His face elongated threefold. He gave his mother a longing, “Say it isn’t so” look. Steph’s voice cracked. If I had not seen Thano and only heard her voice, I would have been certain that she had witnessed him being horribly injured. “But sweetie, that is what makes the tree so special is that we only bring it out at Christmas time. Christmas is over.” Thanos’s head dropped. His shoulders slumped and he turned his back to his mother. I looked at Steph. Her face betrayed the pain caused by the dagger in her heart.

Thanos walked back to the tree. He grabbed a wrapped ornament from a nearby box, carefully unwrapped it and hung it gently on the tree. “I am going to decorate the tree again… I am… I am going to decorate the tree… by my-self.” With that, the dagger was twisted. I looked at Steph’s face, now contorted and elongated as well. It grew whiter as the blood continued to disappear from her skin. Apparently blood cannot be pumped by a broken heart.

The next few minutes involved convincing Thano to sit on Mom’s lap while Mommy and Daddy explained how Christmas would come again and be very special next year. After less time that I expected, he acquiesced. He got down from Mommy’s lap and removed two of the ornaments he had just placed on the tree. I guess by accepting this change, he somehow felt that he could warp time and make Christmas come sooner next year.

He continued to help us dismantle the tree and wrap ornaments for some time while his patience with the tasks persisted. After accepting the fate of Christmas ’09 and choosing to remove the ornaments himself, he remained positive the rest of the day.

Mommy, however, is still recovering from the incident. If you see her soon, give her a hug.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 11th, 2010 at 5:27 pm and is filed under Mara 12-18 months, Posts with Photos, Thane 2 years, Thane-isms. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.