It began years ago with a mom who was overachieving and clueless about what she was getting into.
Our children were perceptive to the things they wanted to pay attention to. Early on, they recognized that “Santa’s” handwriting matched mom’s all too closely. I tapped into my creative spirit and came up with this wonderful idea.
Every year Santa wrapped each child’s present in a special paper. The way they identified their gifts was Santa left a little shred of their paper in their stocking. So each child can recognize their wrapping paper. Thanks to a great after Christmas sale, Santa kept the same wrapping paper theme for years.
The plan functioned well for many years. Even as the older children grew up, they still played along. I think they play along to help keep the magic alive for Darcee. But maybe they enjoy the “magic and mystery”
All was going well until this year…
Curtis was on it. He was proud of himself for shopping early. Wrapping and getting gifts under the tree well before Christmas. The only problem… He used Santa’s wrapping paper.
Any guesses who noticed? Yep, Darcee spotted the wrapping paper within minutes of being home. Her unhappiness prompted numerous questions.
I evaded the question of why Santa’s wrapping paper was already under the tree for an afternoon. She is very persistent when she wants to be. I finally convinced her to settle on the idea that Santa does not have his own exclusive wrapping paper. And that sometimes, he uses the same paper as us everyday humans.
I am not sure she completely bought the idea, but at least she quit asking questions.
All was going well until Christmas Day. As we are sitting around unwrapping presents, someone handed Curtis a present with his name on it. As Curtis went to open his present, I knocked it out of his hands. I thought he was opening one of Darcee’s presents. The commotion caused Darcee to look at us. Which made the conversation awkward. I pointed out that Darcee’s presents are wrapped in that paper. He flipped over the presents and showed me where I wrote his name on the presents.
Ooops. We all had a good laugh at Santa’s mistake and my reaction.
Next year will be interesting to see how Santa wraps presents.
In your house, does Santa wrap presents, or leave them unwrapped?
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