Wednesday, December 23, 2009

The Veil Has Been Lifted

Last night while I was puttering downstairs the little powers that be were snooping about upstairs. How did I find out? The cherubs greeted me in my room with the AG catalog in hand and all that "Santa" was bringing was circled.

Being very trusting, stupid me, I at first thought what a great guesser I was. Imagine, out of all that high priced plastic stuff, I had picked the cream of their dreams. Then later, light dawned on this marble head and I when I looked through the stash, noted Santa's boxes were opened.

I'm angry. I've worked so hard around these holidays; cooking, planning, impromptu baking, shopping, wrapping, sending, and awhole bunch of other verbs all ending in -ing. On the better other hand, my husband is understanding, (not my -ing verb) "All kids do it," he says. And he is right, but it's so difficult for me to put this aside. We talked about calling off their Christmas, but agreed not to. There was mention of bringing the presents back and getting something else. Now, who really wants to do that, or has the energy or time. Instead those presents rifled through will remain in the closet. It is going to be a thin Christmas. Poor kids.

3 comments:

Laura said...

seriously, I did that *every year* as a kid, once I figured out where things were stashed. my mom would wrap everything up, and I'd surreptitiously ease off the tape to peak at what was inside. it didn't kill the anticipation, but heightened it. hope it doesn't ruin your Christmas morning to know they knew already... my mom pretended she didn't know, didn't tell me until I was an adult!

Tammy H. said...

Patty, so sorry since I know how much time and effort goes into trying to balance surprise and everything else that goes into making Christmas special for kids. One year we forgot a box that happened to be all of my middle son's toys from Santa. He cried when he realized he had only gotten clothes and I cried because he did. I think that the pressure of the holidays sometimes gets to all of us. Kids are kids, what they did isn't right, but don't let it ruin your holiday. My boys take after me and like surprise, I never peeked even when I could have. I liked the surprise and at 46 still do. The best gifts are those you don't expect. Not everyone sees it that way. Take it all with a grain of salt and a glass of wine. Merry Christmas.

P.H. said...

Thanks for the insight. I'm with you Tammy -- I like the surprise element.