Tuesday, December 1, 2009

No Surprises.


Have I ever told you that I hate surprises.

Hate them.

Hate them a lot. Squared.

I am type A and like to have control of everything. Surprises throw that right out the window and generally piss me off.

Because of this slight issue with my psyche, I stopped believing in Santa when I was 5. When my brother and I were like 4 or 5 years old, we started snooping for our presents every Christmas. When our parents would leave us alone in the house(yes, they left us alone..a lot..at that age..another post for another day...) we would lay out our game plan, divide and conquer the various hiding places in the house until we had unearthed every present meant for us that year.

When mom caught onto us, she started hiding presents in her car trunk(which we found), at our neighbors(which we found) and then just started wrapping them and putting them under the tree. We would them unwrap them and rewrap them before the holidays.

Every year I knew exactly what I was getting, and when it had that tag "From Santa" I would turn to my mom and say "I saw this in YOUR closet 2 weeks ago...Santa Smanta." The gig was up.

Not to say that Christmas wasn't magical. It was. The lights, the songs, the spirit, the love, the family. I just had no need to have these surprise presents under the tree or this illusion of some bearded man in a red suit delivering them.

I also kind of assumed that other kids knew that Santa didn't really come down their chimney and deliver their presents.

So Christmas is hard for me with my own kids because I feel like I am lying to them and trying to constantly remember what I said to them about him and making up more stuff up to cover my butt. What do you say when you see Santa at Macy's and they ask if it is the real Santa?

I want them to believe in the spirit and joy of Christmas, but do I really care if they believe a fat man in a red suit came down our chimney? Not really.

What I didn't expect though was a fellow snooper in the house. Now Eloise would NEVER and I mean EVER snoop for anything. That is like rule breaking. Now that other one though....tsk tsk tsk.

Sunday afternoon Esther comes over to me with the brightest eyes, her mouth open in amazement and trying to whisper when she wants to yell.

Mom, mom, mom...I am getting the complete Disney Princess Barbie set for Christmas!!!!

Really Esther, why do you think that?

Because I just found it along with all of our other presents. Can I have them now??

No, it isn't Christmas yet.

But that is okay, I don't need any surprises, I just want them now since I already saw them.

No.

Will you let me just look at them every day until Christmas?

How will she ever keep this secret from Eloise for the next 5 years?? ;)

xoxo,t

10 comments:

Sahnya said...

I too am a lifelong present snooper. My favorite old trick was looking at the receipts in the store bags!

These days I never get anything exciting so my focus goes to directing the seven grandparents to exactly what I want them to get the boys. I hate when the boys get a gift I don't want in the house (like a duplicate of something we have or some plastic battery sucking piece of junk).

Maybe this year will be extra special and I will also get a Disney Barbie set like Ester!

Grammy said...

Funny pictures! Snooping for hidden gifts is a must, a law, something past down from generation to generation. The surprise here is that Esther shared her discovery! No doubt in my mind she will also share this information with Eloise.

Ann said...

That's hilarious! She's a little you! :) My kids haven't snooped yet, but if one decides to, I'm sure it would be Nina. Darn middle children! :) As for the Santa at Macy's.... I say that it is someone dressed like Santa who helps Santa out during the holidays since he is busy at the North Pole.

Izzy'sMom said...

That is just the cutest story! I love it! Love the photos as well!

Kristi Pohl said...

In my case, I perpetuated the Santa story for so long because it was all about being a kid again-the magic and the mystery. I always told Charlie the Santas weren't the REAL Santa, who was far too busy up north directing toy operations to visit with kids. And getting reports from those elves on who was naughty or nice...

Momma T said...

My middle kid, Gannon, will definitely be the one to de-flower the Santa myth. The other day, we went to pick up our Christmas wreaths. He saw a stuffed Santa and proceeded to punch it in the nose. I don't think he'll give a lick when he finds out that I am Santa - it'll save him the step of writing the letter. Maguire, however, will be sad. Maybe there's something about being the oldest and having to grow up the most quickly that those kids want to hold on to the idea of magic.

Anyway - - off to the Le Creuset Outlet - - Santa has to get herself some gifts!!!!

Anonymous said...

LOVE the photos! Again, you need to frame those. Do you have a lot a wall space?

I hate surprises too. My 40th is coming up and I have severe punishments in place for anyone who plans a surprise party. But I LOVE Santa. Love him.

Amanda M. said...

Ohhhhhhhhhhh! I am laughing so hard. That is HILARIOUS. I love Esther. She is awesome. She totally reminds me of my stepsister, who found and had everyone's complete present stash accounted for weeks before the big day. She'd tell us all what we got whether we wanted to know or not. hehe.

Rachelle said...

I'm so distracted by the 3 gorgeous photos of Esther that I forgot the question. They are beautiful. They are frame worthy. You have so many good ones! Her long hair is so pretty. Santa? That's a tough call. Go with your gut. You know your kids.

Tracy said...

Crack me up funny. And the picture are too sweet to follow the story.

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