The house is quiet today, so I thought I’d take some time to pull the Christmas presents out of my closet and wrap them up–especially since the grands are fond of playing hide-and-seek in Nana’s closet. My grands are seven, 18 months, and six months–so okay, it’s the seven-year-old who does most of the hiding and seeking. And snooping. She’s way smarter than the average bear, so I was dreading putting the presents under the tree. If this year is like other years, she’ll find the gifts with her name on them, shake them, rattle them, and gaze longingly at them in the hope that I’ll give in and let her open them early. And, I suspect, when I’m out working or away from the house, I wouldn’t be surprised if my little genius doesn’t pray up a corner of the wrapping paper and see what’s inside . . .
So this year I decided not to put names on the gifts at all. And because there’s no way I can remember which wrapped box goes with whom, I decided to use an alphanumeric code–for instance, the number of the first letter of their name in the alphabet, plus a zero to throw things off, followed by the number of the last letter of their first name. Thank heaven there are only three grands, or I’d never remember my formula.
Next year the number code will be figured out, of course, so I may have to use birthstones or flowers or something else–as long as it keeps the recipient in suspense for a couple of weeks.
Because this house does NOT have enough hiding places. 🙂
Hope your holiday season is being delightful!
~~Angie
I had 4 inquisitive boys and I finally had to do the same thing. What a disappointment for them! Until they just decided to carefully unwrap them all. My next trick was to take them to my moms attic till Christmas Eve.
Though it marks me as quite the dinosaur to admit it, I have found shorthand to be my special friend at Christmas. I can leave the whole list on the counter, and not a soul even wants to try to break that one. However, as I get older, it sometimes stumps me too!
I wish I’d learned shorthard. I was a secretary for a couple of years, and developed my own kind of shorthand, which often confused even me. These days, I type faster than I write, so it’s easier to reach for a keyboard! 🙂
That’s clever.
I have a friend who is a twin. She tells the story that when they were in high school, their parents were gone one night and she and her sister very carefully opened and then put the wrapping back on all their presents.
She said Christmas Day was horrible. Lesson learned. LOL