I have a reputation; it's been earned over the years, that I must admit. I couldn't be described as a "snooper" anymore; but it will take the rest of my life, or even beyond, to live down that given name... based on my past actions. The sight of a wrapped gift with my name attached used to send me into a frenzy. With maturity has come patience. Now I wait to open, because I must. However, back in the day, I could unwrap and re-wrap a gift without anyone being the least bit suspicious, or so I thought. One year my mother wrapped all of my gifts in tissue paper, fastening it down with lots of scotch tape, she was onto my methods! That was a bit of a deterrent. Then there was the year, I think I was in Jr. High, when there was nothing under the tree for me whatsoever! I searched for days; finally I found the cache of brightly wrapped boxes, neatly stowed in the empty space contained beneath a sofa bed in our basement! I was very proud of my detective ability. My parents were less than amused with this highly developed gift-scoping skill. Probably the greatest lengths to which I've ever gone in searching for a gift was when I was a young newlywed. I knew my husband had hidden a gift for me, I looked everywhere imaginable but I kept coming up empty. One morning I zeroed in on a large barrel in our garage, it was full of heavy car parts, even a bumper! I hadn't looked in there, it must have been the only place left to search! Don't ask how I made my way to the bottom of that 55 gallon drum, I don't remember; all I do recall is finding the prettiest gold necklace that I'd ever seen nestled all the way at the bottom! I don't snoop anymore, it's not an attractive trait; but I still abhor surprises!We had our annual Bee Christmas dinner last evening, complete with a gift exchange. Nine of us gathered and drew numbers to choose a gift from those on the table, in order. As the gift opening progressed the next in line could either choose from the known or unknown by "stealing" an already unwrapped gift or taking a new one from the table. I suppose, by now, you can guess what Mrs. Goodneedle did... sorry, Nane! This gift, brought by Salem Stitcher, was just too good to pass up. Now seriously, can you blame me?
Life is Good!
That's no surprise at all!
That's no surprise at all!
15 comments:
Its only fair...I stole those pretty blue batiks from you last year! I think I will just hire Salem Stitcher as my color consultant with my next quilt, she has such a great eye.
Oh my goodness, that was an interesting post, I don't think I've ever gone to those lenghts to discover a gift....lol... Looking at your gift I would have "snatched" it too.
Your post made me smile. My daughter use to go to great lenghts to snoop for presents! Have to say wrapped packages udner the tree with my name on it make me
crazy too!! My Secret Santa gift
if driving me up the wall :-)!
Nice batch of fabrics! I think I would have probably "stolen" them too! :) Funny about opening your presents early. Wasn't it a dissapointment then on Christmas morning?
Oh, I am right there with you! The waiting just about kills me . . . once I know what is in that pretty, pretty package - I can rest easy and still have all the joy the others have come time to open packages.
I will always remember the year in high school that I unwrapped a package after Mom went to work. In it - my heart's desire - a pair of platform sandals. I wore them to school that day and wrapped them up completely undetected before she got home that night. I thought I had really pulled one off. All these years later, I have to wonder if Mom knew all along and just let me believe I was the best snooper ever *s*
I loved reading this post.
When my kids were little, Andrew (at least, maybe the others as well) was an incorrigible snooper. I do believe he found everything the minute I had it hid. I finally decided to wrap things as soon as I bought them, and leave the wrapped gifts in a very public place. I don't believe he ever went so far as to open anything. But my problem was that once the packages were wrapped, I couldn't remember what was in what package! So I used my SHORTHAND! I would simply write "nintendo game" or "blue shirt" in shorthand on the gift tag. It would dive Andrew CRAZY. Then he found out my sister could read shorthand, and one year he was bold enough to show her the tag and inquire. She had great fun saying, simply, "Oh, Andrew! You are going to LOVE this!"
I quit "snooping" after I discovered my very grown-up embroidery scissors one December long ago (I was maybe 11). I was so thrilled by the gift and I had to spend days pretending I didn't know... it was just TOO hard!
I could never bear to look! I liked the suspense almost as much as the opening.
My DH is the peeper, or he always guesses, & spoils the surprise.
Those fabrics are lovely.
Good story! While I never "snooped", one year my nephew and I found a horse head on a stick toy in the closet - we played and played with that - secretly of course, and I do believe it was a bit worn by Christmas, LOL!
We do a "Yankee Swap" method of gift giving many years in our family - adults only, as the kids tend to get attached to a present. For the kids we used to draw names and be Secret Angels. Now we are onto the next generation of kids - I have 23 nieces/nephews!
Cheers!
Evelyn
Our son was the one in our family, although I don't "think" he ever opened anything before hand he was the shaker,yes, he shook all the packages with his name on them.
We always let the kids open one gift on Christmas Eve, even after he moved out on his own. This particular Christmas he asked for some new boots, and went with me to pick them out, so no surprise, except on Christmas Eve, here he came to open his one gift, because he was going to a party. Yep, he picked the boot box, boy was he surprised when there was only one boot in that box. NO, he didn't get the other one until the next morning. We all thought that was funny and just couldn't understand why he was mad!!!!!!! OH WELL, odd things happen sometime...VBS
Sgame on you Ms. Goodneedle for being a snoop, glad you outgrew that, is either of your children a snoop?
You say you don't snoop anymore...I think I need to talk with Hannes! :)
My daughter was a snoop too, and would always find the gifts, no matter where I hid them. As a single parent, it was really hard to even find the time to go shopping when she wasn't around, so it was extra disappointing to me that she always found the gifts. Still I kept trying for many years. I finally got smart, and just took me shopping whenever I went. She got to pick out what she wanted, and I didn't have to try to find a place to hide anything. I did make her wait until the actual day to be able to use the gift though.
I was also a snoop but as I got older, my mother got better at hiding my gifts. I had some years when I couldn't find anything.
I always told my kids that I kept all their gifts at our next-door neighbor's house. Last year, when they moved away after 20 years, my 25 year old Darling Daughter (our family snoop) actually asked me where I was going to hide the Christmas presents! She didn't know they'd been up in the attic all those Christmases.
Oh -- I personally think you made a very good choice there with that gift :))
Merry Christmas!!
I found my presents every year, and opened some of them without detection...except the year my mother locked them in the suitcases. The first year I was married hubby though he had the perfect hiding spot. I found them in about 3 minutes.
I don't do it anymore either.
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