Last night Chris and I had a very serious discussion regarding Santa.
Namely, does Santa wrap his presents?
Yes, the level of debate in our home currently is astoundingly academic and technical.
[We’re not even going to get into the ‘is Santa real’ issue in our house this year - we’re enjoying Ben’s excitement regarding Christmas, which is through the roof.]
Evidently Santa and his helpers do not wrap presents in Anchorage (Chris’ childhood home) but they do in Seattle (my growing-up place). I’m not sure how to account for the geographical difference.
Regardless, Chris made the case that he loved the un-wrapped present practice in his house: he’d wake up in the middle of the night, tiptoe upstairs, and take stock of his awaiting bounty. The one golden rule: No touching allowed. He’d marvel at his big presents and crane his neck to peer down his stocking before quietly tiptoeing back down to bed.
This practice extended well beyond childhood: The first Christmas I spent with Chris’ family he hopped out of bed in the wee hours of the morning to survey the goods. I was a very puzzled girlfriend until he explained his midnight foray.
Last night I asked him if seeing what he’d received took away some of the excitement of opening and unwrapping presents but he pointed out that packages from parents and other family members were wrapped so they got the best of both worlds.
I like opening packages however. Marveling at the presentation, carefully undoing the bows, smoothing out the paper for use at a later date. The drama of the event is fun, you know?
So we’ve politely requested a compromise from the Seattle Santa: big presents unwrapped, small stocking stuffers tied up in pretty tissue paper.
This may have been influenced by the fact that one of the elves had already wrapped up all the stocking stuffers and was unwilling to undo her masterpieces.
Anybody else have a similar Santa experience? What is the rule in your casa?
xo,
Sonja
On a similar note:
Why oh why did they feel the need to put the massively pregnant woman on Santa’s knee in the photo above? The poor guy is about to keel over from the weight. Also, I was curious to see if any of the kids noticed that the beloved Santa at the annual company party arrived in a wheel chair and was on oxygen....and how that would potentially impact his present-giving/zipping-down-the-chimney activities on December 25th. But nobody piped up.
Major props to Santa for persevering; the guy had several hundred kids (plus a pregnant lady) perched on his lap for four hours last Saturday. Talk about a workout.