Since we have so many Darksiders....

How many of you snuck and opened your presents early as children? As Darksided as I am, I never opened my presents early, though I picked at the edges of wrapping and shook the boxes quite often. I couldn't leave them alone. The only exception were gifts from relatives that I opened on Christmas Eve. I can remember a girl I went to school with; she and her siblings opened all their presents while the parents weren't home, then wrapped them back up. Her parents were none the wiser.

We only got presents from Father Christmas growing up, so no chance for sneak peaks. I probably would have otherwise, or at least had a good poke or shake of the pressies.

oh man, this brings back some memories My parents used to have a waterbed that kinda had a tunnel thing going thru the middle for storage...well, they used that to store our Christmas presents I remember crawling in there with my sister to pull out our presents to see what we got of course my mom had to have known that we did that because we just pushed them back in however we could so they definitely weren't in the same order (my mom is one of those people that knows if a coaster is turned the wrong way actually, so am I )

My little cousin actually unwrapped all of his presents one year did not do the best job re-wrapping

I never did, My neice just told me a few days ago her and her brother did every year. both of their parents work. They used to steam the tape so it would come off easily, peek then re-tape them.

I did, and I went about it in the most I've-just-watched-Home-Alone-and-I'm-feeling-sneaky way possible. My parents hid the presents in a locked hallway in the basement. Well, I would meticulously go through each room in the house until I found the key. Thinking back, my dad probably should have kept the key at work most of the time. I found it on top of the fridge, in the oven hood, and on a keychain of random, useless keys (that was my favorite).

I would then use the scalpel from my microscope kit to open the wrapping, and would reseal with another piece of tape directly on top of the old. I was way too crafty as a kid. My parents always knew I had done it, because I would open the presents in increasing order from least desirable to what I wanted most (I am a huge proponent of saving the best for last), but they could never put the kibosh on it.

I always knew where my mother hid the gifts before they were wrapped. The Christmas I was in 5th grade, I peeked in all the packages and found two skirt sets (one yellow/gray/black plaid, the other brown and turquoise plaid.) At Christmas, I opened the one with my name on it, and I said in a whiney voice, "But I wanted the yellow and gray one!" Of course, my sister hadn't yet opened the yellow and gray one.
!!!Busted!!!

I also remember when I was in 9th or 10th grade, driving myself absolutely crazy, trying to find where my sister hid her Christmas gift to me. I spent hours, days, searching right up to the last minute, and never found it. It was a huge framed nature print, and she had hidden it the whole time under MY bed!!!
Christmas will never be the same without her...

Originally Posted by nurseangel

How many of you snuck and opened your presents early as children?

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My parents were pretty good at hiding the gifts. I think it made my early Christmases more fun.

We were bad in that we'd sneak out and watch mom and dad fill the stockings. I could usually pick up and shake (gently) my gifts and figure out what was in them. I never unwrapped any. I usually did go around snooping in their bedroom for the unwrapped gifts... yes, I did go into my mother's underwear drawer... she hid small gifts in there... like I wouldn't know... duh.

My tradition was getting up at or before dawn Christmas morning and camping out in a chair in the living room... with one of the homemade fake fur 'monster' blankets we used around the house and on road trips. I was *always* awake and up before anyone else... my mom was usually the last one.

The SAnta gig was up at a very early age for me ! When I was 3 years old I pulled off a Santa's beard screaming he was a fake . Never did the secret snooping......

Originally Posted by cheylink

The SAnta gig was up at a very early age for me

! When I was 3 years old I pulled off a Santa's beard screaming he was a fake

. Never did the secret snooping......

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OMG thats hilarious!!....yet oddly traumatizing



I remember when we lived in NC my dad was overseas for the first Desert Storm and there were only a few MPs left on the Army base and the head honcho guys set up where 'Santa' would come in the middle of the night wake all the kids up and have a big to do with presents and whatnot. I dont remember the guy who was our Santa but I remember that I got a hot pink Huffy bike with a radio (the big woo hoo back in the day) and he set it up for me and I was outside in my jammies riding my bike around our development. That is one of the best things I remember about Christmas growing up.

When we moved to Pa, I found the Christmas stash...I was in 5th grade so I believed in Santa for a long time but I ruined it for my brother and sister because I showed them where all the presents where. LOL my mom STILL gets mad at me about that to this day!

I always snooped growing up! Dana went shopping for me last night and I've been driving him nuts trying to get him to give me hints.

I did it once when I was about 6, found the pressies, opend them carefully, had a look, then put them all back again. I never did it again because I found that christmas morning opening my pressies such a disapointment, I knew what everything was and the suprise was ruined. I still to this day will never open a pressie untill christmas morning.

I used to know where my mom hid the presents - always in her room. Sometimes in my "dad's" closet behind the elliptical, sometimes in her closet underneath purses and shoes, and many times in the shower in their bedroom (they never used it, it was smaller than the other bathroom upstairs). Sometimes I'd snoop, other times I wanted to be surprised

When I decided to snoop and see if Santa was truly real (since I had an inkling he wasn't, especially when my mom would tell me to sign certain gifts to my brother from Santa [we used to help her wrap - I'd get my brother's gifts, he'd get mine to wrap]), I snuck out to the tree after they went to bed and judged the distance the presents stuck out The next morning, they were still the same distance out, nothing added. I asked my grandma about it a few days later and she confirmed my long time suspicion.

I am having SUCH a hard time not asking hubby what he is getting me off my Xmas list (besides the shotgun, which I know about since I had to send the money order off). He also told me he knows exactly what he's doing for my birthday ... which is in Feb ... and he told me in October!!! Way to keep me wondering and trying to be patient and not ask daily!

I never did, I loved the surprise of Christmas morning.

Originally Posted by Trouts mom

I never did, I loved the surprise of Christmas morning.

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Even when I'd see my mother buying gifts, I'd look away as soon as I realized, and then pretend I didn't see anything.

I never ever ever open presents before Christmas morning anymore!

When I was 12 years old, I had the worse Christmas ever because I peeked at everything that was for me under the tree.

My Mom and Step Dad had gone out and I was home alone. I opened one end of each present to see what it was and carefully restuck the tape. On Christmas morning I pretended to be excited and surprised. But it was the very worse Christmas I ever had because I knew what was inside the parcel.

I learned that the anticipation and surprise is what unwrapping presents on Christmas morning is all about. So no matter how much pressure people try to put on me, I remember my 12th Christmas and how crummy it was.

DH and I always seem to know what we're getting at this point, so it really doesn't matter anymore.

When my sister and I were little, we'd tear the house apart looking for Christmas presents. Under the bed? Nope! In the basement? Nope! Ahhhh, the cubby hole in the attic? Yep! Which meant that we had to get into my parents closet, open the door in the ceiling, bring the steps down, climb up, and snoop. Try doing that without getting caught.

We also used to go out to the camper to snoop until our parents finally caught on and starting taking the camper key with them to work. Darn it.

I always seemed to know what was going on. One afternoon, I stopped at my parents for coffee.....only to find my mom and my aunt wrapping one of my presents: a lovely ceramic apple pie pan with an apple lid. Mom got so disgusted with me that she and my aunt would start wrapping my presents at the last minute because my aunt had all my stuff in her apartment. It was the only safe place.

Several years ago, when we started buying gifts online, I was checking my home email at work....and found shipping confirmations for several cooking items that DH had ordered for me for Christmas. (No, I don't consider cooking items as bad gifts; I do, however, hate receiving any cleaning item as a Christmas gift.) I never told DH that I "peeked" in the emails.

I'm kind of hopeless when it comes to presents.

nope. Because i like the surprise of Christmas morning!

Nope, I never peeked, I hated the suspense but I guess I loved the surprise more!

Since my parents divorced when I was young, it was just my mom and i when I was growing up, and she would actually tell me where she's keeping the presents (when Santa was still coming around, I got presents from Santa AND from her, so she didn't ruin the Santa thing by telling me there were presents in the house. Clever!) So basically she'd tell me to not go in her closet anymore til after my birthday actually (Dec 26), because well, i dont know why I would go in there, to play dress up maybe? I don't know. When I got a bit older I'd steal some of her clothes, so I guess that's why she had to tell me when to stop going in her closet for a month or so..

A few weeks ago when I started shopping, I asked BF if he wanted me to tell him where I'm hiding presents so he doesn't accidentally find them, or if he'd sneak a peek if I told him. He said he wants to be surprised, so it works out well.