5/27/06 "Il pochi il fiero i blabbermouths" We *will* sail again Part 5

[CajunGirl2]

Santa question ... does he wrap the gifts or not??? Our Santa doesn't wrap.

Ang

Growing up, our Santa didn't wrap. I wonder how we knew who the presents belonged too. We may run in to that problem this year.

Ang

 

[kikipug]

Growing up, our Santa didn't wrap. I wonder how we knew who the presents belonged too. We may run in to that problem this year.

Ang

Santa doesn't use gift tags in our house... he uses a small square of plain white paper, and prints just a large block letter "C" or "E" on it with a black sharpie... keeps the evidence and handwriting comparisons to a minimum.

 

[CajunGirl2]

Santa doesn't use gift tags in our house... he uses a small square of plain white paper, and prints just a large block letter "C" or "E" on it with a black sharpie... keeps the evidence and handwriting comparisons to a minimum.

Good idea! See, not only do I learn cruise info, I learn so much other info from you moms and dads that have older kids.

Ang

 

[justmestace]

Santa question ... does he wrap the gifts or not??? Our Santa doesn't wrap.

Ang

Santa didn't wrap when I was a kid...and he doesn't wrap for my kids. Otherwise, it would be a dead-giveaway.

Our "best" Christmas stories always involved the tree. My Dad is a truly brilliant, wonderful, loving man. But he doesn't know a hammer from a screwdriver. Putting up the tree was always Live Entertainment for us kids. It never would fit in the tree stand, and Dad couldn't saw the bottom of a tree to save his soul. We ALWAYS ended up with a tree that only had a stub at the bottom. So Dad would try various ways of getting the tree to remain upright.

One year he tried to stand it in a bucket of mud. (please use your imagination...) Mom got new carpet that year.

One year he nailed it to the wall.

One year he tied it to the chandelier in the dining room.

The next year we got an artificial tree.

All true.

 

[ohiominnie]

Santa question ... does he wrap the gifts or not??? Our Santa doesn't wrap.

Ang

Yes, our Santa wraps. Which really stinks, because I made a ton of fabric gift bags for our regular gifts (those we exchange Christmas eve) and they are SOOOOO easy to wrap with. But no...Santa has to go and use (ugh) wrapping paper!

 

[justmestace]

Well, that was different! A duplicate T.O.P. with Kiki!

 

[justmestace]

Sounds familiar... when I was a freshman in college, Dad came to pick me up in his 4WD truck... it took us 7 hours to make a 2.5 hour trip home... I distinctly remember being on the Massachusetts Turnpike, with Dad holding onto my feet while I hung out the passenger window trying to clear the ice off the windshield wipers. We didn't dare stop, for fear of getting wiped out by one of the semi's that were all over the road.

Oh yeah...those were the "good old days" weren't they??? NOT! You notice neither one of us lives in that weather any more.

 

[ohiominnie]

Santa doesn't use gift tags in our house... he uses a small square of plain white paper, and prints just a large block letter "C" or "E" on it with a black sharpie... keeps the evidence and handwriting comparisons to a minimum.

One year we had pictures of the kids done and we got something like 13,641 of those little tiny worthless pictures that you almost need a magnifying glass to see. That year Santa used a Sharpie and circled which kid the gift was for (pre-readers loved it!)

 

[ohiominnie]

Our "best" Christmas stories always involved the tree.

When my siblings were small, and for a few years when I was small, Santa actually BROUGHT the tree and decorated it overnight Christmas eve/Christmas day. As if "he" didn't have enough to do that night he also completely decorated the tree.

I'm sorry, but that was one of my parent's WORST ideas ever!!

 

[justmestace]

When my siblings were small, and for a few years when I was small, Santa actually BROUGHT the tree and decorated it overnight Christmas eve/Christmas day. As if "he" didn't have enough to do that night he also completely decorated the tree.

I'm sorry, but that was one of my parent's WORST ideas ever!!

Oh, dear! No way! Santa has enough trouble staying awake longer than the kids on Christmas Eve. I think that's what Santa gets for having children at a later stage in life!

 

[ohiominnie]

Here's an example of the gift bags I make....

The first year I made them Mike refused to use them. He said it was too "Martha Stewart-y." So he wrapped with regular paper. After 10 minutes I asked "how many have you wrapped?" He said "this is my first." I said "I'm done with EIGHT!" He switched to my method. I've since made bags for my siblings and mom (of course using the after Christmas 70% off fabric) We are VERY careful on Christmas to get our OWN bags back.

If I remember correctly, my ornament for the exchange on the 10 day was wrapped in a bag like this. Usually everything is!!

This is GREAT for hard to wrap gifts. Inside the above bag is a pair of the SS Member Cruise Mickey Ears I sold on ebay. The lady wanted them wrapped and shipped to her friend. Unfortunately I don't have Mickey "Christmas" bags, so she got regular Mickey.

 

[justmestace]

My Mom likes to tell the story (mainly to shame my Dad) of the Christmas Eve when Santa brought me a doll crib, with a side rail that actually raised and lowered. Well, of course Santa had to assemble it.......while Santa's spouse (who doesn't know a hammer from a screwdriver) shored loudly in the bedroom. The power went out, and still Santa kept plugging away, with a flashlight for light, into the wee hours.....while the spouse still snored loudly in the bedroom.

Come morning, Santa was very proud of the doll crib. Until the ungrateful little girl decided she would rather play with her brothers new set of Lincoln Logs!

 

[CajunGirl2]

Here's an example of the gift bags I make....

TOOOOOO CUTE!!!

Ang

 

[CajunGirl2]

Santa didn't wrap when I was a kid...and he doesn't wrap for my kids. Otherwise, it would be a dead-giveaway.

Our "best" Christmas stories always involved the tree. My Dad is a truly brilliant, wonderful, loving man. But he doesn't know a hammer from a screwdriver. Putting up the tree was always Live Entertainment for us kids. It never would fit in the tree stand, and Dad couldn't saw the bottom of a tree to save his soul. We ALWAYS ended up with a tree that only had a stub at the bottom. So Dad would try various ways of getting the tree to remain upright.

One year he tried to stand it in a bucket of mud. (please use your imagination...) Mom got new carpet that year.

One year he nailed it to the wall.

One year he tied it to the chandelier in the dining room.

The next year we got an artificial tree.

All true.

Hey ... I need a WARNING next time! I was in the middle of taking a sip of hot tea.

Ang

 

[justmestace]

Hey ... I need a WARNING next time! I was in the middle of taking a sip of hot tea.

Ang

Sorry!


Yes, Ohminnie...your ornament WAS in a bag like that. And everyone fought over it!

I like the Mickey phone on the desk, btw.

 

[justmestace]

Ohminnie.......Mike helps you wrap??? Christmas was always 100% my Mom's job...and is almost 100% MY job. Jay does do the outdoor decorations. (We never had any at our house as a kid...Mom drew the line at that).

How many of our hubbies help with the buying and wrapping?

 

[CajunGirl2]

Ohminnie.......Mike helps you wrap??? Christmas was always 100% my Mom's job...and is almost 100% MY job. Jay does do the outdoor decorations. (We never had any at our house as a kid...Mom drew the line at that).

How many of our hubbies help with the buying and wrapping?

I do all of the buying and wrapping. I usually do all of the indoor decorating but this year he had to help. We all do the outdoor decorating ... although we didn't do any this year.

Ang

 

[justmestace]

Monica...I forgot to answer....we are sailing out of the port of Houston. It will be interesting, I'm sure. The main reason we did this cruise was because it's closer for us to fly to (rather than Florida) which therefore makes it cheaper....and the ship is older...the Norwegian Dream....which also makes it cheaper. And the ports are great. It would have been a rare seven night cruise with four ports (normally there are only 2 or 3 ports) Belize, Roatan, Cozumel and Cancun. Only now we aren't going to Cancun. Still great ports, though.
Remember a long time ago, I was asking you about the Houston airport? Houston/Hobby?
I think we get in at about 4 p.m. on Friday, the 23rd....spending the night at what used to be the La Quinta Houston/Hobby, now named the Baymont Inn.
Advantage Limousine is picking us up at 11:00 a.m. Saturday morning (Christmas Eve) to go to the port.

 

[Dancind]

Kevin will wrap a present or two (at least he wraps mine). He also does the outdoor lights (not this year), gets the Christmas tree and decorations out of the attic (not this year, so far), sets the tree up and untangles the lights (not this year). This year, he went scuba diving. I even shopped for his granddaughter, wrapped her present, and shipped it. Yeah, I think Christmas is my job.

Of course, it's been three years since we did any of this, maybe he's forgotten. We cruised the last two Christmas Holidays.

Santa wraps presents here, with Santa paper! I'm trying to remember if Santa has come the last two years while we were cruising. Maybe I'm done with the Santa gig now. She IS 14, after all.

I did a Santa thing like your Mom, Stacey. I think Alicia was two when I decided she needed the really detailed Playmobile Grand Mansion. Spent hours putting it together. She played with it long enough to take it apart. We put it away until she was older, and it hasn't been seen since.

 

[chip&dale&fun]

Santa question ... does he wrap the gifts or not??? Our Santa doesn't wrap.

Ang

Santa wraps.....DH Santa wraps stocking presents, DW Does not. Guess it was how Santa did it when you were young.