Christmas Crisis Averted!

[sam_gordon]

For the last 14 years, DW & I would go Christmas shopping for the kids, hide the presents, then wrap them on Christmas eve after they go to bed.

This past Friday was our shopping day and we got about 98% of the gifts we wanted to get. Because we ended up with more gifts than normal, I decided I would wrap some gifts after the kids went to school this morning (along with the next two mornings). I got the gifts out today and noticed DS's #1 request couldn't be found.

I find the receipt from the store I thought we got it from and it's not listed on the receipt. I call DW and she confirms the store. We forgot to buy it! Woops!

Fortunately we're finding out now (could you imagine if we would have found out at 11pm Christmas eve?) and have plenty of time to get it.

Any other similar "fun" Christmas gift stories?

 

[daughtersrus]

For the last 14 years, DW & I would go Christmas shopping for the kids, hide the presents, then wrap them on Christmas eve after they go to bed.

This past Friday was our shopping day and we got about 98% of the gifts we wanted to get. Because we ended up with more gifts than normal, I decided I would wrap some gifts after the kids went to school this morning (along with the next two mornings). I got the gifts out today and noticed DS's #1 request couldn't be found.

I find the receipt from the store I thought we got it from and it's not listed on the receipt. I call DW and she confirms the store. We forgot to buy it! Woops!

Fortunately we're finding out now (could you imagine if we would have found out at 11pm Christmas eve?) and have plenty of time to get it.

Any other similar "fun" Christmas gift stories?

When my oldest DD (now 26) was 3yo all she wanted from Santa was Baby All-gone. We bought it in plenty of time before they were all sold out and wrapped it. I hid it in the back of my closet.

Christmas morning we opened our gifts and put together some of DD's toys. She seemed a little sad and I asked her what was wrong. She said that Santa forgot to bring her Baby All-gone. My stomach sunk. Santa forgot to get it out of our closet. I had DH distract her and take her to the family room. I hid the gift way in the back of tree and DH told her that we would look again to see if it was there. Her eyes lit up when she found the wrapped box. k


Of course this is the same DD that at the age of 2 (her b-day is Dec 16) pointed out that Santa had the same shoes as her grandpa and that he had the same wrapping paper that we had.

 

[sam_gordon]

When my oldest DD (now 26) was 3yo all she wanted from Santa was Baby All-gone. We bought it in plenty of time before they were all sold out and wrapped it. I hid it in the back of my closet.

Christmas morning we opened our gifts and put together some of DD's toys. She seemed a little sad and I asked her what was wrong. She said that Santa forgot to bring her Baby All-gone. My stomach sunk. Santa forgot to get it out of our closet. I had DH distract her and take her to the family room. I hid the gift way in the back of tree and DH told her that we would look again to see if it was there. Her eyes lit up when she found the wrapped box. k


Of course this is the same DD that at the age of 2 (her b-day is Dec 16) pointed out that Santa had the same shoes as her grandpa and that he had the same wrapping paper that we had.

Smart kid! I'm trying to avoid that by having a "Santa" wrap and a "Mom & Dad" wrap.

 

[daughtersrus]

Smart kid! I'm trying to avoid that by having a "Santa" wrap and a "Mom & Dad" wrap.

We started that the next year. I found paper that said "from Santa" and stocked up. We have different tags that said "from Santa" and had a friend write the names so she wouldn't recognize the handwriting.

My kids are now 26, 22 and 18 and we still carry on the tradition now.

 

[smitch425]

DD's #1 request was the PotC Lego Black Pearl which was in Target's Thanksgiving ad. I got to Target on Thanksgiving night at 8pm for a 9pm opening. By the time I made it into the store, they were sold out! The employee said they only received 3 of them. THREE!?!?! I was so disappointed and sulked the rest of the night--as in ALL night.

I continued to shop with my mom and grandma all night long and around 3:30am we were at Meijer and they had a different PotC set that I went ahead and picked up for DD. I knew it wouldn't be as good as the Pearl, but I got it anyway.

At 4:30am, we were near another Target in the area. I decided to try my luck and searched the toy dept. for the set. No luck, but my grandma asked an employee if he knew if there were any left. He took us to the sporting goods dept. and walked around the corner and said here they are. I walked around the corner, and sure enough...there it was! Not gonna lie...I danced a little. I wouldn't even let my mom put it in the trunk on our way to our next stop. I just wanted to hug it and never let it go.

I decided to keep the backup set and have DD open it on Christmas Eve to throw her off. She will be getting the Pearl from Santa on Christmas morning. I plan to tell her that I am sorry I couldn't get the Pearl, and got her this one instead. She will be so excited to see it under the tree from Santa!

The funniest part is that DH and I were having a conversation last week about telling the kids Santa wasn't "real". This is how the coversation went:

DH: What age do we stop doing the Santa thing?
Me: Um...never???
DH: When did you find out?
Me: I don't know...no one ever told me.
DH: Do you believe in Santa?
Me: I absolutely do. He helped me get the Black Pearl.
DH: That wasn't Santa....... That was Jesus!



Happy holidays, everyone!

 

[tiggger1]

Smart kid! I'm trying to avoid that by having a "Santa" wrap and a "Mom & Dad" wrap.

I need to go get my santa paper. I thought I had some left and went to wrap yesterday and I couldnt find any... I have plenty of other paper though!!!

 

[wiigirl]

Smart kid! I'm trying to avoid that by having a "Santa" wrap and a "Mom & Dad" wrap.

lol....

 

[design_mom]

...and that he [Santa] had the same wrapping paper that we had.

At our house, Santa always wraps presents in paper with pictures of Santa on it. And then he leaves the remainder of the roll leaning against the fireplace under my (mom's) stocking, so we can use up the rest of the roll the following year.

Our Christmas Crisis didn't involve gifts, but the Elf On A Shelf. (I will start by saying I hate the Elf on a Shelf and never wanted to do it in the first place. Lots of kids at school have them and my DD "wished and wished and wished" for one, so he finally came last year.)

And this year... he got melted.

DH "hid" him on the lampshade for the lamp on the end table in the family room. That lamp rarely gets turned on and I even commented that we'd have to make sure not to use the lamp till the elf moved. DH sat down last night to read a book and turned on the lamp. We both wondered "what's that burning smell?"

I don't think DD saw the damage (his whole butt got melted!) but she did see me touch the elf, which is a big no-no in elf lore. I grabbed him off the light before he burst into flames! She went to bed in tears that her elf had lost his magic.

I stayed up late last night trying to repair the silly elf-- and it's not the "official" Elf on a Shelf that you can buy anywhere. THis is the first time I've questioned my decision to buy a cuter elf. And, of course, it happened on a Sunday night when many places close early!

I think I did a good job (he has new clothes now which covers the big hole in his backside! I made them out of felt from my scrap basket). And came back this morning with a note that said he got to keep his magic since touching was "an emergency" and he promised to pick safer places to sit from now on. DD was very happy.

I still hate the elf. My DD is starting to question Santa Claus, but she seems 100% convinced that this elf (which is very obviously a stuffed animal) is real. I don't get it.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We never wrapped Santa gifts. Those were just put under the tree Christmas Eve after the kids went to bed.
That way we avoided the whole Santa used the same wrap as us stuff because I'd never remember which was which.

Instead of Elf on the Shelf, we have Grinch. He's a small stuffed Grinch that moves around the living room.
I couldn't find him this year so I figured oh well, we just won't have the Grinch this year.
This morning I woke up and there he is sitting in the Christmas tree.

I wonder if one of the kids found him when they cleaned their rooms this weekend and didn't say anything. Otherwise it's totally creepy. LOL

 

[2disneyboys]

We never wrapped Santa gifts. Those were just put under the tree Christmas Eve after the kids went to bed.
That way we avoided the whole Santa used the same wrap as us stuff because I'd never remember which was which.

Instead of Elf on the Shelf, we have Grinch. He's a small stuffed Grinch that moves around the living room.
I couldn't find him this year so I figured oh well, we just won't have the Grinch this year.
This morning I woke up and there he is sitting in the Christmas tree. I wonder if one of the kids found him when they cleaned their rooms this weekend and didn't say anything. Otherwise it's totally creepy. LOL

ACK!! ITA.. I'd have to ask or something...

 

[curlyjbs]

When the kids were younger (still believed) we would wrap the gifts and store them in the attic so they couldn't find them before christmas. Well one year my brother stayed late christmas eve and offered to help by going in the attic to bring down the gifts. Great! I thought, until very early Christmas morning when my oldest dd was sitting by the tree crying. It seems Santa only brought her sisters gifts. There was nothing under the tree for her we told her to go back to bed because santa obviously wasn't done yet LOL. To this day my brother cant apologize enough!

 

[dyna]

Well I had all 3 DD's totally fooled few yrs as to who was getting what by using disney names each year I used different disney names.

 

[awoogala]

we had one of those! My son had asked for a giant teddy bear.. and, somehow, we just forgot to get it. After opening presents, he was fine, but later he said that he wondered why Santa had brought gifts further down his list instead of getting him the one at the top (we always tell them to try and put important requests first!). I felt awful.
DH ran to Walgreen's, grabbed a bear, threw a bow on it, and we put it in the car. He assumed Santa just wanted to surprise him, so he put it somewhere fun, for when we left for grandma's.
Only problem is, he STILL looks in other places for "secret" presents.

 

[LynnM]

Last Christmas Eve,my 22 year old son listened as his young cousins explained how they needed to behave or else their elf would report them to Santa. My son turned to his aunts/uncles and said "We didn't need any elf on the shelf,we had a crack in the back of the head". We thought that was pretty funny.

 

[lovesmurfs]

Last Christmas Eve,my 22 year old son listened as his young cousins explained how they needed to behave or else their elf would report them to Santa. My son turned to his aunts/uncles and said "We didn't need any elf on the shelf,we had a crack in the back of the head". We thought that was pretty funny.

I spit out my tea. Thanks for the wet keyboard.

I found a gift I forgot to give DD last year (a Nerf gun). I seem to remember maybe it had something to do with my son getting her a different one, and my not wanting to compete, but I completely forgot I had it. She's getting it this year. Surprise!

 

[ckay87]

My boys are older teenagers so we obviously don't have to worry about the Santa thing. But I get a little crazy about making sure things are equal for them. I always do a little chart where I write out what each got and the corresponding thing the other got.

I did that list Saturday and...well... at this moment I don't know where it is. I do know it's in my home somewhere.

 

[bjscheel]

The funniest part is that DH and I were having a conversation last week about telling the kids Santa wasn't "real". This is how the coversation went:

DH: What age do we stop doing the Santa thing?
Me: Um...never???
DH: When did you find out?
Me: I don't know...no one ever told me.
DH: Do you believe in Santa?
Me: I absolutely do. He helped me get the Black Pearl.
DH: That wasn't Santa....... That was Jesus!



Happy holidays, everyone!

Love this conversation. I asked DH when we stop as we have one who believes and one who knows. He said never, too. Okay.

As far as the PP's chart, I made one with boxes for each girl for the gifts that were to be from Santa, from us, and from their great-aunt that I do the shopping for. I marked them with code and wrote the initials of my ideas off to the side, with the intention of putting the initials in the appropriate box as they were purchased. I still don't know what some of the idea initials are, but I've got enough gifts purchased anyhow. Changed some of them around as I was wrapping- the jigsaw puzzles are now from Santa because if they were under the tree now, and someone picked one up, it would make an obvious sound!

 

[Fire14]

I can't tell you the number of years I got my brothers gifts or they got mine. Or the famous saying from one of our parents saying so and so is missing a gift. My Parents shopped at a local dept store which did free gift wrap and it never failed someone forgot to bring gift labels with them to store for gift wrapping day so they would write names in some weird place on pkg and hope when they got home they could find name to put label on.

And my mom was famous for "recycling" boxes/packages: one year I got some gift in a baby monitor box ( I was like 15 or so), Lots of pringles cans got used. And store gift box might say kohls but contents could be from sears. I think the best was year I got a "case of Oil" my oil was actually a huge eeyore.

 

[minkydog]

My boys are older teenagers so we obviously don't have to worry about the Santa thing. But I get a little crazy about making sure things are equal for them. I always do a little chart where I write out what each got and the corresponding thing the other got.

I did that list Saturday and...well... at this moment I don't know where it is. I do know it's in my home somewhere.

I do this with my older two. My DD19 isn't a present counter and she really could care less about the number, but DS26 is very much a present counter. I try to make sure they have an equal number of gifts, although those gifts may not be equal in dollar value. He doesn't seem to care about dollar value, but if she gets 5 gifts, by golly , he wants 5 gifts.

 

[pat fan]

DH: What age do we stop doing the Santa thing?
Me: Um...never???
DH: When did you find out?
Me: I don't know...no one ever told me.
DH: Do you believe in Santa?
Me: I absolutely do. He helped me get the Black Pearl.
DH: That wasn't Santa....... That was Jesus!

I Love this story!!! BTW, IMO Jesus and Santa work together, so you were both right!

I'm A PK so there was no Santa to me from the get-go, but I SO believe in him anyway, and he lives in our house and hearts all year long.

This is not a funny story, but I have a "master" christmas list with all gifts listed on it, right down to the stocking gifts. They are equal in # and in relative $$. My brain explodes otherwise.