So were you a present snooper as a kid?

[Kim♥DISNEY]

Oh ... we definitely were! One year, my mom hid our presents under her bed. As careful as we were, she figured out we were snooping. So, she took back all of our clothes (we were teenagers) and got new items. We were shocked at Christmas to open our presents and find different items. My sister and I kept looking at each other and my mom kept asking us if there was anything wrong.

We learned a good lesson with that one .... cover our tracks better!

 

[disneydance]

Yes I'm the naughty child who normally knows what I'm getting for Christmas and yes I know this year. But in defense I was shopping with my parents when they got my gifts and they told me to watch them well shopping and not to look in the bag of course someone near me looked in the bag and told me all I was getting. Then they told me to take them out to the car and well I saw my other gifts so yes I know all I'm getting for Christmas and I'm pretty satisfied haha.

 

[FireDancer]

Our presents were kept at our grandparent's house in my grandpa's locked workshop until Christmas eve night. We couldn't snoop if we wanted to.

 

[maslex]

I would have to answer Yes AND No to being a snoop. LOL

My brother, sister and I would find our presents but I REFUSED to find out what mine were. I LOVED surprises and still do. I HATE knowing what I'm getting ahead of time.

So there we were, all hudled together and my sister would do the un-wrapping and if it was mine, she wouldn't tell me (since I didn't want to know) but if it was hers or my brothers, we would all look and start squealing with delight. I didn't mind knowing what their gifts were but DO NOT tell me what I'm getting. Then afterwards, I would bug my sister to tell me even though I didn't want to know. I'd be like...."is it the new sweater I want...wait, don't tell me? Is it atleast the color I asked for? NO, don't TELL meeeeee!!!!!" LOL I use to torture her.

 

[NotUrsula]

Oh, yeah. I was notorious for it -- you might even say legendary. I really hate surprises. The skill came in quite handy when I wanted to get a seasonal job as a store gift-wrapper.

No one in my family ever hid gifts; they were always wrapped and put out, because the gifts were the holiday decor in our house (we don't put the tree up until Xmas eve.) Shaking, squeezing and speculating were all allowed; just part of the whole game. Peeking wasn't really allowed, but I don't think that there would have been an actual punishment for it, but I never got caught, so I don't know how that might have turned out.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

Yes I was, and I still am. Plus, I am raising three kids just like me.

We went to my moms house this weekend and my kids were all under her tree looking into bags and such because they were not home yet. DD12 told me to be sure to tell granny that she likes per presents in bags from now on!! She was even looking in other bags that didn't belong to her.

 

[superme80]

Nope!!!! I love surprises!!! I even tell my husband to just surprise me on Holidays. Now my sister and cousin were a completely different story. My grandma found out my cousin had seen what her present was, so my grandma wrote her a poem about being a snoop. It was cute. Of course my cousin was furious and somehow it was all MY fault my grandma figured it out. Um...if you don't seal the present properly its kind of obvious....

 

[golfgal]

I never snooped before they were wrapped. The ones that were wrapped and under the tree we would shake, etc. to try to figure out what they were. One year my brother opened EVERY present and told us all what we were getting-that made me SO mad. I know for several years my parents hid our presents at a friend's house and we had their presents at our house so even if we did snoop, we wouldn't have found our presents.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Yes...but I had rules. Only those presents gifted outside the home (aka stuff we had shipped to us). No snooping from family members inside the home. It made me feel less guilty.

 

[PUZZLDY5]

I was not a snooper. I was a shaker. Sometimes I got it right most of the time not.

This year my middle son (16) got his little brother (13) something he is going to LOVE LOVE LOVE and has threatened his little brother with his life if he touches it, or shakes it. He's a shaker too. So every day since it's been baught and wraped sitting under the tree my youngest son is staring at this gift. It's killing him not to touch it. If he can keep his composure, it will be worth it.

 

[klacey1]

DBF snooped once when he was around 11-- which is surprising because he was a very meek kid and his parents were a lot tougher on him (the oldest) than his siblings (which they admit!). His mom caught him and returned all of the gifts, saying that Christmas is about surprises, and now she couldn't give him these things because he wouldn't be surprised. She bought him new, different gifts, but he was upset that he didn't get one gift in particular that he had peeked at. Taught him a lesson!

 

[DebD4T]

I never snooped, but my sister always did

One year she wanted an Atari (I know, I'm dating myself LOL) and she found it in my dad's workshop in the basement. She then told our cousin, who told her mother, who then told our mother.

Well, Christmas morning came and guess what? no Atari under the tree.

About 8:00 that night, after dinner, my mother gave my sister the gift.

 

[Andtototoo]

I wasn't until one year when I wanted a dollhouse and got something entirely different and unwanted -- a tabletop organ. Worst of all, it was in a box that was about the size of the dollhouse, so when I saw the tree, I thought I really had gotten what I wanted. I was crushed to open that box and got in big trouble for being "ungrateful" and "ruining Christmas" for my mother (who had made the bizarro world decision that I didn't really want a dollhouse, I really wanted an organ even though I had never once mentioned the idea). After that, Christmas became a source of anxiety for me, so I snooped so I could be prepared for disappointment and avoid getting in trouble.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I was a snooper, yes. I knew where my parents hid my presents. I've ruined surprises in the past. I don't do it anymore. My kids aren't snoopers, at least not that I know of. But once we have presents wrapped we put them out under the tree, anyway.

 

[jen0610]

The best snooper story comes from my DH. His oldest sister is 22 years older than him. She and her family live out in CA, while the rest of the family is here in IN. She always sent wrapped christmas presents home.

The year of 1980, DH was 11, after his mom set the presents out, he saw that one was the shape of the star wars figures. I have wrapped enough of the things over the years - there is no hiding what it is, unless you put it in a box.

So, there is a school cancellation the one day. DH's mom has to go to work, as well as his dad. In his bordem, he snags this present out from under the tree, used a pen knife to slice open the wrapping paper not tearing it, also using the knife to seperate the plastic from the cardboard to get the figure out. He plays with the thing all day.

Before his parents get home, he puts the figure back in the plastic, but it won't stay down, so he tapes it shut and rewrappes it and sticks it back under the tree. Doesn't think about anybody noticing it being taped when he actually opens it on chirstmas.

On Christmas, he gets this present, opens it and his mom notices that it has been taped shut. She points it out. DH thinks, he's been busted. But, it never once crosses her mind that DH may have tampered with it, but instead blames it on DH's nephew, stating that Jeff must have gotten into by accident. DH went right along with agreeing that Sis knew he really wanted that figure, so she went ahead and sent it any ways. DH never fessed up until just a couple of years ago. He finally got a smack on the hand from his mom - 20 some years later.

 

[design_mom]

I did it once as a child.. I found the "stash" - carefully unwrapped all of my gifts and then carefully re-wrapped them.. That was the most disappointing Christmas I ever had.. Never did it again and taught me a valuable lesson about how important the element of "surprise" is on Christmas morning..

I also only did it once. I never looked for the stash of gifts, but I unwrapped/rewrapped *one* package before my guilty conscience got to me. (My parents put gifts from them under the tree early.) And it still took a lot of the joy away. Since then, I have never even been tempted to snoop.

We've got presents for the kids stashed in various places and a password protected spreadsheet to remind us where we hid them! Even if they snoop, I doubt they would find most of them (I hope *I* can find them!) Their packages don't go under the tree until Christmas Eve. But I don't think they're snooping... I hope they're not.

 

[txSleepingBeauty]

I am an unabashed snooper. I've snooped since I was little, my oldest brother showed me how to unwrap/rewrap by the time I was in 2nd grade. I can't stand not knowing what I'm getting. Sometimes I don't mean to snoop, just can't help myself!

 

[MPwifey]

I never snooped, it would have ruined everything for me. However, my sister found the holidays to be very profitable for her. She would snoop and then have my brother pay her to tell him her presents, and I would have to pay her to NOT tell me my presents. She did this for our birthdays too. I can still buy presents for DD and tell her they are for her cousin right nin front of her. She doesn't have a clue, or she trusts me very much. Either way she is still surprised when she opens the presents.

 

[yellowlabforever]

I was never a snooper, but I am a guesser. I love trying to guess what are inside presents.