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In Sheryl's thread I shared the experience I had of having my bil and his wife take everyone's gifts for their children, open them while the children were in bed, put them under the tree, and tell the kids everything was from Santa.

 

I have another to share too. Years before I met my dh, I was dating a young man from a large family. He invited me to his home, where I got to join in their gifting. Each person was handed the gifts that belonged to them, then the mother said let's open the gifts. I gently tore into mine while everyone just stared at me with their mouths open. Apparently the tradition is the mom says that, then the youngest opens all gifts while everyone watches. Then the next oldest opens, then the next and so on. Guests go last. I was not only chastised in front of everyone but his mother had my gifts taken away from me! Seriously. I was supposed to receive them to open all alone after dinner for breaking the rules. I left before appetizers were served, wishing the boyfriend well in life. :lol:

 

Does anyone else have an experience to share? Or am I just a magnet for strange gift giving situations? ;)

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In Sheryl's thread I shared the experience I had of having my bil and his wife take everyone's gifts for their children, open them while the children were in bed, put them under the tree, and tell the kids everything was from Santa.

 

I have another to share too. Years before I met my dh, I was dating a young man from a large family. He invited me to his home, where I got to join in their gifting. Each person was handed the gifts that belonged to them, then the mother said let's open the gifts. I gently tore into mine while everyone just stared at me with their mouths open. Apparently the tradition is the mom says that, then the youngest opens all gifts while everyone watches. Then the next oldest opens, then the next and so on. Guests go last. I was not only chastised in front of everyone but his mother had my gifts taken away from me! Seriously. I was supposed to receive them to open all alone after dinner for breaking the rules. I left before appetizers were served, wishing the boyfriend well in life. :lol:

 

Does anyone else have an experience to share? Or am I just a magnet for strange gift giving situations? ;)

Wow. That was really weird. :tongue_smilie:

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In Sheryl's thread I shared the experience I had of having my bil and his wife take everyone's gifts for their children, open them while the children were in bed, put them under the tree, and tell the kids everything was from Santa.

 

I have another to share too. Years before I met my dh, I was dating a young man from a large family. He invited me to his home, where I got to join in their gifting. Each person was handed the gifts that belonged to them, then the mother said let's open the gifts. I gently tore into mine while everyone just stared at me with their mouths open. Apparently the tradition is the mom says that, then the youngest opens all gifts while everyone watches. Then the next oldest opens, then the next and so on. Guests go last. I was not only chastised in front of everyone but his mother had my gifts taken away from me! Seriously. I was supposed to receive them to open all alone after dinner for breaking the rules. I left before appetizers were served, wishing the boyfriend well in life. :lol:

 

Does anyone else have an experience to share? Or am I just a magnet for strange gift giving situations? ;)

 

Wow. Just wow. :001_huh: I think you made a good call on that one!

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When I was 18/19/20 I was engaged to a young man whose mom was really lovely, but clueless. My b-day is Dec 5th and I am highly allergic to chocolate. For my 19th b-day she made me a chocolate fudge cake. I was also a strict vegetarian and that same year she gave me a mink fur muff for Christmas.

 

 

Our tradition was that one person opened their gifts as we all watched and then the next person, and so on. It still bothers me to see everyone rip into their gifts at one time because I want to watch people open their presents. We are doing something similar with our kids, but it is one person opens one gift, then another person opens their one gifts and so on.

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My MIL regularly buys things for herself, wraps them, and writes on the tags

To: (hername) From: Santa.

 

Seriously. And then she opens more than anyone else because we all get 1 gift each and she has 4ish for herself. One year she opened a gift and announced "I bought this for Emmy but decided to keep it for myself!".

 

Bizarre.

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Our family used to open gifts one at a time, youngest to oldest, everybody taking turns. We had a few guests through the years, and guests just took their turn according to their age (and Grandma made sure guests had plenty of presents to open). It was never a highly controlled or negative thing...though it took HOURS some years. I think it was more fun to see all the gifts, no one felt overlooked, and kids got to play with one present for a few minutes before opening the next.

 

I have lots of fond memories sitting there with a pile of presents, new doll smell, waiting for my next turn.

 

We had a death in the family this year and all the "kids" of my generation are literally spread out over the country so it's just not the same. I won't even be able to go home...sigh...

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When my brother and I were little we used to wake up at 3 am on Christmas morning. My dad would get up. Somehow one year we convinced him to let us open all our presents. My mom was so mad when she got up that we opened them without her! Usually when she got up it was a free for all opening presents, but she at least wanted to watch. My poor dad, I felt so bad.

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My extended family gets together every year for Christmas. This includes my cousins, aunts, and uncles. And every year they would get my children gifts even though I told them it wasn't necessary. (My children were the first great grandchildren in the family.) When my cousins started having kids, we gave to them.

Fast forward to last year. In the middle of the party my cousins rounded up the kids and told them to sit in a circle facing each other. They did this knowing full well they had not purchased gifts for my children or my brothers' children. So their children obviously had more gifts to open. It was a hard year financially for many people and we would have felt just fine about our children not receiving gifts, but why do it in such a blatant manner? :confused:

 

My poor SIL. After that scene last year my SIL assumed the gift giving among cousins to the children was a thing of the past, so she didn't buy anything for this year's party. We took a little something for each child and I figured I would just discretely give the gifts to the parents to take home for the children. But lo and behold, the cousins had all brought gifts again! Weird.

 

The other story is on my husband's side of the family. Several years ago his aunt gave my oldest (around 9 at the time, I think) a ruby ring (family jewelry) for Christmas. She gave my son (about 7yrs old) a finger tip towel. :001_huh:

 

You just have to laugh.

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I I was not only chastised in front of everyone but his mother had my gifts taken away from me! Seriously. I was supposed to receive them to open all alone after dinner for breaking the rules. I left before appetizers were served, wishing the boyfriend well in life. :lol:

 

 

So basically, you received the best gifts you could have received from that family -- the knowledge that they were lunatic control freaks, and the good sense to get out while the getting was good. :D

 

Cat

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So basically, you received the best gifts you could have received from that family -- the knowledge that they were lunatic control freaks, and the good sense to get out while the getting was good. :D

 

Cat

:iagree:

I can't believe the boyfriend didn't think to warn you ahead of time. Or was it meant to be some sort of test? :confused:

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I have a couple that stand out ---

 

1. The year I got holiday placemats from my older sister --- the exact same placemats I got her for Christmas the previous year...and we live in different states and no, she does not have the store I bought them at.

 

2. My first year spending Christmas with my husband's family. My big family does the "rip fest" (his words not mine. We just all dive in and we figure out who got what from who after the dust settles), while his family takes turns opening and everyone else watches. My family puts several small but nice gifts in each person's stocking, e.g. a leather wallet, a bracelet, etc. His family does toiletry items. It was kind of a stunner after he pulled out the new Eddie Bauer hat and gloves I got him, and I got a container of floss, some toothpaste, a trial size container of tissues and some pantyhose.

 

3. Last year my 4 year old got up in the middle of the night and opened most of her gifts. My mother in law, who was sleeping in her bed with her, snored through it! Luckily, she didn't open anyone else's gifts, but I was bummed because I missed out on her opening the gift she really wanted.

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In Sheryl's thread I shared the experience I had of having my bil and his wife take everyone's gifts for their children, open them while the children were in bed, put them under the tree, and tell the kids everything was from Santa.

 

I have another to share too. Years before I met my dh, I was dating a young man from a large family. He invited me to his home, where I got to join in their gifting. Each person was handed the gifts that belonged to them, then the mother said let's open the gifts. I gently tore into mine while everyone just stared at me with their mouths open. Apparently the tradition is the mom says that, then the youngest opens all gifts while everyone watches. Then the next oldest opens, then the next and so on. Guests go last. I was not only chastised in front of everyone but his mother had my gifts taken away from me! Seriously. I was supposed to receive them to open all alone after dinner for breaking the rules. I left before appetizers were served, wishing the boyfriend well in life. :lol:

 

Does anyone else have an experience to share? Or am I just a magnet for strange gift giving situations? ;)

 

 

Yikes! Those are doozies! Glad you had the sense to run away fast from the boyfriend's family.

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When I was a kid, as a present was wrapped it was put inside the fireplace upstairs. (We had two fireplaces, and the one upstairs was perfectly clean and never been used because we always used the one in the family room downstairs.) There were glass doors on that fireplace. We would sometimes open the doors and paw through looking for presents with our name on it.

 

One year I think my dad was tired of us kids peeking at the tags on the gifts, so he decided to trick us. He put the wrong names on the gifts. Of course we didn't know that and were so excited about the gift we thought was ours.

 

On Christmas Eve while we were in bed, the folks would put the presents under the tree. But this year they had to change the tags to the correct name. I remember feeling so disappointed that the gift I thought was mine had my brother's name on it.

 

The next year I thought Dad did the same thing. There was a small heavy package with my name on it. I thought for sure it was really for my brother and probably a set of tools. Was I surprised when it really was for me and it was a set of silverware for my hope chest!

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Can we count weirdly wrapped presents? My brother had a gifting (before he got married and had kids).

 

 

  • For my sister, my brother gave my sister a pin and a clue. The clue led her to the bathtub where a large box was full of water balloons glued together. She spent quite a while popping water balloons so she could get to her gift at the bottom.
  • My brother in law opened a 1ft in diameter ball of string. He started unwinding the largish string (rope climbing string) and then the yarn to finally get to the inside - a deflated ball containing a music cd.
  • The gruesome one was given to my mom. She opened a large stick first. The second gift was a fish tank with her present at the bottom. The rest of the fish tank was layered with around 5-6 layers separated by cardboard of mouse traps fully armed. She had to use her stick to spring the mousetraps in order to get her present.

 

So, that's my Christmas story of unwrapping presents.

 

Beth

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Well...a few years ago my mil was so excited to open her Christmas presents that she opened them all at midnight Christmas Eve...AND fil's gifts, too...while he slept.

 

I don't get it. I don't think I'll ever understand her!

 

:lol::lol::lol: What?! Why on earth would she do such a thing? :001_huh::lol:

 

So basically, you received the best gifts you could have received from that family -- the knowledge that they were lunatic control freaks, and the good sense to get out while the getting was good. :D

 

Cat

 

No kidding!!! And what a brave girl you were for walking right in the middle of that situation! I probably would have stayed and been miserable for the rest of the night, not wanting to rock the boat. People are so weird!

 

My own bizarre gift-giving story was from when I was younger (maybe 19-20?). I had been dating the same guy for years and really thought we were going to get married, so I was waiting for a ring (and he knew it). For Christmas one year, he was hinting around that he had bought me something I'd been really wanting, that he knew I was going to love it, he couldn't wait to give it to me, and so on. I was positive it was a ring, and I was so excited! On Christmas morning he handed me a rather large box to open in front of his parents, which I opened to find...a HUGE wizard-themed snow globe/music box that I had never seen before in my life :confused:

 

In retrospect, it was a good thing. We broke up a year later and I ended up meeting my husband, the love of my life. But still, it was all I could do not to burst into tears that Christmas morning. That snow globe lives in infamy among my family and friends :rolleyes:

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Can we count weirdly wrapped presents? My brother had a gifting (before he got married and had kids).

 

 

  • For my sister, my brother gave my sister a pin and a clue. The clue led her to the bathtub where a large box was full of water balloons glued together. She spent quite a while popping water balloons so she could get to her gift at the bottom.

  • My brother in law opened a 1ft in diameter ball of string. He started unwinding the largish string (rope climbing string) and then the yarn to finally get to the inside - a deflated ball containing a music cd.

  • The gruesome one was given to my mom. She opened a large stick first. The second gift was a fish tank with her present at the bottom. The rest of the fish tank was layered with around 5-6 layers separated by cardboard of mouse traps fully armed. She had to use her stick to spring the mousetraps in order to get her present.

 

So, that's my Christmas story of unwrapping presents.

 

Beth

 

I like your brother, Beth! :D

 

Cat

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Our tradition was that one person opened their gifts as we all watched and then the next person, and so on. It still bothers me to see everyone rip into their gifts at one time because I want to watch people open their presents. We are doing something similar with our kids, but it is one person opens one gift, then another person opens their one gifts and so on.

 

 

I have no issue with the open one gift at a time method. My issue was the confusion of the mother telling everyone to open the gifts, loudly, with much excitement and flourish. Of course she took to making a large production of taking my two gifts away from me in front of everyone, announcing that since I'd broken the family rule I would receive my gifts later to open by myself. They were oddly weird people and certainly not what I was looking for in a family! I hope someone enjoyed opening my gifts. ;)

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I hope someone enjoyed opening my gifts. ;)

 

I'm sure that wasn't a problem for them, as your gifts had probably already been partially opened by the previous year's girlfriend, before she ran screaming out of their house. After you left, they probably just packed them up and saved them for the next year's victim. (They probably still have them.)

 

Cat

 

PS. I shudder to think about what might have been inside the packages...

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I have no issue with the open one gift at a time method. My issue was the confusion of the mother telling everyone to open the gifts, loudly, with much excitement and flourish. Of course she took to making a large production of taking my two gifts away from me in front of everyone, announcing that since I'd broken the family rule I would receive my gifts later to open by myself. They were oddly weird people and certainly not what I was looking for in a family! I hope someone enjoyed opening my gifts. ;)

 

I'm dying to know how the guy reacted! Did he try to get you back? Was he mad at you? Did he understand in any way?

 

 

I'm sure that wasn't a problem for them, as your gifts had probably already been partially opened by the previous year's girlfriend, before she ran screaming out of their house. After you left, they probably just packed them up and saved them for the next year's victim. (They probably still have them.)

 

Cat

 

PS. I shudder to think about what might have been inside the packages...

 

:lol::lol::lol:

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When we were little, my dad used to threaten us with a bag of garbage for Christmas if we misbehaved. Well, my little sister got hers - a smelly, gross bag wrapped in pretty paper.

 

We have a bunch of jokers in my family. My sister did the bag of garbage thing on my niece. She cried, until they brought out the real present - a playhouse. The tradition of late is that one of the kids gets an onion from Santa. We fooled everyone last year and wrapped up a rutabaga for my brother (in honor of my mom, - when you asked her what was for dinner, her standard reply was rutabaga because no one else liked it but her. )

 

In the family drawing, we got one of my nephews - a college student at the time. We gave him $50 cash - in quarters. He had no excuse for not doing his laundry;).

 

Another year, we had his brother. He wanted a gift card to a certain store. We put it in one of those puzzle boxes that won't open until you solve the puzzle. He went looking for a sledge hammer.

 

My brother used to take his children out shopping on Christmas Eve morning (he was the ultimate procrastinator) so they could buy gifts for their mommy. They could buy anything they wanted within a certain price range. My niece bought her a chia pet. It has been a family joke for nearly 20 years. I can't see a commercial without cracking up.

 

Last year, we ended up with two of my college aged nephews in the family grab bag. I emailed their parents asking for ideas. My brother copied me on the email he sent to his son that if he didn't say what he wanted, he was getting Barbies and makeup for Christmas. I didn't hear from either of them, so that is what I got them (okay - it was a cheap barbie knock off from Michael's and some cheap makeup in addition to the gift cards.) It was good for a laugh.

 

One year, my mom wrapped everyone's presents in this lovely blue paper. When we opened them, we all realized that it was Hanukkah paper. Everyone started singing Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel. The next year, my sister had this beautiful, very artsy paper for all her gifts. We noticed that it was Kwanzaa paper. Now, every Christmas, when she walks in the door, we play this hilarious Kwanzaa song for her. (Nobody lives down mistakes in my family. )

 

When dh and I were dating, my entire family expected me to get a ring for Christmas. I knew that dh would NEVER propose in public, so I certainly was not expecting anything of the sort. Well, as we were opening presents, he handed me a small box. My loud and boiserous family went silent ... you could hear a pin drop. When I opened it, it contained a lovely locket. There was a collective sigh of disappointment from the peanut gallery. I wasn't disappointed at all, but I thought it was funny that my family was. We got engaged on New Years' Eve instead;)

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I have no issue with the open one gift at a time method. My issue was the confusion of the mother telling everyone to open the gifts, loudly, with much excitement and flourish. Of course she took to making a large production of taking my two gifts away from me in front of everyone, announcing that since I'd broken the family rule I would receive my gifts later to open by myself. They were oddly weird people and certainly not what I was looking for in a family! I hope someone enjoyed opening my gifts. ;)

 

 

I totally understand your horror. It's almost like they were testing you, to see how you handled their dysfunction. To punish you, a *guest*, for breaking a "rule" that you knew nothing about. That's just over-the-top weird!

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I totally understand your horror. It's almost like they were testing you, to see how you handled their dysfunction. To punish you, a *guest*, for breaking a "rule" that you knew nothing about. That's just over-the-top weird!

 

 

:iagree: ANd I am really curious to hear what became of said guy. LOL. And his family. I too think it great you got the :auto: out of there!!!!:lol:

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I have no issue with the open one gift at a time method. My issue was the confusion of the mother telling everyone to open the gifts, loudly, with much excitement and flourish. Of course she took to making a large production of taking my two gifts away from me in front of everyone, announcing that since I'd broken the family rule I would receive my gifts later to open by myself. They were oddly weird people and certainly not what I was looking for in a family! I hope someone enjoyed opening my gifts. ;)

I'm reminded of a story I think I read in Emily Post about the importance of making a guest feel completely at ease, particularly if the guest is faced with unfamiliar customs or traditions.

 

In the story, a diplomat was throwing an extremely formal dinner for a dignitary from a foreign nation who was very unfamiliar with formal dinners in his host's country. It was the custom in the diplomat's nation for the servants to offer the guests a small silver bowl filled with rosewater with which to dab your fingers and a small linen towel with which to wipe them prior to eating the meal.

 

The dignitary, unfamiliar with what to do, assumed that the first course was being served. He drank the rosewater and used the linen towel as a napkin.

 

Without the slightest pause or hesitation, the host and each one of his guests immediately did the same, drinking the rosewater, dabbing their mouths with the towels, and in no way whatsoever calling attention to their guest's faux pas. The dinner was a raging success.

 

THAT is how you treat a guest in your home.

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I'm reminded of a story I think I read in Emily Post about the importance of making a guest feel completely at ease, particularly if the guest is faced with unfamiliar customs or traditions.

 

In the story, a diplomat was throwing an extremely formal dinner for a dignitary from a foreign nation who was very unfamiliar with formal dinners in his host's country. It was the custom in the diplomat's nation for the servants to offer the guests a small silver bowl filled with rosewater with which to dab your fingers and a small linen towel with which to wipe them prior to eating the meal.

 

The dignitary, unfamiliar with what to do, assumed that the first course was being served. He drank the rosewater and used the linen towel as a napkin.

 

Without the slightest pause or hesitation, the host and each one of his guests immediately did the same, drinking the rosewater, dabbing their mouths with the towels, and in no way whatsoever calling attention to their guest's faux pas. The dinner was a raging success.

 

THAT is how you treat a guest in your home.

 

:iagree: Protocol is all about making everyone comfortable in a given situation. For example, you don't generally place your hand over your heart during the national anthem when you are outside, you stand at attention. However, it's understood among military wives that if one wife does it at a ceremony, you all do it, you don't leave her hanging.

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3. Last year my 4 year old got up in the middle of the night and opened most of her gifts. My mother in law, who was sleeping in her bed with her, snored through it! Luckily, she didn't open anyone else's gifts, but I was bummed because I missed out on her opening the gift she really wanted.

 

LOL!!

 

One year my niece (aged 2.5) opened EVERYONE's Christmas presents. We weren't there that year, but there were 4 kids, 9 adults, and 2 dogs worth of presents under the tree. She then fell asleep in the middle of the mess. When everyone else woke up the adults had several hours of sorting and rewrapping.

 

Snicker, kids make me laugh.

 

Kris

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This is a little strange, but more funny because it involves a kid.

 

Last year (when Sylvia was 4) she was apparently very very excited to see what Santa brought her. She woke up in the middle of the night (around 3 am or so) and opened every single one of her presents. All of them. Dumped the stocking and everything. :001_huh: We all slept through it. :glare:

 

She just promised me today that she wasn't going to do that again. What a relief!

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LOL!!

 

One year my niece (aged 2.5) opened EVERYONE's Christmas presents. We weren't there that year, but there were 4 kids, 9 adults, and 2 dogs worth of presents under the tree. She then fell asleep in the middle of the mess. When everyone else woke up the adults had several hours of sorting and rewrapping.

 

Snicker, kids make me laugh.

 

Kris

 

Oh my word, I truly hope they took some pictures of that before they rewrapped everything. That had to be the cutest scene ever! (Once you got over the general horror, of course :lol:)

 

This is a little strange, but more funny because it involves a kid.

 

Last year (when Sylvia was 4) she was apparently very very excited to see what Santa brought her. She woke up in the middle of the night (around 3 am or so) and opened every single one of her presents. All of them. Dumped the stocking and everything. :001_huh: We all slept through it. :glare:

 

She just promised me today that she wasn't going to do that again. What a relief!

 

See, that would never happen here. If one of my kids woke at 3 a.m. on Christmas Eve, they'd find Santa still wrapping the gifts in the middle of the living room floor (or possibly asleep amongst the remnants on the living room floor).

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My husband has a very large family, so we used to draw names. One year (for an adult) I put together a nice gift basket for about half our usual spending limit--it was movie-themed with a Blockbuster gift card, popcorn, movie theater-sized candy, etc. But I also included a note saying that we had adopted a Salvation Army Angel Tree angel in their honor and had purchased gifts for a needy child.

 

Reception was a little lukewarm. Another of my SILs piped up, "They gave away half your gift!" :glare:

 

Aside from his parents, we don't exchange with Dh's family anymore. It just got too meaningless.

 

(FWIW, When I turned 19, my then-boyfriend's grandmother gave me a gift of "ten chickens dontated in my honor to a needy family." I still think that was an awesome gift!)

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DH's family gatherings involve a mad present opening fest where everyone opens all their presents at once and no one really knows who gave what to whom. I hate it, especially after my MIL was inadvertently given one of my gifts because DH labeled it to Mom from my kids and the person playing Santa thought all the gifts labeled Mom were for her. DH didn't realize it until after she had already opened it and wasn't sure how to handle it, but he opted to tell her instead of just letting it go. She felt terrible! I have a sweet MIL who's always been good to me, and I still feel bad for her because she was so mortified. And then my FIL, who has a twisted sense of humor at times, had the gall to tease her about it, so she started crying! I still feel bad about it and make sure names are used on any presents that will be going to a mixed gathering of moms. I liked the gift, but I would have much rather that she have never known what happened.

Edited by WordGirl
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Can we count weirdly wrapped presents? My brother had a gifting (before he got married and had kids).

 

 

  • For my sister, my brother gave my sister a pin and a clue. The clue led her to the bathtub where a large box was full of water balloons glued together. She spent quite a while popping water balloons so she could get to her gift at the bottom.

  • My brother in law opened a 1ft in diameter ball of string. He started unwinding the largish string (rope climbing string) and then the yarn to finally get to the inside - a deflated ball containing a music cd.

  • The gruesome one was given to my mom. She opened a large stick first. The second gift was a fish tank with her present at the bottom. The rest of the fish tank was layered with around 5-6 layers separated by cardboard of mouse traps fully armed. She had to use her stick to spring the mousetraps in order to get her present.

 

So, that's my Christmas story of unwrapping presents.

 

Beth

:lol::lol: That's funny. My brother would have done those if he had thought of them. All he did was nest boxes inside each other, and thoroughly duct tape each box.

 

He actually gave me an excellent gift one year, while he was still in his teens. I think I was in my very early 20's, living away from home, but still coming back frequently (sometimes to live, sometimes just to visit). He got me a set of kitchen knives with a knife block (it's actually a plastic knife block, but it has a couple of utensil pockets and swivels). I've had it for more than 15 years now, and it's still going strong.

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My brother used to take his children out shopping on Christmas Eve morning (he was the ultimate procrastinator) so they could buy gifts for their mommy. They could buy anything they wanted within a certain price range. My niece bought her a chia pet. It has been a family joke for nearly 20 years. I can't see a commercial without cracking up.

I think that's sweet. I just emailed this quote to dh, telling him that he can do this with dc, starting next year. (I already gave him a list of things I'd like to receive from them this Christmas) :)

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Well...a few years ago my mil was so excited to open her Christmas presents that she opened them all at midnight Christmas Eve...AND fil's gifts, too...while he slept.

 

I don't get it. I don't think I'll ever understand her!

Oh, that is so funny. She must be reverting back to childhood, really early childhood. :lol: I hope she rewrapped her husbands gifts so he could open them. :lol:

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My MIL regularly buys things for herself, wraps them, and writes on the tags

To: (hername) From: Santa.

 

Seriously. And then she opens more than anyone else because we all get 1 gift each and she has 4ish for herself. One year she opened a gift and announced "I bought this for Emmy but decided to keep it for myself!".

 

Bizarre.

Oh my, that is bizarre. :lol:

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See, that would never happen here. If one of my kids woke at 3 a.m. on Christmas Eve, they'd find Santa still wrapping the gifts in the middle of the living room floor (or possibly asleep amongst the remnants on the living room floor).

 

LOL. Or working on dinner preparations.

 

I read a suggestion to let kids get up and take stockings back to their rooms if they wake up early, and that worked really well. I stuffed them full and wrapped every little thing that wasn't candy. Also included things like a book or magazine to help keep them busy until the rest of the family woke up.

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