Allie is the sneaky one in our family. I shouldn't have been surprised to discovered torn Christmas wrapping paper in the basement trash can this morning. I was irate. I have spent days and days out trying to get my shopping done...looking for the perfect presents for the kids. I've spent the last 2 nights hunched over wrapping paper trying to get everything wrapped. I'm trying to make everything nice and special and I should have seen this coming, but for some reason I didn't. Allie took 4 presents out from under the tree (hers, Caden's, Jaelyn's, and Granddaddy's birthday present), snuck down to the basement, opened them, disposed of the paper and then hid the presents. She initially lied to me when I found the paper, but quickly fessed up and showed me where she'd stashed the presents. Allie is losing her present. I bought the kids all a new movie for the drive to Florida, and I really wanted her to have the movie I bought her for the long ride. I can't return it because I opened it so I wouldn't be having to peel off security tape in the midst of packing a car. I'm going to make her give her present to someone else with an explanation of why she's giving it away. Anyone want a copy of Ella Enchanted?
Then, after the time out and severe talking to, Jaelyn and Caden asked her to tell them what their presents where after I told them not to and she did. Arghhh...2 more surprises ruined. Everyone ended up in time out this morning and we missed the bus as a result.
I want Christmas to be magical for the kids and full of surprises. The surprise is on me I guess. Maybe I should just box up all the present in preparation for our trip and let the tree be bare underneath!
Oh My! And she honestly thought she could get away with that? I'm so sorry she ruined your surprises. Maybe she has learned her lesson for next year. My sister and I always knew where our presents were hidden, but we wouldn't look, because we knew it would ruin the surprise. But I guess I was into delayed gratification even as a kid!
ReplyDeleteOh Kelly... I'm so sorry.
ReplyDeleteMy sister and I decided we couldn't wait to open our gifts one year, so we gingerly pulled the tape back, exposing the box just enough to show what the gift was.
My mom knew THAT night what we'd done because despite the care we took, the packages didn't look quite as crisp as they had.
Her punishment was to donate all our gifts to charity. She very sincerely shared with us how not everyone has Christmas, and other children would appreciate the surprise.
Sarah and I spent 2.5 weeks lamenting our actions before Christmas morning. We were excited to let mom and our step dad open the gifts we gave them. And then, got kinda sad realizing there would be no toys.
That's when my mom led us out to the garage. She led us to every single one of the gifts we had opened and told us she knew we learned our lesson. We were overjoyed. We truly believed they had been given away, and we never ever pulled that trick again!