As a neck massager, right?
^^^^
Knowing the presents would be hunted for was a thing in our house. Plans were drawn, preparations made, taunts thrown down, much, much teasing: “I know where Dad is hiding your gifts”, an obviously-lying (in retrospect) sister. “I saw Dad take gifts out of the house… and one of them was shaped like that thing you wanted. What did you do to make him mad?”
And, no, I don’t bother with doing so now. I’m not 8 anymore!
never did on purpose…BUT:
There was the walk-in closet I wasn’t allowed to go in. Perhaps because my motrher was afraid I’d make a huge mess in there, or so that they could hide presents, or just because rules were rules…but of course, when I had some time in the house alone, I’d explore the off-limits walk-in closet. There were books in there sometimes, or possessions that Mom had confiscated from me, and there were some ladies’ hats i just adored.
One day a few weeks before Christmas, an opportunity to explore the walk-in closet arose and I did. There was a bag in there that looked the right size for a bunch of paperbacks, so I peeked.
And discovered two battery-operated fuzzy dachshunds that would walk and bark and wag their little tails. I knew that they were supposed to be Christmas surprises for my little brother and me, and I felt sad and even a little bit remorseful.
I never told anyone, swallowed my guilt and let-down, and was as surprised as all get-out to find a battery-operated fuzzy dachshund, one who could walk and bark and wag his little tail, under the tree for me, and another one just like him for my little brother.
TBH, they were fun presents. I named mine Farfel and Little Bro named his Grover.
Yes because I was a kid and kids are stupid with poor impulse control.
I never snooped. I loved the surprise on Christmas morning, so I was fine with waiting until then.
Well, of course. What else could it possibly be used for???
I figured out it ruined the experience quite early on. Just accidentally find something once, and you realize how shitty it is to have to keep it secret and fake being surprised.
I always assumed it was more a TV thing, based on a few particularly impulsive kids, because it made for better plots. I assumed most kids who tried it even once would realize how shitty it was and never do it again.
That’s not to say I don’t hide gifts. It’s fun for people not to even know if you actually got them anything. I try to avoid even having gifts in the mail come when the person they are for comes home. Because, again, I know how much more fun it is when it’s a surprise.
I’d also think that, if this was universally true, we wouldn’t push gift giving holidays for younger kids who feel like that. We’d want to spring the idea of giving gifts on them rather than make them feel for like the whole month of December.
I also wish to add that I was not remotely an uninquisitive kid. I got into closets and stuff all the time, and gobbled any info I could. I just wasn’t ever really interested in trying to find Christmas presents. The one time I did accidentally see one, it sucked, big time.
A toe-curler…
I was thinking it was an electric ear cleaner!
i think the closest I came to snooping was the year Mom hid all the wrapped presents in my closet. She trusted me enough to know I woultn’t actually open anything. I did pick up and try to guess what some of mine were - and guessed completely wrong on the one really oddly-shaped thing.
I found out by accident that I was getting a guitar for Christmas one year. I’d asked my folks for a used one so I could try to learn it… and saw a note + check Mom had left for Dad in plain sight, telling him to pick up the one she’d ordered for me.
My mom used our guest room as her “Santa’s workshop” and kept a handwritten journal listing the presents she was going to give my sisters and me. We were strictly forbidden to go in there, but I will now confess, 40-some years later, that I snuck in from time to time to peek - then I had to fake being surprised when I opened my presents on Christmas Day.
I will plead, in Kipling’s phrase, “insatiable curiosity.”