There are 36 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 8,186 times. The latest Post () was by kilo 6.
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Quote
Display MoreHere's a little activity you can do -
Elf Yourself
We did this with family members' faces and it was pretty funny!
Then the Mrs. did one with Chilibill, Kevin, her and me - that was REAL funny! We tried posting that link, but it just didn't work - it just took you back to the one above.
We'll try posting it again . . . maybe it'll work this time??
JWMB elves
Chester
WHAT A GAS!!!
Cheers - Jay
Well, here we are, a few days after the big day, and I remembered another "tradition."
You know, the one about staying up half the night finishing the wrapping, and filling the stockings, and bringing out the "Santa" gifts . . . . Getting to bed a little while before the crack of dawn, and then having the kids waking us shortly after the crack of dawn (they did wait until 6:30 
). Everyone opening presents, the kids settling in and playing, and mom and dad falling asleep for a few hours in the middle of the day.
Yeah, that one.
One more - the Mrs. is usually too tired to do much of a fancy meal, so it's almost always ham and some very simple side dishes for dinner.
Chester 
I was listening to the radio yesterday, and they were having a debate about whether Santa Clause wrapped his gifts or not. When I was a child, all of our gifts under the tree were from Santa and they were all wrapped. My parents didn't get us gifts.
When my wife was growing up, presents from her Mommy and Daddy were wrapped and presents from Santa were not. I liked that idea, so that's how we raised our children.
How was it in your homes growing up? Did Santa wrap his gifts? I am curious as to which was more popular. Anyone want to share? :teeth_smile:
Mark
hi mark
in our house when i was a child our "santa" gifts were not wrapped and they were on the end of our beds, this was our big christmas gift. presents from the family were wrapped and under the tree.
the only time we didnt get our "santa" present on the end of our bed was when we got a swing set for christmas. have continued this tradition with my son it gives him time to play with something before we open our gifts from under the tree which we do about 1pm in the arvo normally at mum and dads place.
cheers smokey
Hey, Mark:
I had to stop and think about this. My parents wrapped our gifts and so did my wife. We never opened up the gifts till Christmas morning, that was all the gifts. The wife and I did the same thing for our children. However, they could unwrap ONE gift a piece from someone that they knew be it grandparents, aunts, uncles or some one. The Santa Claus gifts where put under the tree when they were in bed on Christmas Eve. With 5 kids it caused us some work. Even if we only gave them 3 or 4 gifts each. Think about it, 15 to 20 gifts a piece. WHEW!
My husband and I both have children of our own and they are all grown, so we don't do the "family" thing anymore. The biggest tradition the two of us have is going to pick out our Christmas tree. We always get a real tree. And no, we don't go into the woods to get it - we go to Lowes. :teeth_smile: I love the way it makes the house smell.
My mom and dad absolutely left presents unwrapped that came from Santa and my brothers and I would sneak downstairs before everyone else and play with the Santa gifts and go back to bed. My mom never could figure out why we were not really that excited! LOL!
My favorite "old" family tradition was when my dad would make a big fire in the fireplace and mom would get the oldtimey popcorn popper out that had a very long handle and we would pop bowls and bowls full of popcorn over the fire. Then, mom would put on the Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra Christmas albums and we would string popcorn for hours. When we had it all strung we would all help (mom, dad, me and my two brothers) to decorate the Christmas tree. And it just wasn't the same without finishing up the tree with gobs and gobs of shiney tinsel.
Wow, the good ole days...
Hi Mark, yep, in our house all gifts from Santa were wrapped. BOY my Parents arms must have been real tired from all the work.
I think that as a kid, Santa gifts were wrapped, unless it was something that couldn't practically be wrapped, like a bike or something like that.
For our kids, Santa gifts are wrapped, usually in a special paper that they haven't seen, and of course no other gifts are wrapped in the "Santa" paper. Of course, if the gift is too big, it's not wrapped. This year, bikes didn't get wrapped, but had notes from Santa taped to the handlebars. Last year, Santa brought our youngest a turtle, complete with 50 gallon tank - needless to say, that wasn't wrapped either.
Chester
Interesting, I think Santa knows who likes them wrapped or not. Mine were always not wrapped. I really like that. I could go right into them and have fun. Santa know everyone, doesn't he?
Cheers 
My wife reminded me to let the board know about the present she gave me for Christmas. With her condition, she can only shop by mail order - she found a clock that has two images of Duke with Duke's name prominent in the middle. Needless to say, the clock (which is in the form of a plaque) has a prominent place on my living room wall!
Jay,
That sounds great. I know how special that is to you.
Cheers Hondo
My wife reminded me to let the board know about the present she gave me for Christmas. With her condition, she can only shop by mail order - she found a clock that has two images of Duke with Duke's name prominent in the middle. Needless to say, the clock (which is in the form of a plaque) has a prominent place on my living room wall!
Jay,
Thank you for sharing that! What a special gift that must be.
Got any pictures of that special clock??
Chester
Brilliant gift Jay, it would sure would, also be in pride and place in my house
what a lovely idea and present!
Time to chime in on this topic . . .
Time to chime in on this topic . . .
Yep, 'bout that time.
In my family, we collectively decided several years ago that the practice of gift-giving at Christmas should be confined to the kids. So I personally decided that my gift-giving would be to give all the grandkids money and let them buy whatever they want. After all, they know better than I do what they want.
IMO, this is perfect, since I don't have to subject myself (or the wife) to those crowds in the malls, Walmart, parking lots, etc. I just buy seven of those Xmas/themed cards for money and stick some cash in each and voila, my gift-giving problems are solved.
Try it, you'll like it. 
Last year I gave a dinner with me at Rest of choice and the condition was once a month first come first served. I have also gone with gas cards and grocery cards. Once we used a branch ( large one ) that had broken off a tree. It was very different but displayed the decorations well. The kids were luke warm at the time. This year one of them said we should do that again.
