Small Talk: We'll Be Right Back

[peacheslatour]

2 hours ago, Shelbie said:

I may sound like the Grinch here but I stopped doing stockings for my kids once they were living with their partners. 
I used to gently advise women who were pregnant with their first to not buy huge stockings but instead to get quite small ones. I said it was easy to fill them when my kids were small but as they got older I found it much harder and ended up using crap to fill them. 
My kids were in their thirties when I finally stopped and seem to have suffered no ill effects.

From the time our son was school aged until he moved out, we used stockings, our own included, for stuff like toiletry odds and ends, Chapstick, chocolates, body wash, face scrub, more chocolates and later razor blades, shaving cream, dry skin lotion - all sorts of things that were expensiveish and not wrap worthy.

[Annber03]

Yeah, we use our stockings for smaller gifts that don't really require being wrapped, too. 

[Bastet]

My parents have never had stockings, just two for me (my grandma made me one and my "aunt" [a close family friend] also made one for my first Christmas, so I had two), and they still put them up even though I'm in my late 40s.  They use them for little things I use that it's nice not to have to ever remember to go buy - Chapstick, nail polish, etc. - and candy.

And I still get "Santa" gifts, too.  When I was a kid, the gifts from my parents were wrapped and under the tree, and then Christmas morning there were unwrapped gifts next to it that Santa had brought.  So now, for shit my mom doesn't want to wrap, she puts them out Christmas morning as Santa gifts. 

I never invite anyone to join us for Christmas morning.  Drop by during the day, come for dinner (Christmas Eve or Christmas), welcome.  But Christmas morning is for kicking it old school.

[peacheslatour]

Quote

And I still get "Santa" gifts, too.  When I was a kid, the gifts from my parents were wrapped and under the tree, and then Christmas morning there were unwrapped gifts next to it that Santa had brought.  So now, for shit my mom doesn't want to wrap, she puts them out Christmas morning as Santa gifts. 

We did the same.

Quote

I never invite anyone to join us for Christmas morning.  Drop by during the day, come for dinner (Christmas Eve or Christmas), welcome.  But Christmas morning is for kicking it old school.

Agreed. My In-Laws were big on having the whole family there for Christmas morning. After we had our son, we were too exhausted to do that and decided we wanted to start our own family traditions. My DH makes a big breakfast and afterwards we open presents, listen to Christmas music (the only time I can stand to do that) and lay around like beached whales, watching A Christmas Story over and over again. We stopped last year because of the Covid and we won't do it this year either because our son and his wife deserve to have their own Christmas at home.

Edited December 7, 2021 by peacheslatour

[Katy M]

My parents always put up stockings for my sister and me until they moved to Florida.  The second or third Christmas after they moved, my sister brought a friend down with her and they made each other stockings.  My mom made me a stocking so I wouldn't feel left out. I was like "Mom, I'm 30 years old.  I don't think you have to worry about stuff like that any more."  I can't even remember what she put in it, but I don't think she knew until like the night before, so I think she was just combing all her shelves and drawers looking for stuff that could look like gifts, LOL.  I'd be willing to bet there was a deck of cards in there, because my parents buy up cards like there's going to be a TP-level shortage on them some day.  They always have tons of unopened playing cards.

2 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

My DH makes a big breakfast and afterwards we open presents, listen to Christmas music (the only time I can stand to do that) and lay around like beached whales, watching A Christmas Story over and over again. We stopped last year because of the Covid and we won't do it this year either because our son ans his wife deserve to have their own Christmas at home.

But that sounds like something just you and hubby can do by yourselves.  

[SoMuchTV]

28 minutes ago, Bastet said:

And I still get "Santa" gifts, too.  When I was a kid, the gifts from my parents were wrapped and under the tree, and then Christmas morning there were unwrapped gifts next to it that Santa had brought.  So now, for shit my mom doesn't want to wrap, she puts them out Christmas morning as Santa gifts.

 

3 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

We did the same.

Y'know, it was the weirdest thing.  Santa always left my gifts unwrapped, but he left my cousins' wrapped.  We even lived in the same city! 

[peacheslatour]

2 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

 

Y'know, it was the weirdest thing.  Santa always left my gifts unwrapped, but he left my cousins' wrapped.  We even lived in the same city! 

Didn't they wonder why their parents used the same wrapping paper as Santa?

Quote

But that sounds like something just you and hubby can do by yourselves.  

Oh, we do but it's not as much fun, ya know?

[Bastet]

5 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

My DH makes a big breakfast and afterwards we open presents, listen to Christmas music (the only time I can stand to do that) and lay around like beached whales, watching A Christmas Story over and over again.

The details are different - presents first, then Bloody Marys, then breakfast, no movies or music - but the lying around like beached whales for the day philosophy is us.  We have a fire going all day long (which means some years we have to open the sliding door so it's not too hot, but my dad - a transplant to CA from OK - must have a Christmas fire), and mostly lie around reading our new books and napping with the cats. 

There was a stretch of 2-3 years where a friend of mine (who's been my friend since junior high, so my parents know her very well) came over for a couple of hours in the afternoon; her parents had divorced, and she was pretty unhappy about having all her traditions replaced by dividing her time between two houses, so she liked to stop by someplace familiar and comforting on the way.

Edited December 8, 2021 by Bastet

[SoMuchTV]

26 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

Didn't they wonder why their parents used the same wrapping paper as Santa?

I don't remember about my cousins, but I've learned that when Santa visits my daughter and her family, he is very careful to keep his wrapping paper out of sight and it is not used for anything else!

[peacheslatour]

31 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

I don't remember about my cousins, but I've learned that when Santa visits my daughter and her family, he is very careful to keep his wrapping paper out of sight and it is not used for anything else!

We didn't wrap the Santa gifts because they usually large or oddly shaped. Also because, while he had to wait until we were up and had eaten breakfast to play with his toys, Santa's things were ready to go. Gave his dad and I an hour's extra sleep.

[susannah]

7 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

We didn't wrap the Santa gifts because they usually large or oddly shaped. Also because, while he had to wait until we were up and had eaten breakfast to play with his toys, Santa's things were ready to go. Gave his dad and I an hour's extra sleep.

When I was a kid, we were not allowed to go to the tree until the folks were up, we had to sit on the stairs and call them, and the tree lights were on. All the gifts from other people were put under the tree as we got them but my parents didn't put everything from them out until after we went to bed, so Christmas morning, it was like WHOAH! So many! We always got one gift from Santa, even when I was a teenager.

[peacheslatour]

4 minutes ago, susannah said:

When I was a kid, we were not allowed to go to the tree until the folks were up, we had to sit on the stairs and call them, and the tree lights were on. All the gifts from other people were put under the tree as we got them but my parents didn't put everything from them out until after we went to bed, so Christmas morning, it was like WHOAH! So many! We always got one gift from Santa, even when I was a teenager.

I love that! when I was a teen, my mom always put a can of Dungeness crab in my stocking for me to share with my cat.

[Bruinsfan]

This reminds me that when I was growing skeptical about Santa in elementary school, my parents bought themselves another year of belief by pointing out Rudolph leading Santa's sleigh team of reindeer overhead. (We lived near the flight path of planes departing the local airport, and one with a red light flew by conveniently Christmas Eve.)

[Browncoat]

When I was in college, I always got a roll or two of quarters in my stocking.  For the laundry machines, y'know.

And when I was little, all the aunts and uncles and cousins (and there were a lot of us) would gather at my grandparents' house for Christmas.  We'd open family presents on Christmas Eve, after Christmas dinner, and then Santa would come overnight and leave more presents.  We did not have to wait for adults before running into the living room for our Santa toys -- in fact, it might be hours before any adults were up.  Candy for breakfast!

Now, we still open presents on Christmas Eve, but no more stockings or Santa presents on Christmas Day, and Christmas dinner is whenever most of us are at my parents' house.  This year, it will probably be Christmas Eve.

[Prevailing Wind]

I found out the truth about Santa from my mom, although she didn't know it. We didn't leave cookies for Santa; we left a bologna sandwich.  ...Mom's making the sandwich and she asks my father, "Ed, do you want mayonnaise or mustard on this sandwich?"  Wondering why Daddy would care what Santa eats, it finally dawned on me. Mom was in her 80s when I told her.  I initially told her that Diane Norton, who lived down the street and was a few years older, had told me there was no Santa. Nobody like Diane, anyway, so this just gave my mom extra fuel for disliking the child.  LOL. Diane became one of the most obnoxious teenagers that ever lived.

[susannah]

3 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

I love that! when I was a teen, my mom always put a can of Dungeness crab in my stocking for me to share with my cat.

Great gift, for you and kitty!

[madmax]

We still do stockings, obviously, and I actually wrap all the stocking gifts.  Mostly it's things like deodorant, chap stick, candy, etc, but I try to throw something fun in there as well.  It's a lot harder as they are older, but it's something I like to do.  This year, I bought them small magnetic lights, about the size of a golf ball.  Mr.  Max does a lot of work in small spaces, so I thought he'd like it and they weren't that much, so I got more for the other stockings.

Everything under the tree is wrapped, even when there were Santa gifts.  Each son had special paper.  All the gifts under the tree were from Santa, the stockings were from us.  They weren't allowed to wake me up until at least 7:30.  Now I'm the one awake and have to wait on them. 😄

5 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

My In-Laws were big on having the whole family there for Christmas morning. After we had our son, we were too exhausted to do that and decided we wanted to start our own family traditions. 

My in-laws had the big do on Christmas Eve AND expected us to come over for Christmas Day lunch as well.  I already had to go to my father's and my mother's on Christmas Day.  Before we had kids, it was manageable.  But after our first son was born and I tried to do that, I was a wreck by the time I got to my mother's.  I told them no more, it's time for us to make our own traditions.  So we would open gifts, eat a big lunch, then just loaf until we had to go to my father's, then mother's.  Well, my step-father passed away about 10 years ago, so my mom quit expecting us to come over; she instead came to my house for dinner.  When my dad passed 3 years ago, I didn't have to go there anymore.  So now I just sit around the house in my Christmas Skull PJs until dinner time.  Then finish lounging after my mom and oldest son leave.

[Bastet]

11 minutes ago, madmax said:

Now I'm the one awake and have to wait on them. 😄

At least you wait on them; my mom sends a cat in to wake me up at 9:00 (I spend the night on Christmas Eve).  And wake me up, he does - he jumps up between me and the edge of the bed and meows (and he does not have an inside voice) right next to my head; he's like an obnoxious child bellowing "Santa was here!" in my ear.  He's lucky that, unlike an obnoxious child, he's cute.  And I can get him to lie down with me for a little while as I work through the waking up process.  So by 9:30 I can manage to get up, pee, and go see what Santa brought.

The reason I spend the night is because if I'm happily snoozing in my own bed, there's no way I'll get up early, and they'll get pissy if I don't show up until 11:00.  I get it; if I want to do Christmas morning later, it's on me to have it at my house, and I don't want to, so I consent to their timeline.  Thus the napping with the cats during the day!

My parents get up around 7:00 (I assume; that's what time they get up at Thanksgiving when we're out in their motorhome [and thus the time I shuffle down the hall to the bedroom so I can go back to sleep]), so that gives my dad a couple of hours to play Christmas music in the living room; he's nice enough to turn it off when I stagger out, because I hate most of it and my mom is done with it by then.

[Prevailing Wind]

My SIL says I should bring 4 dozen cookies. She's baking that many, her daughter-in-law is baking that many and DIL's mom is baking that many.  If my niece shows up (always a question mark) that'll be 8 people - that's 2 dozen cookies each, and at least half of us are diabetic. There's something wrong with this picture.

We're doing T'giving on Xmas Eve and Xmas dinner the next day. I think I'm just taking stretchy pants and knit shirts to wear. TWO big meals and 16 dozen cookies. I need to remember to pack plenty of Alka-Seltzer.

[Haleth]

16 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

We stopped last year because of the Covid and we won't do it this year either because our son and his wife deserve to have their own Christmas at home.

Everyone is coming home for Christmas (one lives 5 hrs away, the other is on the other side of the country).  My daughter and her husband recently bought a house and they have a new baby so I was expecting them to want to spend Christmas morning at home, but they are coming.  Of course I'm delighted to have a houseful of people.

Stockings are filled with toiletries and candy.  I wrap some with leftover scraps of paper.  The baby's stocking will be filled with outlet plugs and cabinet locks.  He's almost mobile.

Christmas is the one day a year I make breakfast - eggs Benedict.  I think this is why everyone is coming home.

[smittykins]

18 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

Didn't they wonder why their parents used the same wrapping paper as Santa?

I admit I always wondered why Santa(and the Tooth Fairy)’s handwriting looked an awful lot like my Mom’s. 😁

[Leeds]

21 hours ago, Bastet said:

My parents have never had stockings, just two for me (my grandma made me one and my "aunt" [a close family friend] also made one for my first Christmas, so I had two), and they still put them up even though I'm in my late 40s.  They use them for little things I use that it's nice not to have to ever remember to go buy - Chapstick, nail polish, etc. - and candy.

 

 

19 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

We didn't wrap the Santa gifts because they usually large or oddly shaped. Also because, while he had to wait until we were up and had eaten breakfast to play with his toys, Santa's things were ready to go. Gave his dad and I an hour's extra sleep.

 

19 hours ago, susannah said:

When I was a kid, we were not allowed to go to the tree until the folks were up, we had to sit on the stairs and call them, and the tree lights were on. All the gifts from other people were put under the tree as we got them but my parents didn't put everything from them out until after we went to bed, so Christmas morning, it was like WHOAH! So many! We always got one gift from Santa, even when I was a teenager.

We had to wait until after breakfast was done and the washing up finished.  We put our presents in the wicker laundry basket and would open them one round at a time.  We were a small family (4 + 2 grandparents) so it never took very long!

4 hours ago, Haleth said:

The baby's stocking will be filled with outlet plugs and cabinet locks.  He's almost mobile.

 

I'm sure the baby will always remember his first Christmas stocking fondly ;-) 

[peacheslatour]

This is fun. I love hearing about everybodies family holiday traditions! 🎄

[Haleth]

19 minutes ago, Leeds said:

I’m sure the baby will always remember his first Christmas stocking fondly ;-) 

Eh, he’ll be more interested in the paper and boxes than any of the toys. 

[peacheslatour]

20 minutes ago, Haleth said:

Eh, he’ll be more interested in the paper and boxes than any of the toys. 

Just like cats.

[janie jones]

My family always opened presents on Christmas Eve. Then we did stockings on Christmas morning and then when people came over, we'd open the rest of the presents. My parents lost stamina for stockings at some point. I remember my teenage sister getting stocking stuffers one year. I can't remember if my parents ever did stockings after that. Some wrapped gifts would be from "Santa," and I don't think there was any rhyme or reason to it. They didn't try too hard to keep up the illusion that Santa was real. We were opening presents from him before we went to bed on Christmas Eve, after all, and I remember my mom saying what a good deal she got on some scissors in my stocking once.

Now I've taken charge of stockings for myself and my husband, my sister and her family, and my aunt and parents. When we do presents now depends on when we're getting together, but we always do stockings either first or earlier in the day, as sort of a gift amuse-bouche. Like someone said above, our stocking stuffers are mostly little things that aren't wrap-worthy, and everyone is welcome to add to what I've put together. My aunt usually adds lottery tickets and candy, and sometimes my sister and dad add little stuff, too.

But my nieces know these stockings are from me. Santa fills their stockings at their house.

Edited December 11, 2021 by janie jones

[Browncoat]

When I was little (pre-teen), we did always get a piece of fruit in the toe of our stockings.  Usually some citrus, but once or twice I got an apple instead.

[chessiegal]

I'm an only child. My best friend's mother was a prolific knitter. She knit me a stocking with my name on it that I have to this day tucked away in a cedar chest. I used to bring it out, but we don't decorate anymore since it's just the 2 of us. We'd do the whole nine yards when my stepdaughters would visit when they were teens.

My mom made cinnamon buns from scratch for Christmas breakfast. She assembled them on the 24th, let them sit in the fridge and baked them Christmas morning. The smell of those buns would wake me up Christmas morning.

My father really wanted a train under the tree. When I was 2, he measured how high up I could reach, and built a platform a few inches higher and got "me", ahem, a train that we loved to play with. I'm kicking myself for getting rid of it after my mom died and my dad was selling the house. Didn't seem important to my 23 year old self, living in a 1 bedroom apartment. 

[peacheslatour]

1 hour ago, Browncoat said:

When I was little (pre-teen), we did always get a piece of fruit in the toe of our stockings.  Usually some citrus, but once or twice I got an apple instead.

Me too. Usually oranges or tangerines and some hazel nuts. And candy canes, of course.

Edited December 8, 2021 by peacheslatour

[Tom Holmberg]

1 hour ago, Browncoat said:

When I was little (pre-teen), we did always get a piece of fruit in the toe of our stockings.  Usually some citrus, but once or twice I got an apple instead.

When I was little I usually got a threat from my mother to call Santa and tell him how naughty I was.

[chessiegal]

My mom was second oldest with 3 brothers. One year, her older brother decided their parents were hiding gifts in the attic that were supposed to be from Santa. Somehow, Grandma caught wind of it. On Christmas day the other kids got their gifts and her snoopy brother got a bucket of coal. 😂

 

[madmax]

59 minutes ago, Tom Holmberg said:

When I was little I usually got a threat from my mother to call Santa and tell him how naughty I was.

My older siblings would actually fake a phone call to Santa.

"Hey, Santa, how's it going?...Max has been pretty bad this year...I know, I know....Well, I don't know,  maybe she can turn it around...I'll call you a few days before Christmas and let you know, OK?"

One of my mother's friends dressed up as Santa and was going to people's houses on Christmas Eve.  I refused to come downstairs because I was afraid he wouldn't leave me any presents.  My mother finally convinced me that it was OK so now there's a picture of 6 year old me sitting on a scrawny Santa's lap.

[Tom Holmberg]

1 minute ago, madmax said:

My older siblings would actually fake a phone call to Santa.

My mother would start dialing and we would start crying and swear to be good (which, at least I, never did).

[Annber03]

When I was a kid, I remember we'd always go to my grandma's house for Christmas Eve. All the relatives from my mom's side of the family would be there*, and I'd get to play with my second cousins (they were younger than me - all my cousins are much older than me, they were adults by the time I was born), and we'd have dinner and open the presents from our relatives there and everything. I remember looking so forward to going to those family gatherings. 

Then my family would go home, and my parents would let us open one gift before bed. And then the next morning my sister and I would wait in our room until our parents said it was okay to come out, and that's when we'd see our Santa gifts, and then open all our other presents and look through our stockings, too. Then one of my parents would usually make breakfast or cocoa, or both, and we'd just spend the day watching holiday shows and enjoying our gifts and stuff. And we still do the "open one gift" thing even now - I don't really care whether or not I wait until Christmas, but my mom just likes keeping the tradition going :). 

In recent years, we've gone to my aunt's house for Christmas, but with the pandemic that's been put on hold. Some of my relatives still come down to see my aunt and uncle, but the gatherings are a little smaller now. Plus, a lot of my relatives are very...lax, shall we say, on following COVID protocols and their attitudes regarding getting vaccinated, which is kind of frustrating considering my aunt's got a lot of health issues. So even though my mom, sister, and I are vaccinated (my mom and I just got our boosters last week and my sister's getting hers this week), we just don't want to chance it. So it'll just be the three of us spending the holiday together this year. 

*Most of my dad's side of the family had long ago scattered and many of them had passed away at various points, so that's why we never got the chance to spend any time with his family when I was a kid. 

[susannah]

4 hours ago, Leeds said:

We had to wait until after breakfast was done and the washing up finished.  We put our presents in the wicker laundry basket and would open them one round at a time.  We were a small family (4 + 2 grandparents) so it never took very long!

When we were all in the living room, one of us kids would pass out all the gifts so everyone had their pile, and we also would take turns opening a gift. There were just five of us. I think that is the best way, since then everyone is involved in seeing what everyone else got. I remember feeling like it was so hard to wait til my turn again, but I survived. I have had Christmases elsewhere where everyone just opened their gifts at once, and it felt lonely. We had our stockings also, real socks, like a knee sock or one of my dad's socks, not storebought ones, and could open them without waiting. Fudge before breakfast! There were always a few unshelled nuts and a tangerine in the toe, as well as a few small gifts. We always spent Christmas morning at home and then in the afternoon would take the two and a half hour drive to my grandparents for Christmas dinner. Other relatives would be there too, and we all fit in their mobile home, with a kitchen that was literally like 4x4 feet, and Grandma would make the works!

One thing I want to ask is about leaving cookies and milk for Santa. When I was a kid, we never did that, and I never heard of anyone doing that until I was an adult. Is that something that everyone does?

[Prevailing Wind]

Back in the 50s, there were some craft items of rigid plastic with flat backs that you were supposed to glue onto stuff. My Nana loved that stuff. She had wee plastic fruits glued onto her light switchplates.

One Xmas eve, visiting my grandparents who lived next door to us, I was allowed to open ONE gift. I chose one and it turned out to be a stupid pink alarm clock with those damn plastic roses glued around the face. Geez, she wanted a girly girl so bad, but I wanted to be a horse or ride a horse or own a horse...I wanted nothing to do with pink roses. I tried not to let my disappointment show. I hope Nana didn't realize how much I hated getting an ALARM CLOCK for Xmas. Especially one that didn't have a horse on it.

[peacheslatour]

Quote

Geez, she wanted a girly girl so bad, but I wanted to be a horse or ride a horse or own a horse...I wanted nothing to do with pink roses. 

OMG, were you me?

Quote

One thing I want to ask is about leaving cookies and milk for Santa. When I was a kid, we never did that, and I never heard of anyone doing that until I was an adult. Is that something that everyone does?

My mom and dad did the cookies and milk thing and when we had our son, we also did the carrots for the reindeer thing. As soon as I was able to use the oven, my mom had me making the Christmas cookies. 

[Prevailing Wind]

As I mentioned above, we didn't do milk & cookies. We did beer & a bologna sandwich.

[Bastet]

47 minutes ago, susannah said:

One thing I want to ask is about leaving cookies and milk for Santa. When I was a kid, we never did that, and I never heard of anyone doing that until I was an adult. Is that something that everyone does?

I did that as a kid.  In a striking coincidence, Santa's favorite cookies were the same as my dad's (peanut butter).

As for presents, we don't open them one person at a time, but my best friend's family did that when we were kids.  There were five people in that family, usually plus a grandparent and an aunt on Christmas, so it took for-fucking-ever and drove everyone but the dad - whose idea it was - nuts.  Finally they all told him nope, not doing it this way, since it took the whole morning. 

[susannah]

15 minutes ago, Bastet said:

I did that as a kid.  In a striking coincidence, Santa's favorite cookies were the same as my dad's (peanut butter).

As for presents, we don't open them one person at a time, but my best friend's family did that when we were kids.  There were five people in that family, usually plus a grandparent and an aunt on Christmas, so it took for-fucking-ever and drove everyone but the dad - whose idea it was - nuts.  Finally they all told him nope, not doing it this way, since it took the whole morning. 

That sounds really self centered. Christmas isn't supposed to be like "give me my presents and get out of my way." So what if it took all morning for everyone to open their gifts and share that time.  I feel sorry for that father, with his inconsiderate family.

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, susannah said:

That sounds really self centered. Christmas isn't supposed to be like "give me my presents and get out of my way." So what if it took all morning for everyone to open their gifts and share that time.  I feel sorry for that father, with his inconsiderate family.

He got over it just fine, and everyone enjoys themselves.  There's a lovely medium between a dictated performance and "give me my presents and get out of my way" and that's where they've happily resided ever since how every single one of the half dozen other people present preferred was logically adopted over the regimented rule one person wanted to impose on a fun, festive morning.

Edited December 9, 2021 by Bastet

[susannah]

45 minutes ago, Bastet said:

He got over it just fine, and everyone enjoys themselves.  There's a lovely medium between a dictated performance and "give me my presents and get out of my way" and that's where they've happily resided ever since how every other single person present preferred was logically adopted over the regimented rule one person wanted to impose on a fun, festive morning.

Wow, "dictated" and "regimented?" As I said, my family did it that way when I was a kid and still do when any of us that are left get together, and I never once have felt dictated to or whatever. I remember feeling excited when someone was going to open my gift to them and hoping they would like it, etc. There would be "open mine next," save that one for last," etc and it all was just fun. But different people do different things.

[Bastet]

Yes, dictated and regimented is how this person was being about the one-at-a-time distribution and opening of gifts, thus this family saying that was not going to fly anymore, and everyone - including him - having enjoyed it more ever since. 

Edited December 9, 2021 by Bastet

[Browncoat]

I don't ever remember leaving cookies and milk or any other treats for Santa.  And present-opening was a free-for-all.  For the Christmas Eve family presents, one or two people were assigned to play Santa and distribute presents.  I think we did wait until all presents were distributed before opening any, but there was no taking turns.  And, as I said, Christmas morning, we didn't have to wait for adults (or any of the other kids) to get up before we started in on our Santa presents.  We just jumped in whenever we got up.

 

[Prevailing Wind]

Mom distributed our presents using her psychic skills. None of the packages had name tags on 'em, yet she knew exactly to whom they belonged. A lot of the wrapping paper was the same, so it couldn't be that.  She let me in on the secret after a number of years. When she wrapped the gifts, with a light pencil, she wrote the person's initial in a corner of the paper. It was SO unobtrusive, it had us all marvelling over her skills.

[susannah]

4 hours ago, Bastet said:

Yes, dictated and regimented is how this person was being about the one-at-a-time distribution and opening of gifts, thus this family saying that was not going to fly anymore, and everyone - including him - having enjoyed it more ever since. 

Wow you seem to know alot about someone else's family and how they all felt about everything!

[Bastet]

40 minutes ago, susannah said:

Wow you seem to know alot about someone else's family and how they all felt about everything!

Since this is my best friend and her family, whom I've known for 45 years, and the two families have been intertwined this whole time, yes, I do.  I'm not sure what your issue is with my sharing one family's experience that differs from your family's, but this will be my last response to it.

1 hour ago, Prevailing Wind said:

Mom distributed our presents using her psychic skills. None of the packages had name tags on 'em, yet she knew exactly to whom they belonged. A lot of the wrapping paper was the same, so it couldn't be that.  She let me in on the secret after a number of years. When she wrapped the gifts, with a light pencil, she wrote the person's initial in a corner of the paper. It was SO unobtrusive, it had us all marvelling over her skills.

I love that no one knew for years how she obtained her distribution powers.

Speaking of tags, we re-use the same ones until they wear out (or they get recycled because the giver or recipient died), and there remain one "To Mommy From [Bastet]" and one "To Daddy From [Bastet]" tag in my very early childhood scrawl, and I use them each year, as my parents always get a kick out of seeing them.

And then, speaking of "Mommy", I remember both laughing and smiling when I - some summer break during college - heard my mom tell a younger friend who was melancholy about her kid switching to "Mom" instead of "Mommy":  Yeah, I remember missing "Mommy" at first.  Then came those early teen years when I was "Mother" (pronounced as "MUTH-errr"; for those who watched Roseanne, hear this in 14-year-old Becky's voice - the verbal equivalent of an eye roll - as that's pretty much exactly how I said it), and I missed "Mom".  And then that came back.  It'll be fine.

[Leeds]

11 hours ago, susannah said:

One thing I want to ask is about leaving cookies and milk for Santa. When I was a kid, we never did that, and I never heard of anyone doing that until I was an adult. Is that something that everyone does?

Santa used to get whiskey and a piece of shortbread at our house.  Mrs. Santa used to drive the sleigh in our neighbourhood.

3 hours ago, Bastet said:

And then, speaking of "Mommy", I remember both laughing and smiling when I - some summer break during college - heard my mom tell a younger friend who was melancholy about her kid switching to "Mom" instead of "Mommy":  Yeah, I remember missing "Mommy" at first.  

I called my parents Mummy and Daddy until their deaths in their 80s.  One sibling called them Mother and Father, the other Mum and Dad, so between us we had all the bases covered.  (We still use the same names when talking about them together.)

[Haleth]

2 hours ago, Leeds said:

Santa used to get whiskey and a piece of shortbread at our house.  Mrs. Santa used to drive the sleigh in our neighbourhood.

Your Santa sounds more fun than milk and cookies Santa.

When I was a kid we were allowed to open one present on Christmas Eve but then it was a free-for-all Christmas morning.  For my own family we'd let the kids open the nonSanta gifts on Christmas Eve because they were all boring clothes and stuff.  They'd have to wait for Mom and Dad to get up (not before 6) on Christmas morning to open Santa gifts.  (We'd all have to wait 20 minutes for my husband to get the camera ready.)  Santa had kindly wrapped each kid's gifts in different paper and they'd have to check their stockings to see which paper was theirs.  Then they alternated opening them.  We still open each gift one at a time just so everyone can see what everyone else got.  Sure it takes longer but for us it's more fun.

[Nicmar]

On 12/5/2021 at 9:18 AM, bankerchick said:

Diet Coke and Coke Zero are not the same, even though both are zero (or zero-ish) calories.  Coke Zero is supposed to taste like Coca-Cola but with no calories, but Diet Coke has its own taste.  As someone who always preferred Pepsi to Coke, I have been drinking Diet Coke since it was introduced and will continue to do so (even though it apparently messes with my blood pressure - never heard that before.)

I don't really know what it is, but I always hear the word Ovaltine in Frau Blucher's voice (whinny!)

Whenever I hear the word Ovaltine I think of Ralphie in A Christmas Story.