Your Chance to Be Right
There is a little something that Mr. Husband and I have fought about for a very long time. I thought we had resolved the battle last year, but it seems to have come back to life again this holiday season. It is of the utmost of importance that we come to an agreement on the issue, because the fighting is seriously getting ridiculous.
One of us is under the impression that Santa wraps his gifts and the other one of us thinks that Santa does not wrap his gifts.
I'm not saying which one of us believes what because I do not want to sway you into knowing which one of us is right. Yes, only one of us can be right. It's vital to the serenity in our marriage. (I know I have had this discussion with some of you before, so do me a favor and don't hint to what you know about who is on which side, mmkay?)
The argument is as follows:
Person A, who says YES Santa wraps gifts, is of the opinion that part of the fun of presents is opening them. He or she believes that Santa makes sure that toys are taken out of their packages as necessary, but that he then finds the perfect box for them so he can wrap them in paper that CLEARLY did not come from House 'o Burgh Baby. Person A says that Santa is magical and can instantly wrap even the oddest of shapes, although his wrapping skills are not quite on the level of Martha Stewart.
Person B, who says NO Santa does not wrap, believes that since Santa and his elves make all of the gifts, they never make it to the assembly line where they are packaged as if a national secret is dependent on that Little Person not shifting so much as a quarter inch to the left. Person B maintains that Santa doesn't have time to wrap, so he leaves the gifts fully assembled around the base of the Christmas tree.
So, prove I'm right, please and thank you.
(If you are using a feed reader, please click over for a poll.)
Thank you for participating in this VITAL DISCUSSION.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Reader Comments (84)
Not wrap presents? Unless it is a bike or huge doll house and therefore impossible to wrap it must be covered in paper. (And if too big to wrap then it needs a bow.)
I voted before I read, so as not to sway my decision. I love that Santa wraps, making all of Christmas mysterious and wonderful. But Santa does NOT wrap while watching Kill Bill.
With little ones it's far more fun to watch them unwrap things.
If Santa didn't wrap, Christmas morning would be over much too quickly!
(Last night, my son caught me wrapping gifts. Thankfully I was wrapping stuff for his cousins, and thankfully the wrap I plan to use for my own kids was out of site. However, he did see the big bag of bows. And, he did ask what kind of bows Santa uses...to which the only answer is, "These same ones, Santa has to buy bows too.")
BTW, thank you for the steelcitychristmas.com link - my kids are amazed. I doubt we'll make it over to see the real thing.
Fellow Burgher.
Oh yes, Santa wraps those presents! I do remember my parents not wrapping the Santa presents when I was little, though. They just magically appeared under the tree and were there on Christmas morning - unwrapped. Later on I figured that it was because my parents were lazy. Heh.
I always wrapped the presents for the kids, though, in paper that wasn't like everything else in the house. Heretofore known as the "Santa paper".
Meg is adorable in her red sweater. Did you make it?
Peace - D
Well technically the elves wrap the presents.
Our Santa has always wrapped in the same fashion as Person A proposes. HOWEVER... I wish our Santa didn't wrap. Such a pain to remember that Santa's wrapping paper is DIFFERENT. But since he's been wrapping from day one... it's how it's done.
I can tell you right now, "Santa" ain't wrappin' the huge Little Tykes kitchen that my boys (yes my boys love to pretend cook, so what?) are getting from "him" this year. No way. No how.
The elves TOTALLY wrap! And then Santa mysteriously has the same handwriting as one of your parents.
But, seriously, unwrapping is 90% of the fun on Christmas morning, so I say, the more wrapping, the better.
First of all..I never knew this was a question until I met my husband who believes that Santa doesn't wrap AND puts together the darn toy beforehand....HELLLLOOOO...Santa wraps in special SANTA paper and writes in Santa's special handwriting on the tags. What fun is a present if you don't get to unwrap it? Santa wraps. End of argument. As it was in our house. Santa wraps doggonnit!
I was just having this discussion with some friends last night. How ironic. Santa definitely wraps. I think watching kids unwrap the gifts is half of the fun.
Santa wraps all the gifts he leaves here. Unless it's something big like a bike, then he just puts a big bow on it.
No, Santa does not wrap gifts. He puts them together, but does not wrap. Wrapping is for presents under the tree from family and friends. That is when it is fun to watch the unwrapping...with an audience and it makes child appreciate gift (from family member) more.
If Santa did not wrap presents the kids would see them all before we got up. Mine would always sneak a look and a feel and try to work out what was inside. Wrapping makes the experience last longer too.
There are some disadvantages
- wrapping them is soo boring
- If you use the same sort of wrapping paper for each the presents can easily get mixed up. This happened one year in our house. Daughter got her brother's presents and vice versa. I was feeling really bad about it when they were saying how great the presents were when I knew they were not meant to be for them. For the obviously wrong ones I suggested they swap, which they gladly did.
It was not until a few years later that they told me they had swapped the presents over themselves and by that time they had realised who the true Santa was. Little rats.
@Sublimely--I wish I had thought of that scheme the year I figured out who Santa's main helper was. I saw my Mom buy the Snoopy electric toothbrush, knew I didn't want it, and then it was under the tree from Santa. I would have MUCH rather have had the gumball machine my brother got.
Totally just not realizing the irony that my Mom gave me a toothbrush while she gave my brother tooth-rotting sugar. Huh.
Santa doesn't wrap in my house. Didn't when I was little and doesn't now. There was always something so exciting about that first glimpse of all our loot.
I wrap everything. Even stuff in the stockings. I don't care if it's odd-shaped. It's Christmas and they make paper especially for wrapping!
Santa wrapped in red tissue paper for me, green for my brother. If it was a joint gift it was wrapped in half green, half red paper. Things too big to wrap were stuck in a ginormous gift bag that is still in use today 30 years later. I think my mom got her $1.50 worth out of that bag!
Silly question. Everyone knows that Mrs. Claus wraps the gifts!
Funny. My Mom & I have this argument every year. When we were kids Santa did not wrap our gifts. But now that I am Santa, we wrap each and every one and I never hear the end of it. LOL
Of course Santa wraps his gifts! Haven't you seen all the movies, books and other pics of Santa with his bag of toys? They are always wrapped. Except for some big items like wagons and bikes, which get a ribbon.
End. of. story.
Oh yes, stockings. My family pokes fun of me for wrapping all the stocking stuffers (ALL OF THEM((ok well not chocolate bars, but thats it))). But the fun of dumping out the stocking and unwrapping each little morsel is nearly as much fun as the entire tree worth of stuff. And its fun because they always know the long skinny thing is a toothbrush (except when its not) and the cushy things are socks (or maybe a gift card wrapped in a sock??))
Oh man, oh man, I LOVE CHRISTMAS. IS IT CHRISTMAS YET?????
(and I wouldn't trade being up til 2 a.m. lovingly wrapping every present and perfectly composing the tree and the stockings for an army of willing helpers!!)
We have the same argument in my house! My Santa wrapped EVERYTHING. Apparently, my husband had a very different Santa who didn't wrap a thing! We've compromised so that all weird shaped stuff can be unwrapped other than that, it is getting wrapped. I thought that was the point!
My favorite part of Christmas is wrapping gifts.
We have the same disagreement here. Santa wraps...I know it.
Wow...her drool speaks volumes doesn't it? *LAUGH*
K sounds to me like Mr Husband is Person B and you are A. Person A got first dibs with lots of explanation while B got a quick few sentences. I could be wrong of course.
I digress...Santa never wrapped my 92 year old Gramma's gifts and he left them ON the Christmas tree.
Santa ALWAYS wrapped my gifts and I didn't care a hoot that they were wrapped. I didn't think it wasn't Santa-like to have them wrapped. Although nowhere do you ever see any Santa in Santa lore pulling wrapped toys from his sack. Tell me I'm wrong!
What always made me scratch my little kid head was that on the tag the, From: "Santa", was written suspiciously in my mom's handwriting and there would be tags in the gift that had store names on them. Like Sears. Poor little me wanted to believe so badly that I just shoved the obvious proof of Santa's lack of existence aside and trudged on believing.
I think wrapped or not, she'll enjoy the gifts just as much. If you want to be all technical about it, then no, Santa indeed does NOT wrap his gifts.
It would environmentally unfriendly - downright irresponsible seeing how it would place his entire workshop in peril from the negative effects of tree cutting and landfill filling *snort*
hope you two work it out *L*
This is not even a debate. Santa wraps. Period.
Love that you caught the drool in suspension.
Frick! 77 comments? yay you! Um, kay so growing up - our Santa did not wrap gifts. When I got married - as "santa" we did wrap gifts. I believe as MOM, your vote is the only one that counts. Because everyone know it is Mom's job to create family traditions. Everyone else is supposed to go along with you on that :)
Oh, and your doggie is so cute!
@Karen--Actually, I think that is her rabies tag, not drool. Meg was sort of, almost, kind of drool-free at that moment.
Oh, you are too funny.
Presents are made to be opened. But then again... this is your turn to make your own traditions. No?
I voted yes, but it should be a maybe because sometimes (like a bike) Santa only puts a big bow with his face on it; no wrapping necessary.
I can't say that 'Santa' has ever taken items out of their original packaging and ever repackaged them in a new box and THEN wrapped them. heck, 'Santa' doesn't even box sweaters in this house. But yes, Santa wraps, unless it's not cost-effective and ergonomically-sound to wrap.
P.S. I hope you win by a landslide.
Bwahahahaha. I'm not sure which fact I love more: the fact that this is a MM sweater, or the fact that Meg and Alexis have matching ones. :)
Since I am sure that you, like me, does most (read: all) of the holiday decorating and wrapping, I would say Santa only wraps when he has time or help from the husband.