Friday, December 24, 2010

This year, it's breakfast foods.

Several years back I got really frustrated with my kids because they all guessed every one of their presents under the tree. It took all of the fun out of it for me. I love the giving and anticipation of gifts. I was whining  having a spirited discussion about the problem with my niece, Shirley. She asked me why I didn't just not put their names on the gifts. "Okay, well I have five kids," I said sarcastically, "how in the world am I going to know which gift goes to who if I don't put their names on them?" Duh, Shirls. This is where my lack of imagination shows and hers shines. She suggested that I think of a theme and use those names. It was brilliant. I think that first year I used colors, the next year was mens names like, George, Fred, Pete, ect. One year was kinds of trees, another it was types of beans, another it was random numbers. This year it is breakfast foods. I think I was hungry for breakfast when I started wrapping the first of the gifts. We have Toast, Bacon, Eggs, Hashbrowns and Pancakes. When we have guests over that don't know about our tradition they always notice that we have weird names on the gifts and look at me like I am loopy. I suppose they could be right about that. Our tradition has become a lot of fun for me. Every year I listen to the kids guess who they think they are. They always try and apply logic to it, which cracks me up because it is totally random. For example, the color year; "Well I think I am blue because mom knows how much I love the color blue." The mens name year; "I think I am Pete because I used to have a canary named Petrie and they both start with the letter P." I get a ton of joy out of listening to these conversations. We also added to this tradition by having everyone write down their guesses and on Christmas Eve I reveal the person who is closest to having them all correct and they get to open the first gift. What are your unique family traditions?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a great idea! My mom was wrapping all of our presents last night. We do Secret Santa every year, all our names go in a bucket or hat or something, we have until Christmas to buy them something $10 or under. We usually open them on Christmas, but we opened them last night for a change.
Merry Christmas and Goaty Kissees!!

Tonia said...

LOL thats great! I wrap each kid's present in different wrapping paper. No names IF I get to wrapping before Christmas eve!! However I usually end up wrapping Christmas eve night...
Merry Christmas!

Lisa Holman of XSBaggage and Co. said...

What a fun idea Shannon! Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Jennifer said...

What a great idea, I bet those are some fun conversations! Merry Christmas to you and your family.

SWiggins said...

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas!

Blondee said...

What a fun way to make the guessing harder!!! I love it!

I put your money soap in the stockings this year. The kids LOVE it and are convinced they need to shower a few times a day (God forbid that 100$ bill surface for someone OTHER than them!) lol What fun for them!!