Guess the gifts

When I was a kid, my brother and I were terrible about finding out what our gifts were before Christmas. My mother had a habit of taking a Sunday afternoon nap, so while she was sleeping, we would open the presents under the tree to see what we were getting. She did figure it out one time and threatened to take the present she knew I had opened back to the store, but she didn't. And I'm not sure if before this exact moment while she is reading this post, if she knows that we were repeat offenders....several years in a row.

A few years ago, I instituted the code system of labeling gifts at our house, just to help keep the kids from temptation. You know..not passing the sins of the parents on to the next generation and all. Every year I come up with a new code just to make it a little more difficult. This year it's numbers...5, 20, 22, and 30. These are not random numbers; there is a method to the madness but I can't explain it to you now. My children read this blog, mainly to make sure I'm not telling anything embarrassing about them. Believe me, this blog would be hilarious if I didn't have any kid-imposed restrictions.

I put the first presents under the tree a few nights ago and guess who's giving me the most trouble? Alyssa--the oldest! She tried to convince me that she's responsible and can handle the knowledge of the 'code', but I refused to give in. Then she started trying to guess the different ways I could have assigned those numbers. I accused her of acting like she was 2 while I laughed at her and her curiosity. This may be more fun than the actual giving of the presents!

What about you? Did you peek at your presents when you were a kid?