Have you ever secretly opened a Christmas present to see what you got?
Have you ever secretly opened a Christmas present to see what you got and then carfully taped it back together? I did this one year for a few of my presents that I knew were games.
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I found my N64 in my parent's closet in 1999, and managed to unwrap/re-wrap it with zero suspicion. This carried over nearly 20 years later when I found out my mom got me Pokemon Moon (saw it hiding last week)
I had spotted it on the shelf when we were in there the first time and I was pretty exciting about it. I couldn't help but assume he had nabbed it. Come Christmas time, the Lego set never came. Come to find out, my Dad hadn't intended on grabbing that, but he did notice that it was gone when we came back in, and he laughed and said something like, "You thought you were gonna get that shark Lego set, didn't you?"
When my brother and I were little, we opened some Christmas presents in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve. I got some He-Man stuff. Parents woke up and were furious, threatened to take it all back, scared us out of ever trying it again.
I woke up yesterday to my son standing next to me holding up one of his presents yelling: "Play-doh GARBAGE TRUCK!" He's been a bit confused as to when CHristmas is actually going to happen. XD
I took it away and hid it. Poor guy was crying but I think he get's the point now that he's not suppose to touch the gifts.
When my brother and I were little, we opened some Christmas presents in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve. I got some He-Man stuff. Parents woke up and were furious, threatened to take it all back, scared us out of ever trying it again.
I woke up yesterday to my son standing next to me holding up one of his presents yelling: "Play-doh GARBAGE TRUCK!" He's been a bit confused as to when CHristmas is actually going to happen. XD
I took it away and hid it. Poor guy was crying but I think he get's the point now that he's not suppose to touch the gifts.
xD
My kids have yet to try something, but I'm keeping a close eye on my 2 year-old. He likes mischief.
Edit: Actually, I also remember a few years ago my wife bought me a lightsaber. It was just a big thin box from thinkgeek sitting by the door so I opened it up while she was at work. Taped it back together afterwards. It was cool but then I felt like I had cheated myself because it would have been a cool surprise.
I haven't even done anything like that for myself though.
Panicked, I looked at the clock. It was just after 5 o'clock. If I hurried, I might just be able to pull off a save. I asked my dad if he'd take me out to go pick up a last minute gift I'd just thought about. He agreed, but asked me to go ahead and call wherever we were going to make sure they'd actually be open since it was Christmas Eve. I obediently went to their bedroom (the furthest I could get away from everyone but still have access to a phone) and started making calls. The local mall, K-Mart, Hills...no answer, despite letting the call ring all the way out to a busy signal. Twice. As a last ditch, with it being the furthest away from the house (and least likely to be reached before "standard" 6:00 PM closing time), I called Walmart. The phone rang once, twice, three times...oh no...four times...crap...fiv..."Thank you for calling Walmart, how can I help you?" Success! I quickly asked the person who answered the phone if they were still open and if so, what their hours were. The person who answered the phone apologized and advised that the store had closed at 5:00 PM and that I was speaking with the security team who was watching the store overnight. They let me know that the store would reopen at 7:00 AM the day after Christmas and to have a great holiday.
DOOM.
I walked back out to the living room to let my dad know that I no longer needed a ride and started to slink back to my room when I noticed that my aunt had broken out the presents that she'd travelled down to visit us with and was piling them up in the corner so that they could be placed under the tree once it was put up. For those unfamiliar with such an idea, it was my family's tradition to not put up or decorate the tree until Christmas Eve. As we got older and our lives busier, the tradition continued, but got later and later as time went on. By the time I was dating my wife, it was normal to be watching the Pope give Midnight Mass. My aunt saw me eyeing the growing stack of gifts and joked with me about how I wasn't to come near that stack until morning. I told her that I was content to wait, that I was in the process of getting everything I had stashed away wrapped up and started back off to my room. She followed, took a look at my efforts and asked what I'd gotten everyone. Not wanting to spoil any surprises by anyone wandering by my room unannounced, I told her she'd have to guess. She did a decent job, then, when we ran out of gifts, asked what I'd gotten my mother, since it wasn't present. I lied my ass off. I told her that it was something she'd really like (lie), that it was something special (lie), and that it hadn't been wrapped yet (true). My aunt laughed, then invited me back to the living room to do the same for the gifts she'd brought that weren't mine.
I went through the pile and did reasonably well, then came to the box for my mother. I picked it up, shook it gently, and, hearing all sorts of different noises, had no idea what was inside. My aunt, grinning from ear to ear at my confusion, went ahead and told me that she'd bought my mother *multiple* small gifts and just wrapped them together in one box. Dinner was ready about that time, so my aunt and I went into the kitchen to sit down with everybody, eat, converse, etc. Seeing as my mom so rarely got to see her sister, the two of them dominated the conversation that night and nobody noticed the fact that I said virtually nothing during the meal. I was pretty thoroughly lost in thought. Scheming.
The rest of the night went down as such things do and, once we finally got the tree up and decorated, everybody retired to their respective rooms to sleep. My aunt ended up sleeping on the pull out bed that was folded up in our couch in the living room...right next to the tree. Well, after I laid awake for a couple of hours, listening to everyone settle in for the night and eventually stop moving and drift off to sleep, I made my move. I'd been sneaking out of my room since I was 5-6 to watch late night TV long after I was supposed to be in bed, so I had every squeak in the floor between my bedroom and the living room memorized. A few steps later, I found visual evidence to what my ears had already told me. My aunt was rolled toward the front of the house, dead asleep, snoring as if she were trying to wake up the neighbors two houses away, her back to me and, most conveniently, the tree and presents. I snuck over quietly, grabbed her gift to my mother, then snuck back to my room. She'd used a wrapping paper that was totally different from anything we had, so I knew I had to be careful. Luck was on my side, though, as she'd not taped the paper to the package when wrapping. After slitting the tape at one end, I was able to easily slide the box out and pop open the tape holding the top shut to see what was inside.
Mice. Easily 2-3 dozen Christmas ornaments of mice. About the time I was born, my mother had seen a Hallmark Christmas ornament of a mouse that she loved and picked it up. Shortly thereafter, she'd seen more that she'd liked and picked them up as well, starting a collection of various mice ornaments, figurines, knick knacks, etc. that persists even today. Seeing these didn't surprise me, but the sheer quantity that my aunt had managed to fit within the box filled me with hope. I hoped that my aunt wouldn't notice a single ornament missing and, if she did, would be discreet enough to not call attention to the fact that her box was missing one which managed to show up "from me" until she got me alone somewhere to berate me for my audacity. More luck was with me. As it turned out, where my aunt had been shopping for the ornaments within for months, she'd managed to pick up a duplicate--and one that my mother would absolutely love! As there were nowhere near one another in the box, I figured there was minimal chance that my aunt even realized she'd bought a duplicate and that, even if she did, discretion would be my friend. I quickly yanked the duplicate out, put everything back exactly as it had been otherwise, successfully got the box resealed, back in its wrapping paper shell and the wrapping paper re-taped without a new wrinkle or tear to show for it. Knowing that my luck wouldn't hold out forever, I quickly wrapped my repurposed present, boldly put my own name on it, snuck everything back under the tree and slunk back to my room to try to get some sleep before getting up to see how my gamble would go.
If you've read this far and are wondering how everything turned out...I'm still here, aren't I? My aunt never noticed a thing, my mother was thrilled at the mouse that "I'd" gotten her (and never noticed for several years that she had a duplicate), and I never, ever, forgot to buy my mother a Christmas present ever again. Here's hoping I don't catch my son up to such shenanigans in the comparatively near future.
No I never did, but I do remember one time before Christmas, shopping with my Dad and he made me leave the store so he could buy a Christmas present. Then we came back in to do our normal shopping and I noticed this was no longer on the shelf.
I had spotted it on the shelf when we were in there the first time and I was pretty exciting about it. I couldn't help but assume he had nabbed it. Come Christmas time, the Lego set never came. Come to find out, my Dad hadn't intended on grabbing that, but he did notice that it was gone when we came back in, and he laughed and said something like, "You thought you were gonna get that shark Lego set, didn't you?"
Ha, the fake-out. Nice. I basically am posting to say I had that exact same Lego set and loved it. Thanks for the reminder!
We peeked through slots to read the numbers on the package and cross-referenced it with our Lego catalog to confirm: Yep. That was it. I found it really hard to fake my surprise that Christmas.
Of course now I'm going to look! We had a minivan so I just had to peer over the back seats, and for some reason he followed A Christmas Story and got me the 50th edition of the BB gun from that movie. No, I didn't shoot my eye out, but I did end up getting all 10's on the target when I finally got to try it out. I've also gone down with my brother before everyone was awake and tear off a corner, shake up the present, etc.
And who hasn't gone through their stockings, you get to see all the candies and small presents without the risk of being caught!