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SeaStar
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| Posted: Dec 27 2011 at 6:57am | IP Logged
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A friend of mine mentioned that in her family, gifts from Santa are never wrapped. They are taken out of the package and simply placed under the tree with a tag.
I had a couple of presents this year that would have been difficult to wrap, so I tried this. Worked great! The kids thought it was great fun, and I saved myself the time and wrapping paper it would have taken to wrap these.
I am thinking that I might have found a new tradition at my house...
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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Bridget
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| Posted: Dec 27 2011 at 7:43am | IP Logged
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We usually have one unwrapped gift per child under the tree. As you said, a toy that is hard to wrap. It has a certain old world charm. A wagon, sled, stuffed animals... 
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Bridget, happily married to Kevin, mom to 8 on earth and a small army in heaven
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stellamaris
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| Posted: Dec 27 2011 at 7:53am | IP Logged
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We've always done this. We put the unwrapped presents under the tree, but the tree itself is "wrapped"...we tape wrapping paper to the door of the room the tree is in. When we are in Virginia, we have double French doors into our living room which we tie together with ribbon. Here in Delaware, we just have a big opening between the sunroom and the dining/living area. We covered it with wrapping paper taped across and left the slider to the outside unlocked. The kids could NOT figure out how Santa got those presents in there! Even the ones who are in on the "secret"! 
The reason we hide the tree is so the children will take their time opening their stockings and we can get at least one cup of java in our systems! 
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Caroline
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SeaStar
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| Posted: Dec 27 2011 at 9:03am | IP Logged
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I can't think why I have never done this before, but I'm glad to know I am in good company. It does have a certain charm.
I had never thought of wrapping the tree, either. Fun!
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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MaryM
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| Posted: Dec 27 2011 at 9:50am | IP Logged
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Our Santa gifts are never wrapped either - but they are not put under the tree. Ours are left with the stockings on the fireplace hearth. Our Santa gifts were never wrapped when I was growing up, always thought that was the way to do it. 
Hope everyone had a great Christmas weekend.
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Mackfam
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Merry Christmas everyone!!
Santa leaves gifts unwrapped here also. All gifts are removed from any packaging, and displayed in little vignette-like ways under the tree, one display for each child.
This is how I grew up. Santa never wrapped gifts, but as children, when we awoke on Christmas morning, we would find a little display of the gifts Santa left. It wasn't anything big, we never received a ton of stuff, but the gift was always set up, and any accessories were there surrounding it, and there was usually a book or two propped nearby as well.
Gifts were (and still are) arranged under or near the tree. Each child gets a special area.
And I have been assured that Santa's helpers REALLY appreciate being spared the additional job of wrapping Santa's gifts!
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Jen Mackintosh
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: Dec 27 2011 at 10:11am | IP Logged
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I did that with the sleds as well as the new king sized pillows for mom and dad. Other things like books were wrapped.
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Lindsay
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Grace&Chaos
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| Posted: Dec 27 2011 at 10:14am | IP Logged
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I love hearing about new tradtions. This sounds so wonderful.
It would have been very helpful this weekend...there were a few gifts from Santa that I just couldn't figure out how to wrap.  They ended up in big gift bags and it just didn't seem too cute to pull Santa's gift out of a bag 
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!
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JennGM
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Santa leaves unwrapped gifts here, too. A friend's family went to great lengths to ensure that Santa wrapping paper was never used for the other gifts. I thought it was too complicated, and then one year the Santa wrapping paper was used the next year and the child noticed it. So that sealed the deal for me to keep unwrapped.
My least favorite task is to wrap gifts. And I dislike buying it and cleaning it all up. But it was a joyful event seeing our 4 year old tear into the packages with glee and with happy shouts! I still want fabric bags but those moments would be missed.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Erica Sanchez
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| Posted: Dec 28 2011 at 5:17pm | IP Logged
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We have separate paper for our Santa gifts (1 gift for each child) and it most always has a picture(s) of Santa on it. We try really hard to keep it hidden if there is even any left.
For my whole married w/ children life, we've repeated the sequence that I grew up with - wake up, stockings, Mass, breakfast, presents. I guess I thought that if we had unwrapped gifts, it would be such a temptation to play with them and then we'd be last for Mass. :)
I do love the idea, though. This year our oldest sang at the midnight Mass and our second dd at the later morning Mass. We were all out of sorts as far as gift opening, but they were indeed opened even if it is was nearly 1:00 p.m. by the time we finished.
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Betsy
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JennGM wrote:
| I still want fabric bags but those moments would be missed. |
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I use all fabric bags....the fun and excitement is still there!
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lapazfarm
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We wrap all that we can. And we do the special Santa paper as well. However, there are always a few unruly gifts that defy wrapping, so those just get a name tag and are left unwrapped.
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Theresa
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MNMommy
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Betsy wrote:
JennGM wrote:
| I still want fabric bags but those moments would be missed. |
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I use all fabric bags....the fun and excitement is still there! |
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We use fabric bags too  , and we still have all the fun and excitement. Each dc has their own fabric pattern. I my fabric bags.
Santa leaves unwrapped gifts, but those are family or parent gifts. This year he put candy canes on the tree, and he hid some gifts in the tree too.
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Jennifer
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Claire F
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We keep gifts unwrapped that would be difficult to wrap as well. My boys each got a stuffed animal that was put under the tree, unwrapped with just a bow on top of the head (which is where it seemed to stay the best). My daughter got a castle doll house as her large gift and it looked so magical under the tree, we decided not to wrap it. The look on her face when she came downstairs was so great. She's only two, but she saw it right away and gasped, "Castle!" in her little two year old speak. :)
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Claire
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Topic: Unwrapped gifts under the tree
