[email protected]

In a message dated 11/26/2003 10:57:19 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[email protected] writes:
know that I am really new here and I am probably mistaken.
I don't understand however: How is laying gifts out and then
telling them to not open them giving them true freedom? I know that
you aren't telling me to do so, but I would like to know how that
worked for your family. I thought by laying the gifts out and
letting the kids decide to open them or not was giving them the
truest form of freedom and respect. But as you read I am torn b/c I
can foresee 2 very let down children on xmas morning when that tree
has only 1-2 gifts maybe instead of 10-15 or however many I can
afford.
*************
What if you let the kids know that it's important to YOU that you get to
share the opening on Christmas? It's a ritual, and ritual is important.

The other thing: maybe they just like unwrapping gifts. Instead of putting
all the stuff out ahead of time, what if you got lots of small Advent gifts
(candy, little toys, fun socks), wrapped them, and had one opened each day until
Christmas? We use an Advent calendar with chocolate. That's fun. Once we got a
cool (but expensive) Playmobile advent calendar...that was VERY cool.

The other way out of this....they want you to put things out as they're
wrapped. So don't wrap them until the last minute, or, as Sandra said, wrap and put
out boring stuff first. Instead focus on other Christmasy stuff, then
furiously wrap at the last minute.

LOL Because he wasn't in school, Julian was free to believe in Santa until
the last minute...so he did until he was 12, at least officially.
Kathryn


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