The radio show I listen to in the morning was mentioning a survey done that says 20% of all women snoop around trying to find their Christmas presents during the holidays. I don’t do that as an adult because we usually agree on a big present together for both of us. This year? It was a new TV. Last year? It was the baby. I still haven’t decided which I like better because the baby poops and the TV doesn’t.
But as a kid…that’s a different story. I was the one who tried and tried to figure out what I was going to get every year. I examined wrapped boxes, looked for clues, snooped…the whole nine yards. But oddly enough, on the years I figured a few presents out? Christmas always was kinda sucky because the surprise was gone. Did that stop me from trying to figure out the next year? No. Of course not.
This has always bothered MrZ because he’s the exact opposite. He doesn’t even want a hint about what you’re getting him. He doesn’t even want to ask for things specifically because then he’ll have an idea as to what you might get him. He doesn’t even want to see wrapped boxes. He wants every bit of it to be a giant surprise. Which is really difficult because not only do I like to ruin surprises for myself, I also like to ruin surprises for other people. I can NOT keep a present secret. If I have it in my hands early, I will try my best to find an excuse to give it to you early. MrZ is always like, “No! Get that away from me!” and I’m all, “But I have a disease that will cause me to die if you don’t open it now! OPEN IT!”
It’s fun at our house during the holidays, can you tell?
LilZ is more like MrZ. He pretty much knows where to look if he wanted to find presents, but he doesn’t because he likes the surprise. Now, if I tried to give him a present early he’s not going to stop me – he’s not that crazy, but he won’t go snooping around. But, just in case a part of my genetics creeps out this time of year, I try to hide the exciting stuff somewhere he doesn’t know about.
What type of gift giver/receiver are you? Are you snooping RIGHT NOW? You are, aren’t you? What did you find? Come on…you can tell me!
Totally a peeker… and a surprise ruiner. Can we start a club? Last year I made (MADE) my husband open his gifts a FULL WEEK EARLY because they were just THAT good. It’s an illness I tell ya.
The husband? He’s somewhere between LilZ and MrZ. Wants the surprise but will open gifts early with a LOT of poking, proding and cajoling.
oh yeah, I’ve never written to you but I’ve been reading your site at work now since at least September (at least I think that’s when it was).
I don’t snoop. I can’t, I live away from my family so I don’t even SEE the presents until I get to the house, then it drives me crazy, seeing all those pretty wrapped packages, so I will of course be snooping under the tree trying to see what is in each of my boxes. I am not as bad as one of my friends who will unwrap the presents then wrap them back up. Do you do that too??
I’m a big, fat, SNOOP!! Now we mostly decide ahead what we’re going to buy together so there’s no snooping! heh
I’m a total snooper. I HATE surprised. HATE. It drives my family insane because I like to surprise them but practically forbid them to even try to surprise me. Its to the point know where I’ll buy my own gifts, and let the hub wrap them and act surprised for the kids.
Its better than pretending to be excited over a sweater with an elastic waist that my grandmother might wear. Or a toilet seat with lighthouses on it. (that was an actual gift).
I LOVE surprises, but it still doesn’t stop me from poking and shaking every box of mine under the tree..until my husband finds me, that is. I think, this year, that I’m getting a new digital! Why? He had the UPS deliver it here and then said “DON’T LOOK AT IT! Unless it’s outside, then you can bring it in, but shut your eyes while you’re doing it!” So, in trying to do as he asked, I kept my eyes off the return address label and looked at the bottom of the box…
Where I saw the word KODAK and a bunch of numbers…heh…
That, AND he suddenly knows what a hotshoe flash is…hmmmm…
So funny you wrote about this, as this is an argument EVERY Christmas. I don’t want to know ANYTHING about what’s being given to me.. that’s half the fun! Bryan, my husband, is the polar opposite; not only does he want to know what he’s getting, he has to tell me what he’s gotten me! Which really, really sucks because he’s SO good at presents.. and I love the surprise.
Ah, well. He’s trainable, I suppose.
I’m kinda like MrZ. I don’t want to know. One year, while hiding a gift for my dh, I stumbled on and unwrapped gift for me. It was unwrapped because it was big and he planned to just pull it from it’s hiding place. Which was exactly my plan for his large sized unwrapped gift. It was a TOTAL bummer and I totally hope I feigned surprise well (because the gift was a TOTAL surprise!) but I still wonder. My in-laws make me give them a list and I hate it because the surprise is gone. It’s “Oh! You got me that.. thank you!” And then they say “Well, you did ask for it.” and I say “Well yeah.. but you didn’t have to get it..” (trying to preserve some of the surprise) and then there’s that awkward silence until someone asks if someone needs more coffee and we move on. Nah.. I prefer the surprise.
But I have a hard time keeping secrets. I’m the same as you in that, if I have a gift for dh, I can hardly contain myself. I want him to open it and be awed as soon as possible!
I’m in the MrZ camp. I have never, ever in my life snooped for a present, because I love surprises. It sort of sucks though, because one half of my family is big on the Christmas list thing so I end up knowing half of the stuff I get. I’ve discovered that the trick is really to make the list very long so I’m still a little surprised by which few things I get off of it.
This is the first holiday season together for my boyfriend and me, and he’s sort of stuck on what to get me, so he keeps asking me for suggestions. Because I don’t want to know what I’m getting, I won’t give him any. He keeps coming up with ideas and I tell him that if he lets it slip what he’s getting me, then he has to get me that AND a surprise, otherwise he’s sucked all the fun out of it. (Ahh, wouldn’t you just love to date me?)
I almost always ruin the surprise for other people…I get so excited about what I’m giving them, that I can’t help but either drop a hint or make a big deal about what they are getting to the point where I annoy the crap out of them. This year, I picked out a present (tickets to a musical) for my best friend and asked him if he even wanted them so he knew what his present was back in October.
Yeah, I just gave my fiance his present last week. I just could not wait to see how much he liked it. I suck at the whole waiting til Christmas thing, obviously.
I used to be a crazy snooper when I was a kid. One year I stumbled on a way cool strawberry shortcake house and then had to pretend I didn’t know about it. Kinda took the fun out of it. Now I don’t want to know what I am getting, but I like hints. Then I can hope and wonder what is.
We TORTURE each other with the presents. We have had things under the tree since the day after Thanksgiving and every day is the same – picking up the boxes, shaking them, smelling them, begging for clues, and guessing what’s in them.
I don’t really want to know… because that ruins the surprise, but I still can’t completely squash the urge to snoop.
I am MrZ in this scenario, and my husband is Miss Zoot. I have to keep my husband’s presents at my office or at the homes of friends or relatives so that my husband doesn’t open them before Christmas. And my husband will BEG me to open my presents as soon as he buys them. Last year, he left my unwrapped present in a bag in the living room for a week, hoping that I would peek, but I didn’t. I want to wait!
I am just. like. you! I always peeked as a kid, more or less ruined the official gift-giving (esp. if the gift I was real excited about went to my sis in the end), but did it again nonetheless, but gave it up as an adult. I’m also an adult-onset “You’d never guess what a great gift I just got for you… Lemme give you a hint.” type person.
This year, I’m doing okay… there’s hope!
I remember one year when my sister and brother decided to find all the presents (with 7 kids there weren’t many hiding places) and open them. They did it carefully so they could re-seal them.
I did not participate. I saw their faces Christmas day when they realized that they had seen everything they received beforehand … so there were no surprises. They were heartily disappointed and never did it again.
I NEVER open my gifts for any occasion beforehand. And I won’t let anyone make me open a gift early. I’m very patient. Even if it’s off a list (like the first one I did ever this year) I won’t open it.
Yep, another one that’s just like you.
I used to always snoop around as a kid. I was pretty bad about it. Not so much as an adult. But I am horrible about other people’s presents.
And we got a baby this year too. A new TV would be nice… (ya know, no pooping and all) but we’ll keep the baby I guess.
I am a complete surprise-ruiner. I have pretty much told my husband exactly what I’m giving him this year. I’m still trying to give him unsolicited clues for the few things he doesn’t know are coming. It’s driving him nuts!
As for me, I can totally wait to find out what I’m getting this year, as it’s all pretty boring… A haircut, a gift certificate for new bras, and a specific book. Although he did say something about diamond earrings.
Hmm…
This is our last quiet Christmas, because I’m guessing my daughter will be more into it next year, at 19 months.
I snoop, but only if I saw the box or have some other impetus… I don’t go around the house looking for hidden presents. My boyfriend is just like Mr.Z though — his birthday was on Dec 4, and I got him a cooking class, which takes place on the 16th. I had a printout of the description that I had wrapped up to give him on his actual bday, and he refused to open it! He knew whatever it was took place on the 16th, because I had to tell him to keep his calendar clear. He refuses to even let me give him a hint. AAAHHH! I NEED TO TELL SOMEONE! I feel better now
I don’t snoop; don’t like to ruin the surprise. Dragging out the anticipation until Christmas Day is half the fun.
Of course, there was that one Christmas where my mom hid our toys in the worst. hiding place. ever. We couldn’t get at the bags our stuff was in, but we could totally see what was inside them. Heh.
OH boy was I a snoop. It started just by shaking the presents and just trying to take a guess and each year it would progess. Once it was looking for them before they were wrapped, next year I carefully unwrapped them and looked and then wrapped them back.
One thing was always the same. On Christmas morning I didn’t even want to get out of bed early because I already knew. I ruined it for myself but I have always felt bad for ruining it for my parents. I don’t like to know anymore and won’t accept a gift early. I guess I am trying to make up lost time!
I used to peek every year. My mom used to keep presents in the bottom of her wedding dress bag in the basement closet. One year she got me that dog who had the nursing puppy attached to it which I now find repulsive. For some reason I never got it. It just didn’t appear under the Christmas tree. I never knew why I never got it, but assume that I really ticked my mom off.
I also never got my Wilson Phillips tape one year that I had begged for. I didn’t say anything about that one either and later (try 3 years later) found out why I didn’t get it when I found it hidden in a shoe box in my mom’s closet.
I have to know everything about, well everything, so people I have lived with over the years (parents, roomates, boyfriends) have actually resorted to hiding things in other people’s houses to keep me from finding them. Yeah, that bad.
I am by no means a snooper, BUT, with that said. I was in Zane’s office yesterday getting photo paper out of the closet and low and behold there was a gift for me. He really needs to hide things better. Actually, I don’t even think what he did could be considered hiding – it was just sitting there, on the shelf!
i’m a snooper.. even if i don’t find the actual gift, i will go through receipts. i’ve ruined my surprise this year, and it’s a good one… *ugh* it’s an illness.
I’m not a snooper — I like the element of surprise too much. On Christmas morning I will even wait to open the most interestingly-shaped gift last.
I’m terrible at keeping secrets from my husband, though. I get so excited once I’ve found the perfect gift for him and it’s all I can do not to go on and on about how much he’s going to love his present to the point where it’s totally obvious what he’s getting.
When I was a kid my mom got so tired of my dad always being able to guess what each and every one of his presents were that she finally made a rule: If you guess what your present is, it goes back to the store. It was and still is something we joke about, but you can be sure that my brother and I NEVER guessed about what our presents were for fear of not getting to keep them.
I love the surprise. Never been a peeker and hopefully never will.
I can’t wait to give gifts either. It’s a sickness. Once I buy it I want to give it away right then! I’ve been holding on to my sister’s christmas gift since September and it’s KILLING ME!
But I also like the surprise of not knowing what I’m getting.
When I was a kid we got to open a few presents before Christmas. I never wanted to waste the one or two we got to open, so I would come home after school and unwrap ALL of mine, then carefully rewrap them. (Yes, I was this evil and devious starting around the age of EIGHT!) I was never busted.
I still hate surprises. I like to be able to plan ahead – especially those crappy presents that you really have to work hard to fake a believable “why yes, this is exactly what I wanted” smile while everyone stares at you.
Sure, I would snoop as a kid, but ultimately found it to be disappointing. I’d rather not know, which drives my husband crazy. He buys me a gift, brings it home and wants to give it to me right away.
Surprise me. Absolutely. I was raised by a mother who said ‘I buy gifts for you because it’s fun to give them to you.’ (As an adult I hear, ‘develop no sense of entitlement young child.’ You are not entitled to this stuff.) And then ‘If you spoil my fun in giving it to you by finding it ahead of time, I am taking it back to the store.’ She meant it. We knew it. We did not peek. We were allowed to occasionally lift the box and check it out, but she would deliberately add noisy things, over package, etc. etc. So, we couldn’t figure it out anyway. As an adult, I am relieved my husband has finally learned to (1) wrap the gift and (2) wait until the day to give it to me. I obviously bought in to my mother’s version of things! Not quite as far as Mr Z, though. I will give him a list of things I want. Because I could totally end up with that lighthouse toilet mentioned earlier if I didn’t.
I NEVER snoop. I hate knowing anything, which sucks ’cause my boyfriend is much like you – hes already given me one of my presents. Grrrrrrrr. (Although he claimed it was ’cause he didn’t want to give me something worth twice what hes given the rest of his family in front of them.) I literally have to talk him out of not telling me.
And also, um, I am now called the “Christmas Nazi” because I don’t let anyone open their presents til 1pm to keep the excitement a little longer.
I won’t be able to do that this year ’cause we’re going to his family’s for Christmas.
I don’t think my husband and I have given each other a “surprise” wrapped-under-the-tree gift since our first Christmas. Now, we either buy something together or pick out something for ourselves. I would really like to be surprised. But, my husband is not about the surprises. He has most everybody else’s gifts to him figured out by Christmas anyway.
Not a snooper at all. Did it a couple of times and then lost the edge to do it again. As a child I had hurt feelings about snooping, I saw presents that weren’t mine, and on Christmas I was totally devastated. Never told anyone why I was so sick to my stomach. So now I don’t snoop just incase…
I hate snooping but GAH! I make Matt keep things hidden away or not even tell me he has them because I get sick trying to stay away. I have a secret santa waiting for me 10 feet away and it’s killing me to not look at the post mark on the package but I want to wait until everyone in the group opens them the same day. I always loved waking up and coming down to see the massive pile under the tree… it made it so special. Matt luckily isn’t too crazy like that so I put his things out first, then after I go to bed he puts my stuff under the tree to surprise me.
I love the surprises too much! Well, these days it’s lists which aren’t all that fun but I’ve never been one to snoop. The anticipation is half the fun.
As a child, I used to snoop a bit. However, the one time I actually found the unwrapped gifts totally ruined the surprize just as you stated.
From then on I’ve been a MrZ type. I will open a present early if asked though. ;o)
Have a great holiday!