Every Christmas, my wife Nancy and I go above and beyond when it comes to getting gifts for the grandkids.
It IS in the Grandparents Handbook to do so after all.
However, Chris and Zach believe in Santa, so when we bring them over to their house on Christmas morning, we tell them Santa has occasional memory problems or something like that, and he drops off presents for them at Donnie (Nancy) and Popsie's (me) house in addition to theirs. Who knows, maybe we leave better snacks for him and the reindeer.
As the boys get older, and since they are at our place a lot, it's getting harder to safely hide the presents until Christmas Day.
Whether it's Christmas or not, they case the house like bank robbers looking for loot of any kind.
It's one thing to creatively hide the presents, but we also have to hide any wrapping paper etc, in the event they find out Santa uses the same stuff as Donnie and Popsie.
We're running out of places to stash this stuff that they potentially could find. After all, it's tough to keep your eye on two small kids, especially when it's only one of us, and they "tag team" up, where one distracts the grandparent while the other scopes out the joint, searching for the goods.
Without saying where the stuff is (let's just say a "secure location"), the odds are becoming greater against us that Chris and Zach might find something before the 25th.
No good with the attic, there's no place up there to hide stuff.
Basement won't work, they're down there a lot ( and I learned my lesson when they found my comic book stash that I'm keeping for them to have after I...uh....let's just say "down the line").
Closets won't work, all of our other crap is there.
I've thought about the shed in the back yard, but if we have a major blizzard before Christmas I might not be able to get to the presents and the day is ruined.
We've considered storage sheds away from the house, but we're.. I mean I'm cheap and don't want to spend a lot of money.
In the end, all should be well, and they'll be happy with whatever they get, and their parents will be mad at "Santa" for getting them so much...especially (potentially) more than Mom and Dad!
Again, it's all clear in the Grandpar....um...the Santa Handbook.
Honestly though, speaking for myself, I'll be happy when they get old enough to just give them cash.
Or, as my father in law used to do, grocery store gift cards all around.
God Bless us every one...
now enjoy the extra ten cents off a gallon for every fifty spent.
Mike Patrick
