Untrue to form...

but probably because there was nothing else to do on this lazy day, Husband and I decided to finalize the present event to come. That involves last minute wrapping and counting to make sure no one slipped through the cracks. Which is always an unfortunate thing to discover on Christmas morning.

This has happened to me before. To realize as a child is opening a present that something is not quite right, that something is missing. It's worse than the whole, "Did I leave the iron on?" discussion in the car once 2.5 hours away. This has never happened intentionally but is part of my penchant to buy something earlier in the year and hide it so well that it is never found again. Virtually.

About five years ago, the boys were playing in the basement when one of them came upstairs and asked if they could open up some old packing boxes. I consented. Twenty minutes later they all came storming upstairs excitedly exclaiming that they had found "Treasure!" Since they were heavy into their pirate phase, I didn't think much about it until they asked if they could play with the treasure. I went downstairs to investigate and discovered that they had found an entire box of purchased Christmas presents from two years previous so well hidden that they had "never" been found. Or even missed apparently.

Until mid-June. Two years later. The upside to the treasure finding was all the cool mom points I received that day.

So here we are today and the count came in just right. The boys are allowed to ask for three to five items, with the understanding that Mom and Dad pick which three they will receive. Extras and stocking stuffers are also up to parental discretion and get wrapped right along with the regular stuff. We may purposely keep Christmas simple, but we like wrapping everything.

Which honestly doesn't make sense because Husband and I, after today's work, are convinced we hold the #1 and #2 spots for World's Worst Wrappers. It won't matter on Saturday though.