Christmas gift stories from when you were a kid
Dec 25, 2016 2:49:20 GMT -5
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Post by Phil Parent on Dec 25, 2016 2:49:20 GMT -5
I'd always try to figure out my gifts.
They'd leave them in their room since we didn't have a christmas tree. And I'd scratch the corners of the wrapping to get a peek at the box inside when they were away.
One year they found out. Because yes, I got away with it a couple times before that. My older brother would do the same, and he'd help me patch the hole or whatever as long as I didn't rat him out. Anyways, one year they found out and they told me that the next year I wouldn't have any gifts.
Sure enough, Christmas season came along the next year and neither me nor my brother had gifts to our names in the pile.
Then Christmas eve came, and my parents told us we didn't have gifts. They swapped gifts and explained to us that honesty was really important and the lesson was more important than gifts. I cried (I was like 10). My brother (15) got mad and said that they could have at least got me something, at least he was old enough to understand. Then my mom sent my brother to our grandparents to go get something.
Once he was out the door, my dad picked something up from the shelf next to the chair where he sat, next to his stereo, and handed me an unwrapped cardboard box. Inside was a black NES cart with 350-In-1 written in red on a sticker with faded blue chinese characters in the background. I had no idea what it was, but I was so excited to 1) have a gift and 2) THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY GAMES IN ONE CART?!?! It was an NES multicart.
I still have it. It had like 40 unique games on it, but wow, 40 games. 3 versions of Tetris, Dr. Mario, Quarth, Magic Jewelry, Puzznic, Adventure Island, Popeye, Sky Destroyer, Formation Z, Legend Of Kage, YIE AR KUNG FU!!!! as well as regular Kung Fu, and also, this little game called Wild Ball. Or rock paper scissors, where a girl would strip if you won. Bet they didn't know that was on there.
My brother came back from our grandparents' with a brand new electric guitar with an amplifier and paid for guitar lessons.
So what's good kids to do the next year? Leave the boxes untouched.
And the year after that? Examine the wrapped gifts, and how they were wrapped. Find the wrapping paper and tape. Unwrap the gift that was most tantalizing (we suspected an SNES, and INDEED, it was a brand spanking new SNES) one week-end when the parents were away with MY ALMOST ADULT BROTHER WAS SUPPOSED TO LOOK AFTER ME AND MAKE SURE I DIDN'T MESS WITH THE GIFTS AND WAS PAID TO DO THIS, get it out of the box, install it on the TV, play Super Mario World, decide we needed MOAR GAMES, used the money my brother got for making sure I didn't do EXACTLY what we were doing, go rent Super Wrestlemania and NHLPA Hockey, play that hell out that, LEAVE THE CONSOLE INSTALLED OVERNIGHT BECAUSE WE DIDN'T BOTHER COVERING OUR ASSES IN CASE THEY CAME HOME EARLY, play the hell out of it the next day, invite friends and relatives over, get late fees on our rented SNES games, and THEN putting everything back in the box, wrap it exactly like it was and put it back there.
All of our buddies kept their mouths shut. The gifts were inspected and cleared upon the return on the parents. I had the mission to wreck the packaging as quickly as I could when we unwrapped legit so that they wouldn't figure it out. My brother actually volunteered to bring me my gift in the living room, where my parents didn't even see us. We unwrapped. It worked, it totally worked. Special agents don't get the thrill we got doing this.
They never knew, we never told them. I legit think my mother would be dissapointed to learn it happened. My dad would probably admire our mojo and the fact that we got it passed them.
And we NEVER, EVER messed with our gifts again. Short of my brother bringing a girl back home and porking her on top of the console, we couldn't have possibly done a better job.
They'd leave them in their room since we didn't have a christmas tree. And I'd scratch the corners of the wrapping to get a peek at the box inside when they were away.
One year they found out. Because yes, I got away with it a couple times before that. My older brother would do the same, and he'd help me patch the hole or whatever as long as I didn't rat him out. Anyways, one year they found out and they told me that the next year I wouldn't have any gifts.
Sure enough, Christmas season came along the next year and neither me nor my brother had gifts to our names in the pile.
Then Christmas eve came, and my parents told us we didn't have gifts. They swapped gifts and explained to us that honesty was really important and the lesson was more important than gifts. I cried (I was like 10). My brother (15) got mad and said that they could have at least got me something, at least he was old enough to understand. Then my mom sent my brother to our grandparents to go get something.
Once he was out the door, my dad picked something up from the shelf next to the chair where he sat, next to his stereo, and handed me an unwrapped cardboard box. Inside was a black NES cart with 350-In-1 written in red on a sticker with faded blue chinese characters in the background. I had no idea what it was, but I was so excited to 1) have a gift and 2) THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY GAMES IN ONE CART?!?! It was an NES multicart.
I still have it. It had like 40 unique games on it, but wow, 40 games. 3 versions of Tetris, Dr. Mario, Quarth, Magic Jewelry, Puzznic, Adventure Island, Popeye, Sky Destroyer, Formation Z, Legend Of Kage, YIE AR KUNG FU!!!! as well as regular Kung Fu, and also, this little game called Wild Ball. Or rock paper scissors, where a girl would strip if you won. Bet they didn't know that was on there.
My brother came back from our grandparents' with a brand new electric guitar with an amplifier and paid for guitar lessons.
So what's good kids to do the next year? Leave the boxes untouched.
And the year after that? Examine the wrapped gifts, and how they were wrapped. Find the wrapping paper and tape. Unwrap the gift that was most tantalizing (we suspected an SNES, and INDEED, it was a brand spanking new SNES) one week-end when the parents were away with MY ALMOST ADULT BROTHER WAS SUPPOSED TO LOOK AFTER ME AND MAKE SURE I DIDN'T MESS WITH THE GIFTS AND WAS PAID TO DO THIS, get it out of the box, install it on the TV, play Super Mario World, decide we needed MOAR GAMES, used the money my brother got for making sure I didn't do EXACTLY what we were doing, go rent Super Wrestlemania and NHLPA Hockey, play that hell out that, LEAVE THE CONSOLE INSTALLED OVERNIGHT BECAUSE WE DIDN'T BOTHER COVERING OUR ASSES IN CASE THEY CAME HOME EARLY, play the hell out of it the next day, invite friends and relatives over, get late fees on our rented SNES games, and THEN putting everything back in the box, wrap it exactly like it was and put it back there.
All of our buddies kept their mouths shut. The gifts were inspected and cleared upon the return on the parents. I had the mission to wreck the packaging as quickly as I could when we unwrapped legit so that they wouldn't figure it out. My brother actually volunteered to bring me my gift in the living room, where my parents didn't even see us. We unwrapped. It worked, it totally worked. Special agents don't get the thrill we got doing this.
They never knew, we never told them. I legit think my mother would be dissapointed to learn it happened. My dad would probably admire our mojo and the fact that we got it passed them.
And we NEVER, EVER messed with our gifts again. Short of my brother bringing a girl back home and porking her on top of the console, we couldn't have possibly done a better job.