Christmas 2010 was the clincher for me, though. Not only was the morning loud and crazy, but my husband and I spent the entire time prying open plastic packages, untwisting wire ties from around toys, and installing batteries. I wore a noticeable path in our carpet going to and from the garage with various tools necessary to free our kid's new toys from their cardboard prisons. I decided then and there, I'd never do that again!
This year I'm prepared. I made a very important trip to the dollar store and created my very own Christmas morning tool kit. It will be ready and waiting Christmas morning (along with about 15 lbs of batteries) to make opening presents a breeze...for me, that is.
The tool kit includes:
Scissors
Box cutters (one for Mom and one for Dad)
Screwdrivers (a Phillips and a flat head)
Wire cutter
Plastic package opener (which I had to buy from Amazon and didn't cost a dollar, but, I'm convinced will prove to be worth every penny)
Garbage bags
I was able to find a little zipper pouch to fit them all in and my tool kit is ready to go. Every year, I'll pack it up with the Christmas stuff and I won't ever have to run back and forth to the garage again!
Love the blog -- great tips!
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I've done with our kids presents is to wrap them already OUT of the boxes. That way all of that prying to get out of boxes is done before Christmas morning & the kids can immediately play with their toys.
A tradition that I loved when we were growing up was the way we opened our gifts. We all sat around the tree together & went in age order, and picked a gift from under the tree for someone else to open. Usually we started with the oldest who picked a gift with the youngest's name on it & then they got to open. Once we watched her open it, she got to pick a gift for the next child in age order, going on up to the oldest.
Great ideas! Thanks for sharing, Kim. I think we might need to incorporate some of this into our holiday traditions.
ReplyDelete