All Wrapped Out...

I am tired of wrapping presents. I've been wrapping pretty much for the last 4 hours, with a couple of breaks including an ice cream break. Oh yeah I also did all assembly required for Christmas. *wink*

Yikes, I just counted and I have 15-20 more still to go. Thankfully I started to tonight. I almost left it all for tomorrow.

Speaking of wrapping, my husband and I talked about the presentation of Santa gifts. Growing up, Santa always left everything out with nothing wrapped. All my stuff was laid out nicely on one couch while my sister's would be on the other. We always knew which pile was ours. We always left the tree on all night (Christmas Eve only) and I have fond memories of sneaking downstairs and seeing what Santa brought by the light of the tree. My sister and I would quietly look over everything and then go wake up Mom and Dad. I think since our gifts were laid out, Mom and Dad got to sleep in just a little longer. Then after they got up, we could start playing with the Santa loot however we had to wait until AFTER breakfast to open any of the family gifts. (And let me tell you, my mom would fix breakfast ever so slowly in order to TORTURE us).

Now every since I have been around my husband's family for Christmas, Santa always left Shelby's gifts wrapped. Since her parents were not together anymore, it was easier. Now that Shelby is getting too old for Santa to visit (although she is still getting a pile of stuff) and Jed will soon be old enough to look forward to Santa's visit, I have been wondering how Santa will be leaving his gifts out for Jed. Should they be wrapped, just laid out, a little of both?

So I'm curious, how did Santa leave your gifts when you were growing up? How does he leave them for your kids?