Today's Christmas-related post will be a hodge podge (a term derived from the legal term "hotchpot"--a Wills/Trusts/Estates concept*) of topics.
1) Poll Results from the last week
According to P.E.A.H. readers like you, A Charlie Brown Christmas is the best Christmas special (with the Grinch a close second).
2) New Poll
Vote in our new poll regarding the merits of the Nog!
3) Christmas Foul Punishment Help
While digging under our Christmas tree, gathering presents that must be mailed to family far away, I discovered something horrible. One of our lovely children, a week and a half ago when he/she was last here, opened 6 or 7 of her/his presents and haphazardly re-taped them, stuffing them under other gifts.
Some of the bows were put back on the boxes backwards. Some of the gifts had major rips in their paper. And, one wasn't even re-taped at all. So, clearly, this person thought that WHEN he/she was caught, it wouldn't matter.
What is the appropriate punishment for opening your gifts pre-Christmas?
4) Christmas Foul: Retail Issue
Last week, at the $5-or-less store, I found a DVD copy of Frosty the Snowman. The box indicated that this DVD contained the original Frosty the Snowman cartoon, and Frosty Returns as a bonus feature. The box included many pictures from the original Frosty cartoon. For $5, I couldn't pass up owning this cartoon that I loved during my childhood.
You can imagine my disappointment, confusion and, well, rage when we popped in that very DVD a few days later to find that it did NOT contain either of the cartoons it said it contained, and, to add a kick in the shins, it did actually contain some new-fangled Frosty cartoon narrated by Burt Reynolds.
What
The
F
I examined the packaging once again in case I had somehow bought a different DVD than the one I had CLOSELY examined in the store. Nope. I was right.
So, my question is: who should I yell at? The store employees? It wasn't their fault. So, who?
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* Regarding "hotchpot" and "hodge podge"--I don't know if the terms are actually related. But, it seems like they probably are. So, I say we just go with it.
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2 years ago
11 Robot Reactions:
I think the proper punishment would be to unwrap the real presents, hide them, and then rewrap new, cheap, crappy presents in the same haphazard manner, with the same paper and bows. He/she will be both upset and hilariously confused.
I think Burt Reynolds deserves a call.
Oh RohanTron, you fail to understand one small thing. This child's father work in the less than lucrative field of auto parts sales. The presents he or she opened were already cheap and crappy! SO......he or she has already received that punishment. The only way to get cheaper and crappier gifts would be to wrap pennies. Wait.....thats not a bad idea at all!! RohanTron, you are a parenting genius!!
I hate to say it, but Troubletron is right. I mean, some of the presents she opened were sets of socks. She did ask for socks for Christmas--so, don't think we're TOO bad at parenting. I'm just saying, it would be a lot of work to find CRAPPIER presents.
Empty the boxes and preserve the crappy ripped up wrapping job, then act like you were robbed. "Certainly we must have been robbed! Look at the wrapping on all these gifts has been tampered with."
Then make her beg to get her gifts back.
She's a teenager isn't she? Emotional/Mental warfare is totally allowed.
Is she too cool to ever read this blog? I would think that she might want to look occasionally, since pictures of her are posted here. Are you not concerned about her seeing that you caught her in the act?
Firstly, I did not say it was Teenbot. I will only say that it was one of them.
And, that child already knows he/she has been caught. It's just a matter of what the punishment will be.
Though, Jillian's idea is awesome
Hmm, remove the gifts that were unwrapped and give them to the kid(s) in January...or July.
I agree, Jillian's idea is awesome.
You've already got some good ideas on how to handle this, so let me just say that I think there needs to be an "alcoholic egg nog" category in your poll. It definitely deserves its own entry.
Also, who cares if hotchpot is related to hodge podge? Abravanel's pronunciation of it is hilarious.
I say give the kid a break. Sometimes it is just too much tension to wait until Christmas to find out what your presents are going to be. I think you probably peeked a few times yourself when you were a kid. She or he is not the first kid to sneak a peak.
Love the candy Christmas trees! I have done a similar one to the peppermint candy one by using a styrofoam cone and leaving the candy in the wrappers. Use staight pins to pin the candies in rows and cover the cone. Then the candies are still edible and can be offered to guest to take a candy from the tree centerpiece.
Ah Snowbird: You're softening up in your middle age. I think you would have stapled Sparklebot's nose to the stair railing if she had dared to peek. And while corporal punishment may not be de rigeur like it was in the day when I was required to go out into the yard and pick my own instrument of torture from the hickory stick bush, the kid still needs the fear of God put in him/her so he/she doesn't peek no more.
Having called your own softness into question, I think Troubletron and Sparklebot should just let it go. Life's too short.
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