Playing Santa Claus

When our children were small, I would begin my Christmas cooking and baking on Christmas Eve. I would cook the entire day until 11:00-12:00 p.m. To avoid all the clutter of the boxes that the Christmas toys came in, we took every toy out of the box, put a note from Santa to the child on the toy and placed it under the tree as if Santa had played with the toy and left it for each individual child.

There were Christmas gifts under the tree from my husband and I and our children loved the notes from Santa and was amazed at the sight of the dolls, trucks, games and the fact that Santa had really played with their toys. The toy boxes and other items or the trash from the "Santa" toys were hidden in trash bags in the garage until my husband could dispose of them in a discreet manner.

As far as the note from Santa. I used old Christmas cards to make the card from Santa and I changed my handwriting drastically and it was really dramatic and the children really believed that Santa wrote the note; the notes also were personalized like Santa knew something about each child.

This was a fun-filled night for my husband and I. After "playing Santa", my husband and I would enjoy a snack of some of the finger foods and hot apple cider, hot cocoa or flavored coffee before retiring for bed.

Our children have carried on this tradition with our grandchildren.

Merry Christmas!

By JOSE from Tennessee