The Mystery of the Presents Under the Tree

One of my favorite things about Christmas is the mystery of the presents under the tree.

That's not to say that I don't love giving gifts as well. I do. In fact, the older I get the more I enjoy it, and the more I suspect that gifts are my secondary love language. (Words of Affermation is primary). I really love choosing the right gift for the right person, making sure it's unique and special.

But I also, as I said before, love the mystery of the presents under the tree.

It's the inner detective in me that loves looking at those packages, matching them up to what I know I asked for, and trying to figure out what is in each one. Of course, now that I'm an adult, it's usually pretty easy to figure out what package holds what present.

So does that mean that the interest of the mystery fades as I grow older? Certainly not!

When my mother was a child, her parents used to use a code on their presents. They would make up new names for each of their children and label the packages with those names. The answer of which child belonged to which name would not be revealed until Christmas. My mother, who doesn't find mysteries very interesting at all, absolutely hated it.

Well one year my siblings and I found out about this tradition, and somehow we persuaded our parents to use a code on our presents. It instantly raised the drama and guessing games to a new height, and ensured that we still had surprises on Christmas morning.

Now that we are all so mature and intelligant, we use a double code. So far this year we have had appearances of "Wolverine" "Colossus" "Shadowcat" and "Rogue." We're still waiting for Nightcrawer and Storm to show up. (As you can imagine, part of the fun is getting to assume the name of our favorite characters on Christmas morning.)

So that is why, even though I've left childhood behind, I can still enjoy the magic and mystery of the presents under the Christmas Tree.