Did you or your children ever catch Santa in the act of toy delivery?

Well, sort of. I decided while I was babysitting that we should look for Christmas presents. We climbed on a chair and went into the shelf at the top of Mom’s closet.

There we found a Barbie. I told my next youngest sister that it was hers. She burst into tears from the surprise being spoiled.

She then told my Mom when she got home, who said, “Well I’ll have you know it was for you.” So I felt bad.

Turns out we both got one, but that little adventure cured us all of looking for presents in advance.

I once went downstairs and saw my mom. I wasn’t really fazed by it, I think I said something like, “Mom what are you doing up? Have you seen Santa yet? Has he come yet?”

I hope other kids seeing their parents up/around the Christmas tree wouldn’t automatically assume the parents are there instead of Santa, or discount Santa because of this sighting. Maybe parents want to see him too!

When my kids were very young, I dressed up as Santa and started placing the presents around the tree, while my wife got the kids out of bed so they could peak down the stairs and see Santa in the living room.

I knew dad was Ded Moroz (equivalent of Santa for Russians – more secular, though) after I hid under the table once and saw his legs as he was putting on the suite – must have been 5 years old – didn’t make it any less exciting to wait for New Year’s and get presents. For my kids, we don’t put on any of that bs – my oldest does get Ded Moroz and the whole bit in his pre-school but doesn’t really care one way or another, he just wants presents.

Not yet but I still remain vigilant on every Christmas Eve hoping to catch old Kris Kringle in the act.

I woke up, and the tree had nothing under it. Then the door knocked, my parents opened it, and in came santa. He said he was sorry that he was late and made some kind of excuse that i can no longer remember. He then sat down and handed me and my brother our gifts, he had some milk and cookies and then went back outside and left.

After he had left, I asked my father “how long has Clive been santa?”. I was smart enough to figure out that it was my fathers friend, but not smart enough to figure out that he was not actually santa. I just figured thats who santa was. After all, he had the suit and he had the gifts too. Why would clive dress up as santa and hand out gifts if he was not the real santa.

Turns out he lost a bet to my dad, and being santa was his payment.

I kinda figured it out the year we weren’t allowed into my parent’s room for almost a month before Christmas. They went so far as to put a lock high on the door so we couldn’t get in. Christmas morning, we had this beautiful Victorian Dollhouse, completely handmade…from SantaDad. He looked so tired. He had still been putting the shingles on the night before. Unfortunately for my dad, he traveled a lot for his job, so he didn’t have time to work on it and get it finished quickly. Later that day, I thanked him and I told him I loved him and he was a great Santa. He just smiled and that was it for me.

I did, at an early age. I was one of those kids that suffered chronic ear infections, and for a few years I seemed to always have one over the holidays. I remember being quite little when I climbed out of bed because my ear hurt, and I thought I would feel better if I laid down next to the tree. So I did. My mother must have been somewhere else in the house and had no idea that I had gone to the living room, but I witnessed her coming in with an armful of gifts. I wasn’t really all that surprised.

However, I have never been caught playing Santa. They don’t believe in Santa anymore, but it was fun while it lasted.. and I must have been just sneaky enough every year.