Much of what makes the holiday season special is wrapped up in tradition: the ritualization of an activity, a prayer, a family recipe that continues from year to year.
One of my favorite family traditions is the search for what we call Santa Notes. When my siblings and I were younger, each of us received one gift that always stood out from the rest. This present held a note inside, saying sweet things about how happy Santa was with our behavior throughout the year, and a clue that set us on a scavenger hunt to find where the present (always the best one) was hidden.
We quickly figured out the key to the hunt was that this best gift was always in a smaller, lighter box. Quickly adapting, our parents began hiding the notes in bigger boxes they weighted down with, say, a dozen cans of soup or a few pairs of worn boots. I’ve long forgotten most of the toys and other things we discovered at the end of the hunt, but I’ve always remembered the fun of finding the presents, and I dearly wish I’d kept those notes.
I’ve carried on the clue-present tradition with my own kids. Kicking it up a notch, I write rhyming notes to hold the clues, but sometimes I’m a bit too clever. One Christmas it took them most of the morning to unravel the clue and then they couldn’t find their presents. Seems I’d not only created an indecipherable rhyme, but I had also forgotten where I’d hidden everything. We still laugh about it every year.
What traditions do you have? We’d love to hear them. Just share them in the comments. Happy present hunting!