Gadgets Blog » Holiday Spotlights

I have always been the smart one in the family at least when it comes to gadgets. My whole life, every time my family would get something electronic, from a microwave to a VCR or surround sound system, it was always my job to set them up. Electronics were always my gift of preference, and I could never help myself trying to figure out the present before Christmas.

As I got a little older, I began become more sneaky in my gift guessing. I would come down at night and sneak a peek in a corner of the wrapping paper, then I would lift the tape and finally, I ended up just unwrapping the present and rewrapping it.

The first year I dared to unwrap the present was the year I had begged and pleaded to get Sega Genesis for Christmas. This was Sega’s foray into the 16-bit gaming genre and came with the game Altered Beast, which was my favorite above all others in the arcade.

Halfway through December, I had already taken up the corner and realized that the Genesis was mine, but I just couldn’t stop. I was so excited to get it that one night I ended up unwrapping the present so I could see the whole box and read all about the system and the games.

It came time to wrap the present up again and I reveled in how clever I was. I had seen my present and no one was the wiser. Sadly, I did not realize how complicated it would be to wrap up a present when I was 7-year-old. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get it to look right. It was bad. Finally, I ended up shoving all the paper under the box so that the top looked flat and well wrapped, but the bottom was a mess. I just prayed that no one would move the box before Christmas.