This came from pjenson on CTTM
This one is great for the 5-7YO set, when they kind of know what's going on, but still believe. This is something my parents did for me one year, and it's still one of my favorite Santa memories.
You announce to your child that you're going to set up your video camera and watch Santa's visit that night. Set up the video camera on a tripod and just before bedtime, turn it on to record, framing the Christmas tree and stockings area. Of course, once they're in bed, turn it off to save tape/memory. Then when you get ready to set out the Santa presents and stuff the stockings, start a stop-action sequence (just like the old animated films, ie Rudolph). Let the camera run for a few minutes while "waiting for Santa" to arrive. Then pause the camera, put out a present or two, unpause to record a few seconds, pause to put out another present or two, etc, until all the presents are out. Of course, make sure you're out of shot and silent during the recording. Do the same with stuffing the stocking. For Santa's milk and cookies, stop-action after each cookie bite and then stop-action about an inch of milk in the glass at a time.
Then Christmas morning after the presents have all been opened, your family can watch your "Santa surveillance tape". The effect will be that nothing happens for a while, then all of a sudden... presents start popping up one by one. Then the stockings are magically stuffed, and the milk and cookies disappear as if by magic. Mom and Dad would tell us that Santa was too fast to appear on camera (of course, we believed he'd HAVE to be that fast to get all the houses in the world in one night). At any rate, we kids were entranced watching all our Santa gifts magically appear.
This one is great for the 5-7YO set, when they kind of know what's going on, but still believe. This is something my parents did for me one year, and it's still one of my favorite Santa memories.
You announce to your child that you're going to set up your video camera and watch Santa's visit that night. Set up the video camera on a tripod and just before bedtime, turn it on to record, framing the Christmas tree and stockings area. Of course, once they're in bed, turn it off to save tape/memory. Then when you get ready to set out the Santa presents and stuff the stockings, start a stop-action sequence (just like the old animated films, ie Rudolph). Let the camera run for a few minutes while "waiting for Santa" to arrive. Then pause the camera, put out a present or two, unpause to record a few seconds, pause to put out another present or two, etc, until all the presents are out. Of course, make sure you're out of shot and silent during the recording. Do the same with stuffing the stocking. For Santa's milk and cookies, stop-action after each cookie bite and then stop-action about an inch of milk in the glass at a time.
Then Christmas morning after the presents have all been opened, your family can watch your "Santa surveillance tape". The effect will be that nothing happens for a while, then all of a sudden... presents start popping up one by one. Then the stockings are magically stuffed, and the milk and cookies disappear as if by magic. Mom and Dad would tell us that Santa was too fast to appear on camera (of course, we believed he'd HAVE to be that fast to get all the houses in the world in one night). At any rate, we kids were entranced watching all our Santa gifts magically appear.
