Do you put holiday gifts in your suitcase or open them before leaving?

Growing up, I went to Hawaii to visit my grandfather every Christmas. He was an artist and used the money from selling his work to pay for the entire family to spend the holidays in the tropics.

My parents always lugged all the gifts in a big suitcase. All the wrapped presents from the cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends were put on the plane.

Yes, I guess it was nice to have a big pile of gifts to unwrap on Christmas morning, but really? What were they thinking? What a hassle?

We didn't bring presents on our trip to Europe this holiday. We opened everything before we left. We actually staggered it out over a week, opening something every day.

We did pack Santa gifts—a small cheap digital camera—for each child because we knew it would be expensive to do the shopping in London. But besides those two little boxes, our bags were gift free.