My parents gave us two types of gifts; first, the wrapped ones were those that they decided to give us as surprises, from mom and dad. Those without wrapping paper were from Santa. As Christmas drew nearer, we older kids would take the first opportunity to sneak into mom and dad's closet, where they kept some of the presents. My sister was very apt at peeking under the wrappers without peeling the tape away. Thus, we knew about what they were giving us. But, we had to be careful to exclude the younger kids from this espionage, because they would certainly tear the paper, or blab in front of our parents.
