For years at Paulette Sullivan's house in Plum, part of the plumbing took a vacation right around Thanksgiving. That's when the downstairs bathroom stopped working and, for a good reason, did not flush again until the new year dawned.

	Ed Yozwick, Post-Gazette Click photo for larger image. Related story It's only natural for kids to snoop, and for parents to stop it

"The kids didn't have a key to get into it," Mrs. Sullivan said, adding that she and her husband turned the powder room into a hiding place for gifts. That was after she heard sad stories from neighbors who stuffed presents in garbage bags in their garages, then mistakenly deposited them at the curb for trash pickup.

So, during their childhood, Dan and Brian Sullivan played in a game room, unaware that their Christmas toys were locked in the powder room just a few feet away.

Of course, a telescope and a tricycle presented challenges, Mrs. Sullivan said, adding that the telescope's legs and the tricycle's handle bars did not go on until the last possible minute.

Jamie Lebovitz, who celebrates Hanukkah with her family in Mt. Lebanon, never had this problem.

"We don't hide our kids' presents -- we display them. We have two kids and wrap their presents in different gift wrapping. ... If we buy a new gift, we immediately wrap it and place it in the appropriate pile."

But Mrs. Lebovitz offers her home to friends and neighbors who need to hide Christmas gifts.

"They come over and get their presents late Christmas Eve -- and of course, I always offer to help be an 'elf' and wrap the presents," Mrs. Lebovitz said.

Now high technology is getting into the act. Radio Shack is marketing camera and motion sensor systems that parents can install to remotely monitor these gift hiding places. They receive a text message or e-mail alerting them that some one is lurking where they shouldn't be. Such systems cost $99.

But such elaborate devices are no match for parents who have successfully endured for years on cleverness (which is free).

In Pleasant Hills, Denise Schreiber turned to the kitchen to hide her small gifts. She cleaned out a used Crisco can, stowed gifts such as jewelry or candy in it, then returned it to the pantry shelf.

"My daughter never had any reason to look in the Crisco can," Mrs. Schreiber said.

Mary Lynn Baronett of Bethel Park stows her small gifts in the back of a desk drawer or filing cabinet, where tax files or other boring paperwork are kept.

"No one is going to want to look there!" she said.

Car trunks are popular spots. For the past 12 years, out in North Huntingdon, Cathy Rajcan has used the roomy trunk of her father's classic Ford Crown Victoria, a 1970s model he keeps covered and inside a garage during winter.

"He doesn't use it in the winter so we hide gifts in the trunk of the car," Ms. Rajcan said, adding that the locked trunk is ideal for hiding Little Tikes gifts.

Dorothy Gillespie of Penn Hills was glad that her husband owned a silver Corvette kept under a large cover.

"For years I hid my son's Christmas presents in the car. He would walk past the car four or five times a day and never suspected a thing. Only when he was 10 and asked "What color is that car?" did we realize that he had never even seen the car!" Mrs. Gillespie said.

But cars have their drawbacks, said Debra Lane of Upper St. Clair, who recalled what happened to her father many years ago.

"A very bad place to hide gifts is in the trunk of your car, unless you want to be out on a freezing Christmas Eve pouring hot water on a frozen trunk lock! Thanks to helpful neighbors it turned out well," Mrs. Lane said.

Once she had children of her own, Mrs. Lane found other places to stow presents.

"The best place to hide gifts is a large suitcase in a storage closet. You can lock it but kids never seem to think to look in there anyway. We thought the blanket chest (under the blankets) was a great place, but my now-grown daughter tells me they found them that year!" Mrs. Lane said.

Ruth Berrott's husband, Ron, hid her gifts in a dishwasher, "because I never used it. It wasn't built in and I didn't like dragging it across the kitchen floor. He could have hidden them in the stove because I didn't cook much either at that time," said Mrs. Berrott, who lives in Plum.

Mike Hellman, a Morningside man, has devised his own version of hiding gifts.

"It's a great time of year to gather unused items and clothing to donate to charity. I usually get the large shopping bags with handles ... and start to fill them with items for donation," he said.

Mr. Hellman's strategy is clever.

"In the bottom I'll hide gifts until I can box and gift wrap or bag them for safe keeping. Putting a pair of old slippers on top usually keeps the sneaks away. Occasionally I'll be missing a gift -- but I figure it must have gone to a good cause," he said.

For years, David Schwab's wife hid gifts under the platform for the Christmas tree and model train.

"There was a corrugated skirt stapled around the platform. In all the years she did this the kids never found the gifts. They were always looking some place else and never looked in plain sight."

Sandra Lee Besnak of Munhall shops at sales all year for holiday gifts so she got a large, empty box that had held paper towels and put gifts in it.

"On top of the gifts I would place some of my craft materials and the kids thought, 'This is mom's stuff.' I kept them guessing for 11 years. If they had been in that box, I would have known by the way I placed things.''

And some people outsmart themselves.

"My mother always hid gifts and then would forget where they were. Sometimes you'd get a present months later when she found it again," said Lou Ann Haney, who lives in Murrysville.

One year, Mrs. Haney's mother hid clothing for her other daughters but did not find it until she packed for an Easter trip.