I put all presents under the tree Christmas Eve after the kids have gone to sleep. My kids are too curious and would constantly be trying the figure out what things were. Gifts they get sent by mail from far away relatives I actually let them open as they come. So all my kids have already opened gifts my sister sent them.
Gifts from family go under the tree when they are wrapped. How else can you try to guess what's inside and build excitement for days ahead? My brother and I had so much fun looking at the presents and arranging/rearranging them as new ones arrived.
Santa presents are in a prominent place, under/in front of the tree, unwrapped, with your filled stocking. My brother and I would get up early to see if Santa had come yet, and it was so exciting to see what was there. We would turn on the tree lights and mostly stare at our stuff until we couldn't stand it, then we would wake up our parents and sister to show them what Santa brought. Our sister would just get up, open her presents and go back to bed. She was no fun. lol
A tree with no presents underneath seems so sad. We have two big trees and even when it is just DH and I, and we don't have many gifts, we try to make it look less sad by mixing presents and some of our decorations... things like my Santa doll from when I was a kid.
Normally presents go under the tree as they're wrapped. This year though they're all coming out Christmas eve since there's no way my toddler would leave them alone until then!
I’m always tickled by how elaborate many families get with the Santa myth. Parent approval, budget, discussions, etc.
Our family is so basic. Santa brings stuff. Sometimes it’s what you want. Sometimes it’s socks. You never know with the big man 😂
My kids are 5 and 3 and I’ve really kind of struggled with the whole Santa thing. In previous years, he’s brought the most coveted toy, but also less exciting things. Honestly, I’m getting to a point now where I’m not willing to let Santa steal the thunder of whoever bought the most-desired gift. I didn’t buy them any toys this year because I knew our moms and siblings would handle that part, so I’m pretty sure Santa is bringing them books or electric toothbrushes. Lol
Santa is one of those things that I wish people would have brought up when I was pregnant. Like, hey, figure this shit out and how you want to do it before the kid is old enough to understand. It’s more complicated than I thought it was.
Presents from anyone other than Santa used to go under the tree as the get wrapped but destructor baby has foiled those plans this year.
My Dad nicknamed my son Destructo- sounds like our boys might be similar!
😂 our living room is almost bare as we tried to childproof. Little jerk pushed the coffee table up to the baby gate around the fireplace and FELL HEAD FIRST over it.
My mom calls Ds2 Bruiser. Ds3 is quickly following in his footsteps....
One year I peeked at ALL my presents. My mom let me think she didn’t know until Christmas morning when I started opening presents and it was just a bunch of empty boxes 😂
One year I peeked at ALL my presents. My mom let me think she didn’t know until Christmas morning when I started opening presents and it was just a bunch of empty boxes 😂
(She did then give me my gifts)
One year my twin sister did the same. All her boxes had clues as to where he real gifts were hidden. My dad, other 3 sisters & I were in on the joke. She wasn't pleased.
Now that they are older and won't touch them every 10 seconds I put them under the tree after I wrap them. Before that I stored them on the shelf in our closets.
Post by amandakisser on Dec 9, 2020 9:48:32 GMT -5
I wait until Christmas Eve to put their gifts under the tree. There is a 0% chance I would get any peace if I put them out early - "Can't I just open ONE??" "Can you just give me a hint?" *shakes presents* "what's in here??"
Plus my cat loves to eat the ribbon, and my dog is old and incontinent so I don't want to deal with any of that.
Also...I personally love the magic and their excitement when they see all the presents Christmas morning.
Growing up there was nothing under the tree until Christmas until we stopped believing. Once the cat was out of the bag stuff was under the tree early. In fact, when I was much older I wrapped my own gifts. LOL
Right now we're doing nothing under the tree until Christmas, but I'll admit it's a pain in the ass finding places to store them. I'd love to put the gifts to other people under there. But I think the visual of nothing to a lot will be fun for the kids. I'm going to need to come up with some better hiding spots as the kids get older.
I’m always tickled by how elaborate many families get with the Santa myth. Parent approval, budget, discussions, etc.
Our family is so basic. Santa brings stuff. Sometimes it’s what you want. Sometimes it’s socks. You never know with the big man 😂
My kids are 5 and 3 and I’ve really kind of struggled with the whole Santa thing. In previous years, he’s brought the most coveted toy, but also less exciting things. Honestly, I’m getting to a point now where I’m not willing to let Santa steal the thunder of whoever bought the most-desired gift. I didn’t buy them any toys this year because I knew our moms and siblings would handle that part, so I’m pretty sure Santa is bringing them books or electric toothbrushes. Lol
Santa is one of those things that I wish people would have brought up when I was pregnant. Like, hey, figure this shit out and how you want to do it before the kid is old enough to understand. It’s more complicated than I thought it was.
Yeah---we're kind of making it up as we go. Thankfully it sounds like my H's parents and my parents were on the same page growing up, but reading the boards here make you realize how many different ways of doing it there are.
I think all the gifts under the tree growing up where from St. Nicholas. I don't remember any signed from my parents although I do remember it being my mom's handwriting. LOL
ETA: My kids are only 4 and 1. I don't plan to say any of the gifts this year are from us. I think that's too complicated at this point anyway. It can all be from Santa.
My Dad nicknamed my son Destructo- sounds like our boys might be similar!
😂 our living room is almost bare as we tried to childproof. Little jerk pushed the coffee table up to the baby gate around the fireplace and FELL HEAD FIRST over it.
My mom calls Ds2 Bruiser. Ds3 is quickly following in his footsteps....
My sister’s twins were like this and will also climb anything. My dad had to install plexiglass over her fireplace (they turned off the gas to it) and she basically removed everything from their living room except the sectional and the tv stand, which she locked the doors on. She had to keep the kitchen barstools in a gated area so you had to literally go grab your chair if you needed one 😂. They are 5 and she just put all of her furniture back about 6 months ago.
In theory, presents from us go under the tree right away.
In practice I'm always scrambling to wrap everything on Christmas Eve (last year I realized we were basically out of scotch tape and I resorted to cutting up packing tape - I'm going to be better this year, damnit!).
When I was a kid, I loved trying to figure out what was in the presents (yes, sometimes peeking) in the lead up.
Post by sapphireblue on Dec 9, 2020 10:18:58 GMT -5
My children are crazy little hellions that would sneak downstairs when we are sleeping, and tear open any gift if I put it under the tree early.
I can't believe how many people, some with kids the same age as mine, can leave wrapped gifts under the tree.
I'll probably do it eventually the way my mom did growing up--a few wrapped gifts for people like the neighbors were under the tree just so it wasn't bare there. Then, presents from my parents and Santa and all our presents to each other appeared there on Christmas morning.
😂 our living room is almost bare as we tried to childproof. Little jerk pushed the coffee table up to the baby gate around the fireplace and FELL HEAD FIRST over it.
My mom calls Ds2 Bruiser. Ds3 is quickly following in his footsteps....
My sister’s twins were like this and will also climb anything. My dad had to install plexiglass over her fireplace (they turned off the gas to it) and she basically removed everything from their living room except the sectional and the tv stand, which she locked the doors on. She had to keep the kitchen barstools in a gated area so you had to literally go grab your chair if you needed one 😂. They are 5 and she just put all of her furniture back about 6 months ago.
I would die if my little house was furniture less for 3 more years !!!! The living room/dining room is the main room in the house and it drives me crazy how bare it it’s because of destructor.
Dh does want to replace our cheap dining room chairs with stackable ones so we can just keep them in the kitchen because it’s a PITA to keep Ds3 from either climbing on to the dining table OR knocking them over OR dragging them around OR getting stuck in the legs.
I wrap as I can and those gifts to and from family go under the tree in the family room. Gifts that come from grandparents go under the tree in the living room. Santa gifts have different paper and go by the fireplace on Christmas Eve.
Post by Patsy Baloney on Dec 9, 2020 11:01:19 GMT -5
We've never had a kiddo open a present early (granted, my oldest is 7, my youngest is 1).
I'm a hardass, though, and my oldest is a rule follower. I imagine she probably guessed (correctly) that I would have her ass for that.
My youngest is the Bad Baby, so we'll see. But again, their mom is a hardass so maybe they'll be too afraid. I don't even know what I would do if I found out that went down! Take the presents away? Wail about them ruining Christmas? Sell them to the circus? All of the above?
I’m always tickled by how elaborate many families get with the Santa myth. Parent approval, budget, discussions, etc.
Our family is so basic. Santa brings stuff. Sometimes it’s what you want. Sometimes it’s socks. You never know with the big man 😂
Besides our personal budget, we do this because my kids wonder why we have to donate toys to the less fortunate, or why some kids don’t get a lot or anything on Christmas morning. Or why Johnny the asshole at school gets a brand new iPhone and the shyest nicest girl only gets clothes.
The idea that good little girls and boys are rewarded with gifts from a magical man is really kind of fucked up, esp in a world where kids are extra coddled. There’s plenty of great kids whose parents aren’t able to shower them with everything or anything they want.
Also, my older daughter was an extremely inquisitive and logical small child and was deeply bothered by the idea. It’s what worked. We weren’t trying to be cute or elaborate we were trying to set expectations and create empathy.
We have a somewhat unique situation in that we don’t live near any family. So all presents my children receive from family are shipped to us.
Some of those presents arrived in boxes already wrapped. Those ones go straight under the tree.
Others arrive direct from the company and unwrapped. Those we save. My husband works in the basement and he does most of the wrapping down there and sets things aside.
Then on Christmas Eve we put out everything from us, santa and the family that isn’t already out.
Of course I would love to have family living nearby but I do have to admit it’s to our benefit in Christmas. We get a big visual impact without having to buy much ourselves. I think it’s cool to be a kid and come downstairs and see piles of presents. But I would not want to have to buy that much myself.
This is us too. All out of town family and everyone ships gifts from amazon, target, etc for free shipping and then I wrap it and put who it is from. I like it because I love the visual of having all the same wrapping paper lol. They get gifts from aunts/uncles and grandparents so x3 kids it adds up to a LOT more stuff under the tree to open Christmas morning that I didn't have to buy.
Post by georgeharrison on Dec 9, 2020 11:58:45 GMT -5
When my kid was little, we put family presents under the tree when they were wrapped. "Santa" presents came out on Christmas Eve. I put Santa in quotations, because my kid never believed in him. It was our fault and I regret it 100%. The past several years, all present go under the tree when wrapped. This year, no presents go out until Christmas Eve, because our 1.5 year old Great Dane has decided to mark all our Christmas stuff. I don't want dog pee soaked gifts.
All presents, even stuff that arrives in the mail, go under the tree Christmas Eve after the kids are in bed. It started when they were little and I didn’t want them messing with the gifts. Now I continue it because I love how it goes from completely empty to full overnight. I love the way it looks and feels. I have a locking closet with shelving in the basement that is my gift closet. Stuff goes in there as I buy it or as it arrives in the mail, so storage for gifts is not an issue for me.
I said they go under the tree ahead of time, but I'm usually not organized enough to have them wrapped until Christmas Eve. So, theoretically, they are under there early, but in reality, there is maybe one under there early and the rest go under between 10 p.m. on 12/24 and 3 a.m. on Christmas Day. lol
All the gifts from friends and relatives are under there nice and early.
Post by maudefindlay on Dec 9, 2020 12:14:40 GMT -5
Years ago our family friend's 2 daughters opened all their gifts, full on unwrapped and took stuff out of boxes. Then they tried to rewrap everything, poorly, and put it back under the tree and tried to go on like nothing happened. The Mom owned a children's clothing store and was a gift wrapping pro, so all those rewrapped gifts looked so so bad next to all the others. I know the Mom cried, I think that was worse than any punishment they could have gotten. They were early grade school age.