christmas present from parents. Stocking from santa. AIBU to not get it?

[BazilGin]

Help me out here please. DH and I are having a disagreement about Christmas traditions. We always try to compromise, as I come from Poland and our traditions are very different, but there is one I just don't get. St Nick always used to 'bring us' all the presents under the tree when I was a child. The anticipation, the magic of it I still remember to this day.
In DH's family, santa always brings stocking presents (i.e. Chocolate, socks and other cheap tat. The main presents are from your parents, aunts etc AIBU not to get this one at all? What's the point of actually telling the kids all about Santa if all he brings are a few chocolate buttons and some pants?
Please explain to me how it works in this country, thanks!

Sorry hallow Just can't imagine children getting excited at the thought of some fruit and knickers. Wouldn't have blown my mind as a child and we got nowt compared to wee ones today.

Father Christmas brings all the stocking presents. He's a sensible bloke who agrees kids need items like funky socks, bath bombs and character toothpaste. Although he's nice enough to chuck in a few chocolate coins at the bottom.

Under the tree presents are from family.

It's ok. I have the answer here...

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro' the houseNot a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;The children were nestled all snug in their beds,While visions of sugar plums danc'd in their heads,

Father Christmas does the stockings!

Santa does stockings, family do presents under the tree.

But nothing actually gets put under the tree until Christmas Eve, so it's still very magical when you wake up and see whats under the tree on Christmas Day!

I'd be annoyed if I bought a kid a gift and their parents said it was from Santa.

Parent gifts can be from Santa or parent but it's rude to give family gifts as from Santa

I won't be wrapping the stocking presents though. Ours were never wrapped as children.

I have to say I'm with your DH - stocking from Father Christmas, presents from named people. However, I'm sure I just don't remember how it was when we were very small and believed - perhaps Father Christmas did get more of the credit when we were little.

As parents, we do stocking from Father Christmas (with some good stuff mixed in with the chocolate/toothbrushes/bubble bath) and a largish/wished-for present under the tree from Father Christmas too. That way, if, say, Mummy doesn't believe in Barbie but it's someone's greatest desire then I can legitimately hold my line in the sand AND make a wish come true. I love Christmas!

different families have different traditions.

I wasn't brought up to believe in Santa at all.

In DH's family he slipped into their bedrooms and left stockings. These were real long socks, took DH years after he knew it wasn't Santa to work out why his mum didn't wake him. She of course had filled the other one and only had to swap.

Our tradition was one big thing (DH and I's main gift) from Santa and thanks to my unbelieving parents.

Sadly DH's Christmas magic believing DM is no longer with us.

Santa brings all the presents that parents buy. These are hidden and put in stockings and christmas sacks/pilowcases late on Christmas Eve night ready for christmas morning.

Friends and relatives give presents separately. Some of these arrive early in the post and are put under the tree.

I agree about the wow factor and the most exciting surprises coming from Santa.

Here FC does the stockings ( ok a large gift bag, it was a pillow case in my day).

They must have pants in them! Part of the absolute conviction that the man in red was real, was that he brought character underwear when mum said plain knickers were all you needed as bum covering lol

Main pressies from family. Can't have the big chap taking all the credit.

We had no anxieties around belief/ non belief / not getting any Xmas pressies as he wasn't a really huge thing.

Mind you they all expect stockings even now!

Oh and parents/adults don't get stockings we exchange gifts.

runes there is an orange, i'll give you that, but no knickers at all! Lots of exciting little bits and pieces, nothing useless, lots of things they've asked FC for and then lots of surprises.

On a separate note, those who say everything is from santa and put it all out on Christmas eve, where the fuck do you hide it all before then? I cba with stashing stuff all up in the loft as DP and I would be far too noisy pissed to be scrabbling around in there at midnight on Christmas eve to get it all out! Which is why a lot of it gets wrapped during December and put under the tree as we go along, holding back a few of the bigger presents to put under while they sleep on Xmas eve. I usually hide them in my bedroom or boot of my car.

It just goes to show there is no way , you just choose what suits your family.

My son's friend was still claiming to believe in Father Christmas at about 10 or 11 when all the others had stopped - he was the only one who got all his presents from Santa. This may seem lovely but it put an awful lot of pressure on his parents who are on quite a low income. He used to ask for really expensive presents which they couldnt afford but didnt like to say no. All to keep up a tradition - so i think its important to think about the future when you decide what to do with your little ones.

In our house, Santa brings a big ton of stuff. Mum and dad give kids a gift each. The everyone else arrives and they bring a ton of stuff too, but it's from them rather than santa.

(And then mum moans about the mountain of plastic for the rest of the year. Mum can't wait for santa to go green.)

In this house Santa brings the stocking (filled with lovely well thought out bits not tat) plus one or two little gifts or perhaps one big gift. The rest is from family. I wrap everything because unwrapping is more than half the fun IMO.

Santa provides the delivery service in our family, plus treating the DCs to their stockings and a couple of small pressies.

But he delivers everything. All the presents from parents, family, friends etc. He is a very clever fellow.

We don't do stockings. I dont know anyone who does.

Father Christmas brings everything and leaves it all Christmas Eve ( and for asked where I hide it... Ds2 is cared of the cupboard under the stairs ;) and hid In a bin bag in kitchen cuboard. They never go in there as no food only Hoover etc. :) )
I send money to Father Christmas to help pay towards the presents as he can't afford to pay for every dc in the world.. So many children and rising costs you know.. So ds2 knows he has a limit.
Ds1 doesn't believe any more and helps with the prep and creating the magic for ds2.

bazilgin why don't you start your own family tradition together?
Everyone's is slightly different anyway. Work one out to suit you both :)

I don't "get" the stocking thing at all, I didn't have one as a child (Ireland). In my house, the stocking has chocolate coins, candy canes and pound shop crap, then the presents from the Santa list are from Santa, anything that wasn't on the list is from parents. I still told DS that we pay Santa, feck the yard I'm letting some imaginary fat man take all the credit.

Stockings can be big - pillow case sized. In this house, Santa does not bring tat. he tends to bring very special little wooden presents that look like they have been made by elves, and also he brings things that we rarely allow the children to have like lots of sweets and some tat. These days he brings make up and more sweets. Other presents are from the people that sent them so that they get thanked and appreciated. we also buy a bigger present for under the tree.

My family didn't do any Father Christmas stuff but Christmas was still very exciting, and the heap of presents under the tree was still 'WOW'. We got one big 'keep us occupied' present on the end of our beds on Christmas morning and I always tried to stay awake to feel the weight of it on my feet and wonder what it was. I don't recall that being less exciting knowing that it was my father who brought it in, and I virtually always was asleep when he did.

I've always wondered how gift giving works in families where all presents are from Santa. Little kid presents have always been a big feature of our Christmases, and it often seems that the children are about as excited at having granny etc open their box of lovingly made chocolates/art work as they are about opening their own presents. I think it's the keeping of secrets that is so appealing.

I think you should make your own traditions - perhaps a Santa present on Christmas Eve to bring our Polish tradition into the mix?

sorry 'your' not 'our'

Ok. I'm still working on ours
So, stocking (or sack) from FC.
Main gift from FC.
Extended family gifts from extended family.
A little gift amongst siblings? So ds and baby dd get something for each other.
How does that sound?
I don't mind FC getting all the credit. What are the little buggers most likely to believe. I am cursed gifted with a smart 3 yo so I need a robust plan (he didn't get his brains from me, as you can see)