Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if anyone else's parents did this?

360 replies

Storm4star · 04/12/2018 12:10

All the Christmas threads have got me thinking! I grew up in the 70's and obviously parenting was different then so I'm wondering if it's that or if my dad was just mean! (He was mean in general so it wouldn't be surprising!). Basically, he would never let us open our presents on Christmas day until after the Queen's speech (which I believe was on about 3pm). If we asked in the meantime then half an hour would be added on to this time, for every time we asked. I honestly used to dream of being like other families and sit round the tree in our dressing gowns in the morning and opening gifts then. Needless to say with my own children, we've always opened presents first thing! So I'm curious if anyone else was subject to these kinds of rules?

OP posts:
Rudgie47 · 05/12/2018 17:53

Child of the 70s here and I had to wait until after lunch to open my presents. Then everyone opened them in turn and you had to watch etc. A little child is not at all interested in elderly relatives getting socks, driving gloves etc.

Flappypants · 05/12/2018 17:56

Stockings first thing, then pre lunch drinks and nibbles opening presents around 11.30/12. And it isn't a frenzy.

Wannabeyorkshirelass · 05/12/2018 17:58

Santa presents (stocking) in the morning.

Tree presents (main things from people) once my gran and aunties had arrived (mid - late morning) and then a meal at about 2.

One auntie insisted on watching the speech (and also stands up for the national anthem haha) but she got a lot of teasing.

MoaningSickness · 05/12/2018 17:58

We always had the stocking presents first thing in pjs etc, but main presents were later after we were dressed/had breakfast etc. I always thought the point of stocking presents was to give impatient kids something to play with til everyone was ready for the main event!

Gilld69 · 05/12/2018 18:06

5 in the morning wed be down stairs then wake mum and dad up and the excitement began

SR3i11Y · 05/12/2018 18:07

Always woke up really early sitting at top of stairs waiting for mam & dad to check if santa had been. Would run downstairs and open all the presents all together while mum took 100's of photos and dad walked round with a bin bag collecting rubbish. . He still does this now and we are all grown up! Dad would then cook breakfast for us all and we would sit and watch Christmas films until about 11 then go get ready for lunch 😊. . I'm 31 and this all still happens

Racecardriver · 05/12/2018 18:09

We don’t open presents until lunch/dinner.

Racecardriver · 05/12/2018 18:10

The kids do do their stockings as soon as they wake up though.

cannotfindanickname · 05/12/2018 18:11

I’m in my fifties too. We always did presents after lunch because before lunch mum was too busy cooking to join in. I tend to do the same thing now for the same reason though stockings are opened first thing

Fink · 05/12/2018 18:12

How is this mean? I was brought up on stockings in the morning, all other presents after lunch. Church and visiting relatives in between. We still do it now. I don't get what's mean about it. You don't get any fewer presents, you just get them at a different time. And we all sit around together and open presents so we see what everyone got and what their reaction is and enjoy it as a family.

Plus children usually have far too much to process in one day. So we only open the biggest presents on Christmas Day then save up the others: one present a day until the end of Christmas (12th Night). I still don't think it's mean.

greenpop21 · 05/12/2018 18:12

We opened Santa presents in the morning and family presents after dinner. Didn't watch Queenie.

VerbenaGirl · 05/12/2018 18:13

Yes, that's a bit mean! Although, we have partially reverted to this now... My DDs do stockings and presents from us at home first thing in the morning, then we will go off to one set of grandparents or the other - but usually won't open presents with them until after dinner. More due to the practicalities of someone being busy cooking than anything though. But it's nice to spread it out!

greenpop21 · 05/12/2018 18:13

We do the same with our DC. Otherwise all the fun is over before the day has begun!

LynetteScavo · 05/12/2018 18:13

No presents until after breakfast.

DM used to tell us the pushy you were, the longer you had to wait, and the royals didn't open their presents until after dinner in the evening.

Apparently we were after breakfast level of posh, and my friends from school who were allowed to open presents before breakfast, like o wanted to were common as muck weren't quite as posh as us.

ShadowHuntress · 05/12/2018 18:15

Nope. When we were really young, my dad used to let us open them first thing in the morning and then we’d have pancakes for breakfast. As we got older he let us stay up and open them at midnight Xmas Eve and we would then have a midnight feast before crashing out at 2am! My dc are all under 7 so we just let them open them as soon as we all wake up and then I make a stack of pancakes and bacon for them. We then go to my parents where they open more present from my siblings and parents

Alleycat1 · 05/12/2018 18:15

Stockings first thing as they were always hung on the bed post. Breakfast, church, one present before lunch, lunch, all other presents then Queen's speech. If church or lunch overran then presents after the speech, all followed by a walk so that we had room for a buffet meal later.

fascicle · 05/12/2018 18:17

Yes to presents after Queen's speech. Stockings on waking though and no sense of hardship (quite enjoyed the anticipation).

TorchesTorches · 05/12/2018 18:18

We would have stockings (main presents from DM and DF as soon as we woke up. Then breakfast, church. At 12 ish then would be under the tree presents and bucks fizz. Then lunch. Never watched the Queens speech (or more importantly Top of the Pops) as we would all be eating.

Sarahrellyboo1987 · 05/12/2018 18:19

My daughter opens her stocking and then maybe a present or two under the tree. She plays with what she has opened.
I detest the grabbiness of the materialism of sitting around a tree shredding open presents.
My daughter then has presents when she is ready to open them. Sometimes it takes a few days and other times it takes a few weeks!! She has autism and needs to allocate every gift to a space/function/enjoyment before moving on to the next thing. I’m so glad she’s like this to be honest

YetAnotherUser · 05/12/2018 18:20

Our rule was one before breakfast, then the rest once everybody was up and dressed and fed.

DiggersAndDust · 05/12/2018 18:21

We did santa presents first thing! Then had to wait til after church (Hmm times have a thankfully changed!) to open anything else! I kind of like that tradition! But we r not religious and don't go to church so can't really continue it!!!

rainbowquack · 05/12/2018 18:22

Stockings in the morning, everything else after lunch. I have continued this (to DH's disgust, in his house they opened everything first thing).

Idontmeanto · 05/12/2018 18:23

I grew up in a rip-the-paper-off-at-6-am house. At dh’s it was a civilised, after lunch affair. We do stockings when kids wake up and the rest after lunch, as a compromise.

dustyparadeground · 05/12/2018 18:24

Different strokes for different folks. When I was a child we were up at probably 5 or 5.30 a.m. very excited and my parents used to fill a pillow case even if the presents were sometimes quite low cost or utilitarian (pair of shoes for school for example).
My in-laws however open presents on Christmas Eve (which is a real problem for Santa) and presents tend to be few but pricey.

NotyourMummynotyourmilk · 05/12/2018 18:24

We always had to queue up at the top of the stairs so my dad could go down first and check if Santa had been, (he always had!!) then he would call us down and we would spend hours opening hundreds of presents (my parents were more quantity than quality!!!) then we would have breakfast then all help out cooking lunch whilst parents got drunker and drunker, eat lunch then parents would sleep in chair whilst we played with our piles of rubbish gifts, parents woke up, started drinking again made a buffet for tea then we were allowed a snowball or Cinzano and lemonade (even at 4 or 5 years old!!) whilst watching telly listening to music all night. Visitors were never allowed on Christmas Day. Not sure what this speech thing is, but we never saw it😂😂😂 I don’t do it like that at all really, too much arguing by 8.00pm as parents were well pissed by then. Good times😩