AIBU to open Christmas cards before Christmas day?

[BlueTit4xmas]

Year after year, DP and I have the same disagreement. I open Christmas cards as and when they arrive. He saves his until Christmas. Both insist we are correct.

So I've decided to take this to Mumsnet, please settle the argument for me: do you open your cards before or on Christmas Day?

YABU to open Christmas cards before 25th December - wait!
YANBU to open Christmas cards before 25th December and I do this too

@BlueTit4xmas you could show him the Christmas episode of Gavin and Stacey where Pamela mentions how she never understands people sending cards to arrive on Christmas Eve (she sends hers on 1st November so people have 7 weeks to enjoy them) 😀

Unless you are married to Jesus I’d say absolutely no way should he wait until Christmas Day.

(Yanbu OP)

The only reason you would wait is if it's a card for a child that has money in it (and the parent knows this).

Adults should open their cards when they arrive to read and display them. Some older people do newsletter style cards that might have significant news in them too e.g. change of address, recent bereavement, new grandchild and this might be relevant to mention in your card. Also it might jog your memory that you have a card from Aunty X but haven't sent her one!

@mumwhatnothing genius idea

YANBU but my late husband and I always used to exchange Christmas cards on Christmas Eve. It became our special family tradition which he started because he’d got me a special card (probably one that said Happy Christmas to my wife) and he put it on the mantelpiece for me to open once the shops had shut on Christmas Eve and you get to that point where you stop rushing around and realise it’s nearly Christmas. I have such happy memories of those cards and I suspect they wouldn’t have had the same impact if we’d exchanged them two weeks before Christmas. But apart from that you definitely open cards as they arrive because they become part of the Christmas decorations and that way you get to enjoy (or hate and get irritated by) them for longer!

I don't know a single person who doesn't open Xmas cards as they get them. I mean, if that's what you dh enjoys doing with cards given to him then he can crack on but If he thinks it's the norm or what most people do then he's the weird one.

YANBU, we open ours before Christmas and display them in the house. I’m not sure what the point would be just opening them Christmas day

YANBU , I’ve never heard of anyone leaving cards until the 25th . We’ve always opened them as they arrive and then they sit in a pile on the side in the kitchen.

Never even occurred to me anyone would wait to open Christmas cards till Christmas day.. what's the point of that? The cards are decorative.. so you put them on display when you recieve them for the whole of December till u take ur decorations down... what does your dh do? Open them then chuck them straight in the bin? How wierd.

Leaving them to be opened on xmas day (unless money inside for kids) is one of the oddest things I've ever heard. It's not his birthday!

Unless it is.

First time I've seen 100% on a MN Poll

YANBU 100%
Total votes: 155

How else would you find out who you've forgotten to send a card to?

Weird. LTB.

You open Christmas cards as they arrive. Just daft to leave it to Christmas Day, I've never heard of anyone doing that.

Of course you open them when they arrive and hurriedly post your one to the sender if you haven't already

@Sciurus83

To be fair my parents wait until New Year to open theirs. They are of a generation that writes Christmas letters though, so they like to wait until January so they have time to sit down and read them properly and process all the news.

OP, your husband is not alone! XH did this too. He was horrified on our first Christmas together when I started opening cards as they arrived, and said it would spoil the fun of opening them on the day. I laughed and carried on.

His family were weird about Christmas cards though. They also refused to post them individually to relatives, but instead would put all cards from one branch of the family to another branch into one huge envelope and post that to the "head" of the other branch, who would open and distribute all the cards to the right people. It was crazy talk, apparently, to even think of posting cards to the people they were intended for!

Open and display on the mantelpiece as you go along.

I like to enjoy and respond to Christmas cards. I have enough to do on Christmas day without that as well.

@Baileyscheesecake sorry for your loss. Fond memories

I have never heard of anyone waiting to open Christmas cards on Christmas Day. How weird! You are definitely doing it the correct way, OP. You’re supposed to open the cards as they arrive and display them. (And send cards to anyone you realise you’ve forgotten!)

He’s confused Christmas cards with birthday cards

You open them when they arrive! It's not like birthday cards.

I open them as I get them too