Being Santa is the most stressful thing you can be.

[Sparklespangle]

Sitting here trying to decide when to go and do stockings. (Relatively light-hearted)

Ds is a baby and won't notice or care when I do his.

DD is 10 and hasn't acknowledged the truth about Santa out loud. I think she is still hedging...

She went to bed at 8.30. her room is pitch black. When do I go up, what do I do if she's still up? What if she wakes up and I've got her stocking in the other room. What if she she sees me taking it.

Is it just me or does everyone worry about 'ruining the magic' by being Santa 'wrong'?

I'm doing eldest in the morning before he wakes up! Yes, it's stressful.

Haha sat here thinking the same thing! Both are fast asleep but can wake in the night with bad dream or want a wee etc. if I do it too early will they catch me, will they then notice the presents and not go back to bed? Do I set an alarm for 2am and go then?! Argh the stress of it all!

This is exactly why stockings go near the fireplace.

I've been stressing about this night for weeks. Dd is such a light sleeper and has insisted her stocking goes by her head!
I can't even put the bigger presents out yet as the cupboard I've put them in creaks and will wake her up.

It's going to be a long night.

This is why stockings are left on door handles here...

Presents always got left down stairs here…much easier.

We don't have stockings in the bedroom !
So we've all in dh boot of his car which is parked up by the back door

Me too!! I'm sitting here trying to decide if she's asleep enough to get the presents out and sort out Santa's plate and get in bed without her waking up. I'm having a glass of wine to calm my nerves!

DD’s stocking hangs on the outside of her bedroom door, this is so Father Christmas won’t knock anything over in her room.

DS once attached a bell to one of his stockings. THAT was stressful!! I have always gone up around 11pm before going to bed.

I had to wait til 2am last year because dd could not get to sleep though excitement!
I am now sat down stairs wondering if she is asleep yet. Why didn't I learn from last year and suggest stockings downstairs ????

I have 2 of the same stockings and swap the one hung on my sons door handle with the filled one on my way past. Takes 2 seconds and makes no noise! So far many years so good! 🤞🏻

Agreed! For some year last year (the first year we had a child old enough to care about stockings) I let DH talk me into putting his stocking in the room, as they do in his family. In my family stockings were downstairs in the morning and I now realise how wise my parents were!

Our stockings are downstairs so much easier to do! We use tights 🤣 so I’ve already stuffed them and then given them identical tights to leave downstairs so all I’ve got to do is swap them over quickly! It would give me heart palpitations having to sneak into their rooms!

Ds is 8 now and I think our best bet is a 3am alarm

Ds has been carefully indoctrinated that if father christmas thinks he is awake, he leaves the stocking outside the bedroom door thus giving mummy a back up plan.

At about 10.30pm I plan to go in empty handed. If he stirs, I will just say it's just me checking he's tucked in ok. If he is sparko, will grab stocking and put it by the bed!

I put all presents in the cupboard under the stairs so I don’t have to walk past bedrooms while being Santa. Stockings downstairs also.
Someone on here said they have duplicate stockings so they quickly swap an empty one for a full one.

Stockings are downstairs here too but unfortunately most presents are stored upstairs under our bed so I need to wait until my 10 year old is asleep to get them down. Dying to crack on as he and I both have covid and I want to get to bed and the youngest went to bed with a temperature so is at high risk of waking at some stage

Hahaha I’m sat here waiting as well, feel super anxious!

Stockings have always gone on the landing as the kids were creeped out by a stranger going into their room while they were asleep (rightly so!). The tooth fairy was more stressful!
Mine are 12&13 now so playing along.

I've just managed to get the present out of the creaking cupboard. Dc are still asleep so just the stockings left to do. I think I will wait a little longer as If they woke now and see them full, they will want to get up and open them.

Good luck for us all for tonight.

My nephew once set up his iPad to record! Luckily as it was dark all he got was blurry legs!!!

I make mine hang them on the door handle...

Stockings downstairs by the fireplace was the tradition here. That way Santa could fill them while eating his mince pie.

This is the first year we’ve put the presents under the tree before they’ve been in bed. DS1 insisted he wanted to help put things out this year. They’re 16 and 14 so no illusions about Santa but it feels all wrong that they haven’t gone to bed with the bottom of the tree empty and woken up to a magical pile of presents ☹️
On the upside I can go to bed now instead of waiting til midnight!