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Original poster

Stockings - why do people make it hard for themselves?!

91 replies

christmaslover88 · 25/12/2022 05:24

I've read so many posts tonight about people having to stay up crazy late for their kids to fall asleep to do stockings, their kids hearing them in their rooms and sussing Santa isn't real, people with duplicate stockings to speed up the process etc

Why do you all do this to yourselves?!

Stockings have never gone in bedrooms here, hung up on the mantelpiece before bed and then laid on the floor in front of the fire once filled. Santa comes down the chimney so surely it makes sense to have the stockings close at hand?

I genuinely didn't know stockings in bedrooms was a thing but it just seems to be a way to make your own life harder on Christmas Eve!

OP posts:
Changemaname1 · 25/12/2022 07:31

AnotherAppleThief · 25/12/2022 05:28

Because when they are little it's easy and you get a few more minutes in bed whilst they open them. People forget they grow and it gets harder.

This !!! 😂 we had a present on the end of our bed as kids and I just carried it on with dc but with their stocking that they hang on the bedroom door . Without a care in the world or consideration that they’d get older and be far to excited to sleep and I’d be falling asleep hoping they’d sleep before I did 😂😂

WordtoYoMumma · 25/12/2022 07:37

We've always done stockings downstairs because I don't like the idea of the kids opening them without me! As a kid they'd be outside the bedroom door and my sister and I would open stockings together as we weren't allowed to wake my parents til later (we were given a specific time, can't remember what now).

When I had kids the thought of them being up and excited and opening presents while I was still asleep made me a bit sad as I didn't want to miss seeing that. So we do stockings all together downstairs and it's always been my favourite bit of Christmas.

We do main presents after lunch though which generally makes people think I am awful for making my kids wait 😂

whatkatydid2013 · 25/12/2022 07:39

We also do them downstairs but we don’t get up that early anyway so it wouldn’t save us any sleep. Eldest (8) just pottered in to us about 15 minutes ago and is on the iPad waiting and youngest (6) is still asleep. We are lucky it’s that way round as eldest has more patience

Hobbesmanc · 25/12/2022 07:45

Awww I remember the excite that of waking up and seeing the filled pillow case at the end of the bed. It was always freezing downstairs until the fire was lit so we would take them into mums bed and open them there

Zanatdy · 25/12/2022 07:45

Never had any presents in bedrooms. We used to have ours in the bedroom as kids. I remember being up at 1am one year as I heard them coming in! That was one tiring Christmas for my poor parents.

ChristmasJingleBalls · 25/12/2022 07:49

You know not everyone has a fireplace?

Ours are in bedrooms, then I can go back to bed for a bit after they’ve opened them as mine were up at 5am.

hiredandsqueak · 25/12/2022 07:50

Stockings here go on the backs of the dining room chairs and are opened around the table after dinner. Mine aren't early risers and never have been so they were used to encourage little ones to stay at the table. When they no longer needed the encouragement they didn't want to change the tradition.

HeliosPurple · 25/12/2022 07:51

We can’t have them in the living room as the dog would eat the chocolate coins!!

Username6194 · 25/12/2022 07:57

AnotherAppleThief · 25/12/2022 05:28

Because when they are little it's easy and you get a few more minutes in bed whilst they open them. People forget they grow and it gets harder.

Surely they don't open stockings on their own. Mine have always grabbed the stockings and came into my room to open them.

Pismascrescents · 25/12/2022 07:59

Someone has already said the answer. The soft, heavy feeling and excitement if something at the end of your bed. That “Christmas Day magic” feeling. Eating chocolate in bed at 5am.

Rubyupbeat · 25/12/2022 08:01

I suppose its whatever suits the family, we always had stockings in the front room, so I did the same with my children (they were actually pillowcases)

PuttingDownRoots · 25/12/2022 08:02

Left by the fireplace, then santa leaves them upstairs when full. For everyone.

Idontgiveagriffindamn · 25/12/2022 08:03

Waking up and seeing the filled stocking or pillow case was one of the best memories as a child. As we got older my parents adapted and they were left outside.
The kids finding their stockings and bringing them through to open in our bed is my fave part of Xmas.

FaazoHuyzeoSix · 25/12/2022 08:05

we grew up in a house with no fireplace and stockings were in bedrooms which meant the mess was contained and gufts stayed in the recipient's room.

parents now have a house with a fireplace and the various DC (tribe of cousins) hung up their stockings on the mantelpiece and went downstairs early to open them. it is an utter bombsite in there with no carpet visible through the discarded paper and mixed up presents scattered everywhere. it will take a lot of tidying before grownups can even get to the sofa. not sure that is preferable.

DappledThings · 25/12/2022 08:05

Ours were in our rooms. Or so my parents tell me. I don't remember. My mum tells me she used to get bored waiting for my brother and I to wake up and be interested in them and start making noise outside our rooms by 7.30 when we still weren't up. We were a bit crap about being excited children really.

We keep them downstairs by the fireplace now. DC woke up about 7 and we all came down then. Definitely easier than sneaking into rooms.

Girliefriendlikespuppies · 25/12/2022 08:05

When I was a kid waking up to see my stocking full of presents in my room was magical so I definitely wanted to carry that on for my dd.

I agree it's a ballache as a parent though 😂

Krakenwakes · 25/12/2022 08:10

Ponderingwindow · 25/12/2022 05:28

It seems crazy to me too.
”the stockings were hung by the chimney with care”

it’s right there in the poem.

we have really good stocking holders that will hold even the heaviest stockings so ours stay up after being filled, but always in the main living area, by the fireplace if you have one.

The poem is American and describes American tradition. In England, traditionally stockings are in the bedroom. I was a child in the ‘60s/‘70s and that was how it was for both DH and me. Mine were laid on the bed, DH’s too. As time has gone on, the tradition is changing here to put stockings near or on a fireplace, perhaps due to films and books etc. My DC had stockings downstairs on the hearth. It was easier, and the influence of that visual of stockings on the fireplace is strong.

Divebar2021 · 25/12/2022 08:10

I agree that Christmas can be stressful enough without all of this extra stuff thrown in that was Invented by retail giants to boost their sales

Firstly Stockings are not “extra stuff” they are in fact “the stuff” and I feel sorry for anyone who hasn’t experienced presents at the end of the bed. Secondly Christmas is an event that a lot of people want to make effort for. If we didn’t want to we could have a microwave meal or a takeaway but we don’t.

TheBuggerlugs · 25/12/2022 08:12

This reply has been withdrawn

This post has been withdrawn due to privacy concerns

Hugasauras · 25/12/2022 08:13

Oh it's a total pain but the absolute magic as a child poking with your foot and hearing the crinkle of a full stocking on the bed is one of my best and strongest memories of Christmas. So it's worth doing it for DD for that reason Smile

zen1 · 25/12/2022 08:16

My DC are teens now but still hang their stockings at the end of their beds. When they were little, we used to tell them if they woke up early, they could open their stocking presents as long as they didn’t disturb us (didn’t always work lol!).

When I was a child, Santa would leave all the presents in our bedrooms so we’d hand up a stocking and a pillow case. Didn’t have anything under the tree or downstairs.

DeathMetalMum · 25/12/2022 08:19

One of my best memories if Christmas is waking up with the stocking at the end of the bed. Feeling the weight on the duvet.

We do xmas eve pj's for the dc only, but they are worn all year round, and dc have always been excited to get into new pj's.

Fizbosshoes · 25/12/2022 08:21

When I was a kid I (not entirely unreasonably) didn't like the idea of a man coming in the house overnight so insisted my parents put our stocking outside!!😂Every year

My DC have theirs in their bedrooms. Now they are teens they obviously don't believe in santa but I accidentally filled the stocking as I wrapped the presents this year. We all laughed as we floundered around for some excuse why they couldn't leave their empty stocking out for santa last night! They have been delivered the full stocking to their room.

drspouse · 25/12/2022 08:24

Krakenwakes · 25/12/2022 08:10

The poem is American and describes American tradition. In England, traditionally stockings are in the bedroom. I was a child in the ‘60s/‘70s and that was how it was for both DH and me. Mine were laid on the bed, DH’s too. As time has gone on, the tradition is changing here to put stockings near or on a fireplace, perhaps due to films and books etc. My DC had stockings downstairs on the hearth. It was easier, and the influence of that visual of stockings on the fireplace is strong.

Show quote history

My dad's English and his tradition was by the fireplace, or on the banister if no fireplace. I was a child in the 60s/70s.

Krakenwakes · 25/12/2022 08:26

drspouse · 25/12/2022 08:24

My dad's English and his tradition was by the fireplace, or on the banister if no fireplace. I was a child in the 60s/70s.

Show quote history

Ah, OK, I suppose people do things differently in different places too.