Must. Stay. AWAKE!

[MissusClaws]

I’m sure I’m not the only parent who’s desperately trying to stay awake to do their Santa bit!
im knackered and I k ow they’ll be up at silly o’clock. I’ve set an alarm incase I do nod off.
my 10 year old, as far as I can tell, is still a believer and this will no doubt be the last year. Problem is, he’s a light sleeper, but has insisted that FC leaves his presents in the end of his bed like every other year. How do I style it out if I inadvertently manage to wake him up?!
would love to hear some funny stories of parents being(or almost being!) caught in the act!

We had a few years when mine were believers where we had only been in bed 20 minutes before they woke up!

and I remember one year being desperate to stay awake to see Father Christmas and my Dad kept coming in my room to check if I was asleep under the guise of "checking if he's been!" I was about 8 I think

Just done the drop for my 2.5 yo. Very relieved it all went well and praying she sleeps until at least 7am (wouldn't be unusual for her) as I am definitely too wired to sleep just now!

My youngest is 15 and I very unsneakily put gifts under the tree earlier (there's a high chance she won't be back down from her room now anyway).

I miss the waiting for then to sleep and trying not to rattle bags stage as you creep down with it all. I always left stockings by their doors as it became too much work to get them in their rooms.

I miss reading night before Xmas and putting out food for santa. But after 27 years of it I'm also glad I can relax!

I hope you get all your gifts delivered before it gets too late!

Buy 2 identical santa sacks. Then all you have to do is swap. Also, do you have a lockable suitcase. Store some small random Christmas bits and pieces in it. At Christmastime, bring it down, keep it locked, a few days before Christmas, prep the second bag and store away

I have just done ours. Kids are 12-16 so no longer true believers. But they still have their stockings at the end of the bed. Unfortunately dd1 was awake but 'Santa' isn't as young and just wants to go to sleep now 😆

We used to 'just check if he's been' quite a lot when they were younger. Ds1 would wake 20-30 times a night, and wake everyone else through the year. Xmas was different because he'd get so overwhelmed he'd just collapse to sleep.

This has been lovely to read!

The year I discovered Santa wasn’t real was the year I woke to my dad’s hand reaching round the door and scrabbling to hook the stocking on the door handle. I think he’d had a few and his aim was off 😂 I was probably 8 or 9.

Santa brings our presents into the lounge rather than their bedrooms as they are both too light sleepers for that. However the presents are hidden under my ottoman bed so I went up to get them at 10.30, my daughter woke up so I’ve had to hang about waiting for her to go back to sleep. All done now phew

I woke my then 4 year old by accident. I froze, said ho ho ho in a very deep voice and backed out slowly. On Xmas day he was ecstatic, mummy I saw Santa. Bless.

Just read this out to DH and DD (23yo, dw) - they laughed out loud. That is genius!

My dad was a farmer.
There were lean years and flush years and our presents reflected that.
I remember one year when there were a whole lot of presents under the tree and I was in awe when I saw them.
I’m thinking now how wonderful that must’ve made my dad feel - to see my little face on Christmas morning.
It’s Christmas Eve where I live and I’m thinking about my family. ❤️

Leave it under the tree. Tell him santa forgot or was too tired to fo to his room. Don't stress yourself

I think if you are at the 'waiting' stage they are too old for stockings. Just go to bed

@MissusClaws A believer at 10 years old?

My 13 year old is still faffing around, despite numerous words from me about going to sleep. Unfortunately we have an open lounge, stairs and landing and they have their bedroom door open so whilst I can sort bits in the kitchen moving everything to the lounge does require them to be asleep and I really want my bed!

Edited to add, this is the first year we've not left anything out for FC, however, I still don't want to be caught in the act!!

I had to wait till half 11. The 5yr old was sleeping for half 9 but the 2yr old didn’t nap today, fell asleep at 7 and woke back up at 8 then took me till after 11 to get him to sleep then had to wait till he was K.O’d as some presents were stashed in his cupboard. Still had a bike to build as well 🤦🏽‍♀️ bed time now though

Not that unusual. In December there’s usually a few threads around whether the op should tell their child in the first year of secondary.

If he does still really believe it’s probably the last one though.

A hack for this, have a second identical sticking that you fill then you just swap with the empty one.

We've just completed what felt like a Ninja Warrior course trying to get into the kids rooms to fill the stockings, DP did our sons and his stocking had fallen off the end of the bed down the side so he had to do an exorcist type hovering over DS to reach it.

I took on the task of sorting our daughters stocking, climbing over the baby gate, her door isn't straight (the whole house is on the piss but that's another story) so it creaks at the slightest touch, you have to be ridiculously fast in opening it to avoid making any sound.

Both kids have CCTV in their bedrooms so I decided to move DD Christmas tree which was blocking the camera so we can watch back her reaction in the morning but it has made for a good laugh watching the footage of us scrambling around in the dark trying not to wake the kids.

Parent actulay go to bed on Xmas eve ? Then try to stay awake to sort father Xmas?
I never ever to bed before 3am on Xmas eve and if I did Xmas would be cancelled

All done just over an hour ago but too wired to sleep now’

Took my 10 yo to church with the extended family (their Christmas tradition rather than ours) - which was either genius and will result in a good lie in, or disastrous and he’ll be exhausted 😬

My does - don’t be such a killjoy!

I still believed in the final year of primary (I’d have been 11) and I haven’t grown up to be some gullible fool that believes ridiculous thing.

Just persuaded my 20 year old to go to bed so I can do the Xmas stockings. Yes, we all know it’s me but still like to leave them on the end of their beds.

22-year old still at work (hospitality) though no doubt they’re all drinking and not got customers this late. I’ve said he needs to pace himself but what do I know?! He will be in at some point. Starts again at 11am for Xmas lunches.

Time to do the stocking run

Pretty sure 12 yr old is asleep, 16yr olds tv has stopped playing Harry Potter so assume she’s trying to sleep. I wish I’d bought 2 of each stocking to switch out but I didn’t think of that at the time. They don’t believe but I still don’t want to be caught 😆😆

Also wishing I had a duplicate stocking. I had it all ready to go and 8 yr old DS woke up for the toilet 10 mins ago!! Wanted to know where his stocking was. I made some excuse about needing it to put some sweets from me in it and hastily unfilled it and duly brought it back. Now wondering how long to leave it before trying to reclaim it.