to think that father christmas only brings one present?

[snowedinwithJjandtheBean]

All of the inlaws openly say all presents are from santa,

i have been brought up with the main pressie, IE something from my letter to santa, being santa and the rest from whoever they are from!

I really dont agree with presents from grandma, aunts, friends and so on being said they're from santa!

I want the dcs to be grateful to whatever family member thought, took time and spent money!

Dp FINALLY understands and agrees, but weve been warned not to ruin it for mil and her other grandchildren, even though all the other parents feel the same, but AIBU?

What do other familys do?

Luckily DH and i were both brought p that Santa fills stockings which are available first thing on Christmas day and then there are presents from relatives to be opened later.

i was a teeny bit jealous of DH though.He had stockings from Santa for as long as he lived at home (21) and they were full of good stuff- lego and champagne etc. In the latter years of my stocking presents it was entirely useful and necessary stuff - underwear and shampoo. not so good.

This is a really difficult situation for you!

YANBU but you are having Christmas at someone else's house and they do things in a different way, so you should respect that. Perhaps you could have a tactful word with MIL about why you find it difficult to do things the way she does.

I agree with you though, presents should be from who they are from and santa's stuff from mums and dads. I would just go along with it this year and then not spend Christmas at inlaw's again!

Hopefully I'm like you. Big row discussion last night. Apparently, some people think FC brings all presents! Wish he bloody would, then I'd have had a much quieter December. Bah humbug

Santa hasn't got the sodding time to be filling houses with all the presents. How would he get round to every other child in the world? How would the other present givers get thanked properly if S.Claus gets all the credit too? Plus what happens when the Santa Myth is exploded? Does the "unbeliever" suddenly get a different set of presents from her or his younger sibling?

Rule is simple - Santa is for stockings only. Naughty old git.

None of our presents used to say 'from Father Christmas' - we knew who they were from. But we still thought FC brought them all - like a postman I guess!

I don't think it has to be logical (or consistent) for children to believe it or enjoy it.

I agree im from the same childhood of presents from father xmas (from parents) and all others were opened after lunch so we could take time to realise they from all the thoughtful relatives. I wanted this to contiue this way but mil insists she coming over with a sack of presents she wwants to be from santa which i protest loudly to dh over last night as for one i really cant be arsed with another visit fromt hem when they could just bring them on the day and give em then more so i like to space out the present openeng frenzy. Im a miserable git atm though.

Yes everylittlebeat - Santa was the sort of spirit of goodwill that brought the presents from the relatives...tagged and named from Auntie etc
Stockings (not sacks) were Santa
big presents from Mum and Dad

but unfortunately in Germany (dh is from thither)Father Christmas brings the presents and decorates the tree on Xmas Eve [impossible to organise THAT], mum and dad only give small offerings, and in Ireland (cousins and aunts are Irish)every toy is from Santy, mum and dad only give clothes or new shoes..
confused? so we are we.

YABVU to think and expect that everyone else should "do" Christmas presents the way you do.

In my home, Father Christmas (what's all this with "Santa"?) brings a sack full of presents to each child. He is so generous that we, as parents, don't give anything at all to the children. Any relatives giving extra presenst do so in their own name. That's one way of doing it. It is equally valid to your way - and your MIL's way - and anyone else's way, as far as I'm concerned.

I would also hazard a guess that your dh actually prefers MIL's way, since presumably that would have been what he grew up with. Ho hum.

scarlet I DO NOT expect others to do the same, i never suggested that, i would just like some respect for how i choose to do things, and actually dp changed his mind when he realised that ds would think his much wanted mini micro scooter wasnt from daddy and me of course. christ theres always one whos agressive.

I am at home christmas day aswell, so sorry if i confused anyone, so no idea why mil is being so obsessive about her rules,

shes the same as bobblehat said her mil is.

The discussion began because id signed my neice and nephews gift tag from me dp jj and the bean. And she said no its from santa you'll ruin it, i was verrrry confused by this.

glad im not completely unreasonable

father cnristmas only gave us one present each everything else was from parents / whoever.

but on reading this thread i asked my mom why she did it that way, and she said that it was because she couldnt quite face being THAT big a liar. like one present from an imaginary man was as far as she could go!!!

am still laughing at her.

YANBU - I feel the same as the majority of people. The kids can ask Santa for two or three things and that is it. Since we are overseas this year, Santa is very generously going to 'pick up' the Scotland presents and deliver them also (nice man, very helpful!) but the kids know who bought them what. I would find it difficult to listen to their ever-growing list and curtail it (without screaming like a harridan that they were spoilt brats) without being able to say 'no, you cannot have that. It is too expensive" if they though that the big FC didn't just appear with their every heart's desire.

My MIL insists that Santa brought them their shit too but who cares....?

Father Christmas fills stockings and brings smaller presents. Main presents from me and DH and then everything else is from whoever sent it.

As it should be