When do you open your presents?

[joelallie]

We open out main presents after lunch. The kids have stockings with little pressies on their beds to open as soon as they wake up. But the big presents sit under the tree until after lunch. It started when I was a child and we always had a posh breakfast on Christmas morning - proper laid table with cloth and the best china etc, home-made milk rolls and home-made plum jam and real coffee. And then church and probably people back for a sherry before lunch. So no time before I suppose. It also means that it all lasts a bit longer. I love christmas with my kids but I do miss the slightly more special way we did christas as a child - everyone dressed up and everything done a bit more formally. DH wouldn't stand for it though .

In all my 41 years I've only met one other family that wait till after lunch.

Anyone else?

Stockings before breakfast, big presents after lunch. Loved it as a kid, and still love it now. Agree Kathy, you have stocking stuff to play with in the morning, and you get to look at and poke about with all the big pressies undedr the tree trying to guess what they are. Great fun!

My Dad played the church organ/choir master and bro was in choir so it was church on Christmas morning

I think that the pressies after lunch adds to the excitment

We have the same lunch as I did when we were children so the family tradition lives on

Stockings in bed, presents under tree opened after lunch.

I have to go for a walk in the evening otherwise I'd go mad with cabin fever.

This year the inlaws will be with us for Christmas day which means that we will have to keep the heating on far too high all day and everyone other than MIL will suffer terribly.

Neither MIL or FIL drink at all and DH doesn't drink much so I will have no drinking partner. I much prefer going to my Mums so I can get quietly ratarsed with my brothers (yes, I know that's not what Christmas is all about, but y'know..)

Stockings as soon as the children wake up (whilst we drink tea and slowly wake up!) then we have breakfast, get dressed and then open presents .

one after midnight mass - rest in the morning

or one after midnight - rest after mass in the morning.

we sing happy birthday to jesus!

I miss the singing in church on a Christmas Day

I feel it would be highly hyprocritical of me to go just for that though

Now last year, after a MN thread I gave ds and dd a present to open on christmas eve of new pyjamas. And I shall do it again this year too.

We open them all Christmas Day, all Boxing Day, and some the day after, as well...

...It's dd's birthday on Christmas Day, and we usually have a houseful of family staying, so even though we don't go mad with presents, trying to fit a birthday and family Christmas into one day is a bit of a squeeze

Cant believe so many of you wait till after lunch to open pressies. My2 couldn't wait till then. We get up open Santas pressies have brunch, get ready and our full Christmas day is hectic got so many family to visit. We were thinking bout just spending the day ourselves and then visiting on Boxing Day. Kids never get a chance to play with pressies. Its a case of open pressies then get ready and go out. Does any one else not visit family on Christmas Day?

We don't visit family because they're too far away. We have them staying though...

stockings in bed
presentsmost definitely after lunch (which often starts around 4pm in our house)
we eke out the day as long as possible

have just realised that this will be the first year without Xmas Top of the Pops. Feel a bit sad about that, will miss it.

I had never heard of people opening presents after lunch till last year.

We have stockings an dmain presents in morning.

Then after 3pm and the Queen's spech we open the 'tree' presents

They get one present Christmas Eve (usually make sure it's a book or something they can take to bed)

We then open family ones after breakfast Christmas Day. Get dressed, go to my Mum and Stepdads, have lunch (Christmas Dinner I should say) and then open their pressies. Boxing Day we go to MILs early afternoon, and we open pressies again. It's nice, spreads it all out (and I never ever cook!)

We have stockings first.
Breakfast.
Start preparing Christmas Dinner (lunch)
Main presents with coffee and/or champagne
Christmas Dinner then TV or walk until late afternoon.
Then the best part of the day - TREE PRESENTS! Nothing over a fiver and as weird and wacky as you please!

(Anyone else finding this thread strangely compelling? It should not be at all interesting, but it is brilliant )

We wait until after lunch too. We have church in the morning, and then home for food, and then pressies.

Mind you, we put the presents under the tree well before Christmas Day, they don't just 'appear' on Christmas Morning, only the stockings do that, so our kids are used to them by then anyway.

We have tree pressies too! Never knew anyone else did that either Usually something small and inexpensive though Dad did give my mum a beautiful sapphire ring one year. I think it was meant for earlier but got lost - mum had probably been quietly wondering why her DH had given her gardening gloves for her christmas pressie

We have stocking opened in bed as soon as DS is up, then a special breakfast, then open main pressies, then my mum and dad come and we open more pressies....

from reading this there are loads of you who do it the same way but I do find there's an anti-climax in the afternoon because of this....what do you do? DS will happily play with new toys etc but I certainly feel the afternoon is a bit 'flat'.....