fc brings one big present and fills a pillowcase left by the fire with smaller cheapy presents.
all the other presents are under the tree from whoever actually bought them and put into piles for each person.
santa always sends some things early so we can open them on xmas eve too. (normally new pjs, a story for bedtime and occasionally a couple of bits and bobs if they have been discovered already and were already wrapped up saying they were from fc.)
i always think this way you don't have to bother hiding the wrapped tree presents and if little eyes find something before it is wrapped you can just say it is from you, instead of having to lie about why it is there already and if it is wrapped and the tag says from santa you can open it xmas eve.
i can remember some of the things i questioned about fc when i was little and what my mum told me. when i asked how santa would get in cos we didn't have a chimney i was told he could sort of teleport himself one place to another and he also had a list of everyones burglar alarm codes.
when i noticed the fc from one year wasn't the same as the year before i was told santa is too busy in lapland so he has helpers to dress up as fc for him.
when i asked if fc's elves make the presents in lapland then how come they are the same as the ones in toys r us i was told fc has a toy factory in lapland for the presents he brings but he also helps run all the toy factories in the world, and that's why the toys are the same. he also helps run wrapping paper factories and that is why sometimes he uses the same wrapping paper as mummy and daddy.
santa can get around the world in one night by stopping time and because he stops time there was no point in stopping up all night to try and see him as i was determined to do one year.
all our presents from mum & dad and fc just had our names on them - never who they were off. if they were by the fire we knew they were from fc and if they were by the tree they were from mum & dad. my mum has told me since she always did this so if we came across them we would never know they were fc presents. she just hid mum & dad presents sep to fc presents so when they came down xmas eve she knew which place to leave them in iyswim.
this might seem very complicated but it meant i ended up believing in fc until i was 8 when i noticed it was my mums writing on the presents so now i know for ds to do his labels on the computer when he is old enough to understand about this fc stuff.