Anyone else not put christmas presents in seperate piles for xmas morning?

[Seasonschaaaange]

We put all presents under the tree all mixed up, including adult presents. Our kids then look at the labels and pass the presents out. I grew up with my mum doing the same and always thought it was the normal way of doing things till I became an adult with facebook. Now I see it is far more common for presents to be put in seperate piles and placed on the sofa etc. I love the way we do it and can't imagine changing it. Just wondering if there is anyone else who does the same?

[OneNightTimeMenaceStrikesBack]

when we did christmas at home, it was always presents under the tree in one pile and they got handed out one by one. We don't have a big christmas anymore since mum passed away but we still do presents one at a time even though there's not as many of us together anymore. I have nothing against doing separate piles though, whatever works best for your particular family

[Zaphodsotherhead]

Question for those who do 'mixed up piles' - because this is the reason we stopped...what do you do when the labels fall off? There's always one giver who does carefully designed, tied or stuck on labels that detach, and you end up with unnamed boxes under the tree that someone has to be designated to open and pass to the actual recipient. Playing 'guess who this is for', even when it's been unwrapped can be tricky...maybe that's a new game for Christmas?

[Juanbablo]

Our kids get their own Santa sack but all the presents from us, each other and family are just piled under the tree. It makes it more fun to rummage around! Generally I hand them out so everyone has one and just keep it going until they are all gone. No one gets impatient because they enjoy seeing each other opening presents.

[HarryPottersBroomstick]

We also do stockings only from Santa. Means we can have an honest discussion about how mum and dad can't buy everything they want.

I'm pretty generous with the stocking presents but I don't/ can't go OTT.

[Lovemusic33]

We have previously done separate piles and some under the tree mixed up but this year they will all be mixed up under the tree as the dd's are getting older and the piles wouldn't be as big as previous years, I want it to last longer.

[Damocat]

Ours are all mixed up and handed out one at a time. That way I can make a list of who has given what for the thank you letters. Only the stocking is from Father Christmas and that goes in the bedroom.

[BiddyPop]

We had a separate armchair (or cushion on the sofa if we were too slow to shout!) to put our socks for Santa to fill. And to leave bigger presents beside.

But any presents under the tree, from anyone else (including each of us to our siblings and parents, and something from parents to each of us too), were piled in any old way, and handed out 1 by 1 when it was time to open them (late afternoon). It's not quite in order, but there is an effort to ensure fair sharing of opening opportunities and that everyone has one to open not too long after their previous one.

We do the same in our house.

BIL does it by having them all under the tree, higgledy piggeldy, like us. But hands everything out to each person, and then starting with the youngest, each person opens their whole pile before we can move on to the next person. Which is annoying after waiting an hour while DSisIL finishes wrapping upstairs after tidying up from dinner (which was delayed, again, and we are now more than 2 hours late leaving to see my family, and who only get a few hours of our time anyway when we travel - but SIL doesn't recognize that at all!).

[craftsy]

I agree,each to their own,but must admit I struggle with those to dont wrap the presents. Surely the excitement and anticipatio is lost if you can see what everything is immediately

It's the exact opposite. Sooooooooooo the exact opposite. The excitement is immediate and intense in a way that just can't compare to wrapped gifts. The child walks into the room and wham!!!! it's all just there. It's so exciting the child's brain can barely handle it and the child literally can not take it all in. The reactions from the child as they assimilate the information bit by bit in the most random seeming ways that you just can't predict are priceless. The actual only comparison that comes near to it was how DS's eyes reacted the first time he tasted breastmilk when he was newborn. The shock, intense frantic processing then utter joy and delight followed by getting down to business.

Then afterwards, noticing the various ways the toys are posed. Imagining Santa playing with them and setting up funny little jokes to make everyone laugh in the way they are arranged. It's so very, very, very personal and a continuation of years of in jokes with Santa. All of my best memories of Christmas morning concern the silly continuing jokes that Santa played. It meant 'he knew me' and we had a relationship beyond him leaving gifts in exchange for a biscuit and glass of lemonade. We were buddies and he cared enough to make me laugh which meant so much more than the toys themselves.

Compared to that, opening gifts is really dreary and takes so long and makes the presents part of the morning way too much of a focus when you could just be having fun. It also means that all of the shite part of new toys, the cutting them out of boxes they are practically welded into, piecing them together, applying the damn stickers, etc is done well in advance and doesn't waste any precious minutes of Christmas day. Maybe I'd feel differently if I was staying home all day on Christmas but we've way too much to do and too much fun to be having to eke out any part of they day. It's just constant high intensity fun with teensy breaks to catch our breath before moving on to the next thing and none of us would have the patience for spending an hour or more on unwrapping.

[BiddyPop]

Oh, all the presents under the tree are wrapped but Santa never wrapped in my house, DH's house and not in our house now. I don't know any house in real life where Santa has wrapped presents.

[crwox]

Santa leaves a pile of unwrapped presents on the sofa here.
All the family and friends presents are all wrapped and mixed under the tree, we pass them out and open one at a time 😊

[GreenTulips]

Santa wraps presents here

One colour per child - saves writing labels

[singadream]

We have done separate piles for our kids. Well sacks actually so they don’t compere as they each get one sack. But this thread reminds me of christmasss when I was young and how lovely that was trying to spot your name under the tree. Maybe we will start doing that this year!

[FairyMcHairy]

We always did mixed presents under the tree and the youngest dish them out. Always a joke that my dad points out how small his collection is when they’ve been given out and then we open them one by one.

I was horrified when I spent my first Christmas at the in laws and they had got sacks for everyone and all presents go in there beforehand. WHERE WAS THE FUN??

[LunaMay]

All presents go under the tree including a few from santa.
In the morning kids go through their stocking on the bed first thing.
Then after cup of tea and everyone arriving etc we tackle the presents under the tree. Usually mum handing them out one each at a time and everyone watching them being opened. Can take a good hour or two.

[KanyeWesticle]

All mixed up. One at a time.

Stocking and one, specially chosen, present before lunch. Lunch, games, and delicious anticipation for the rest of the presents after the Queen's speech.

[ItStartedWithAKiss241]

We mix them all up but with designated wrapping paper, pink fairies for dd, brown paper for me, golden Santa’s for ds who is obsessed with golden things x

[doodle01]

Def and close guarding little sister woke early and opened them all