Saving a present until the afternoon

[Mallowmarshmallow]

We have decided not to mix with grandparents/my sibling and family this year so it'll be the first year just the four of us.

I was thinking of 'accidentally' leaving a present hidden away somewhere and bringing it out in the afternoon..... does anyone else do this?

Otherwise, I can imagine we're going to have a very early start then all the presents will be unwrapped by 8.00!!

@takeyourcanvasbag I call tree presents the ones that are under the tree from us and the rest of the family.
So we do stockings (from Father Christmas) in bed before breakfast, go downstairs to eat, then when cleared up we do the tree presents. We usually open them around 11 and it goes on until about 12:30.
We don’t eat our Christmas dinner until 5ish so I wouldn’t want the dc to wait that long before opening their main presents from us.
The dc aren’t early risers, I usually have to wake them at about 8:30/9 to open their stockings as we normally have a full house for Christmas and have to get on with other preparations!

@PurBal

Stocking gifts in the morning. Tree gifts after the Queen.

This is what we do - I was brought up doing this and was always fine with it - it’s good to have it spread out. My children are also fine with it, dh took a while to get used to it though

Yeah we do stockings and one Santa first thing. Then everything else after meal. Takes a couple of hours. One person opens at a time, older kids hand out now. We love it and nice to sit down with a drink and enjoy.

Also on farm so morning is feeding, then big lunch, then dogs, more feeding, then relax with presents and games and picky snacks later.

When my DDs were small they used to be given far too much from relatives so I used to hold some back for Boxing Day.

Stockings are usually opened at 6am on our bed (early risers!) then we go downstairs and take turns at opening whatever is under the tree. In-laws arrive later in the morning for a present swap then in the afternoon we see my DSis's family for another present swap. This year will be different- DH is working nightshift so stockings and tree presents will be opened after he gets home at 8am. Not seeing in-laws so their presents will already be under the tree to get opened at the same time.

We do stockings in our bed immediately after the last child has woken up. Even if my sister and family is staying - niece and nephew pile into our room as well!

Then we go downstairs and bigger Father Christmas presents are in sacks and are opened. This is everyone opening at same time.

Then we all get washed and dressed and have breakfast etc

Then we start with under the tree presents which are ones from family etc and from each other. We do these one at a time so each child takes it in turn to get a present from under the tree and reads out the label and then gives it to the person. Means we can see people opening presents, and spreads it out a Bit longer. I pop in and out of the kitchen as needed and then once presents are all over DH normally helps with setting some up, or building Lego etc while I crack on with cooking. Then it’s lunch (normally mid afternoon) and then after lunch is board games/Xmas tv/playing with toys/drinking

Only stockings in the beds in morning here, presents after lunch, and a £1 table present. When I read in magazines about kids getting up at crack of dawn and opening presents alone, it makes me sad that no one was there to see their faces

Otherwise in my experience anyway, you end up with a resented lunch or Duplo, cars and slime on the Xmas lunch table

We've never done stockings at christmas but 'tree' pressies in the afternoon. Always little bits, smellies etc. Main pressies in morning.

We do
stoclings when they wake up
Then breakfast, turkey on oven etc. When kids were little we then did presents. Now they are teens they wake up late!
Then church.
Now presents for late waking teens. But only ours.

Then relatives arrive, or we drive to theirs, and then coffee is made and then some presents.

then dinner (which we eat at about 2)

When I was growing up their were always one tiny present each on tree which we got with tea dn Christmas cake at the end of the afternoon.

Then Boxing day was usually different relatives and more gifts.

It is lovely to spread it. Find any reason you like!

I have never understood the pile in under the tree and everything open by 8 am thing.

Stockings first thing, breakfast, church. Maybe one present each to absorb them while lunch is cooking. Then lunch, then main presents. A walk fits in somewhere - possibly before present opening if that's how it works best.

As a kid we spread present opening over the twelve days which I loved, but being from a big family this was easy as there were loads of presents. With just the four of us now I'm not sure it would work.

Yes, we used to save a present or 2 for the afternoon. But we did tell DS so that we could avoid the meltdown when he thought all the present opening was over. Plus one first thing to get the impatient desperation over a bit. He still likes that now he is older (no longer needs the afternoon present though).

My parents used to do this it was brilliant!!

Actually I probably got the idea for that on here a very very long time ago

We rip everything open first thing ! It’s my absolute favorite morning of the year , watching the children rip them all open , wrapping paper everywhere and pure excitement on their faces !
I’m in Ireland so everything from Santa ( few gifts from parents ). Stocking isn’t as big a deal here , usually just sweets , and a few small toys .
It takes ages to actually open them all up and set them up and then play !
All other gifts from family that under in the tree , get opened up throughout the day .
We go over to my parents for Christmas dinner ( around 4pm) so more present opening then.
One year I will never forget was when I was about 7, family had decided that presents were going to be opened after Christmas dinner. Honestly it was the longest day ever looking at all the wrapped presents , I hated it ! We never did it again !

We rip everything open first thing ! It’s my absolute favorite morning of the year , watching the children rip them all open , wrapping paper everywhere and pure excitement on their faces
I think in reality most people's Christmas mornings are like this. Some of the accounts on here sound positively Victorian. Children made to sit until after lunch and the queen's speech before sedately opening their presents with grand mama.

XiCi I have to say, if we attempted to wait until afternoon to open presents that were already in the house, I would get driven mad by the constant "how long til we open them?" It'll be interesting to see what happens while waiting even a couple of hours until DH gets home from work

@XiCi I know !
Sometimes I think I’m worse than the children with the excitement. It’s the one day of the year I love toy mess!

We do one sitting for gifts in the morning, but it usually takes 4-5 hours. First the DC wake up and find their stockings and santa gifts, they drag them all through and open them one by one. I can only concentrate on one dc opening a gift at a time so there is no simultaneous opening. I’d hate that as I’d miss things. The gift is unwrapped, explored a little and talked about - eg if it were a book the dc might read the back page, if it were a dc they might open the case and look at it, if it were a hat they might try it on, but they wouldn’t play the dc/start reading the book/set up a more elaborate toy until later on. This isn’t done artificially, it’s all quite natural. They are excited and when it’s their turn to open one they might go in for a bit of paper ripping but generally they seem as keen to prolong the process as the adults. After Santa’s offerings have been properly explored it’s time for the tree, and coffee and breakfast. Often the dc like to choose a present to give out from under the tree first rather than one to open themselves as they’ve just done their stockings. So the adults get involved and we hand a gift out each and go around again, and we have a break for coffee or to set up a toy or game of some sort, we are usually eating breakfast in a leisurely way, croissants or something. And we go on opening and enjoying until later morning when it’s time to get dressed, There will usually be someone trying on the clothes they got or showering with the new toiletries they got. Usually this all takes until at least midday then I start the dinner and the dc tidy up the wrapping paper madness before exploring their stuff in a bit more detail.

Presents from other friends of family are given when we see them so I suppose those are spaced out.

@XiCi

We rip everything open first thing ! It’s my absolute favorite morning of the year , watching the children rip them all open , wrapping paper everywhere and pure excitement on their faces I think in reality most people's Christmas mornings are like this. Some of the accounts on here sound positively Victorian. Children made to sit until after lunch and the queen's speech before sedately opening their presents with grand mama.

That's pretty weird, to go from we open presents later to sitting sedately and with grand mama.

As kids, presents under the tree were not opened until after breakfast. The excitement was HUGE. Jigging round waiting for adults to make coffee etc and we couldnt' start til everyone was there, and Mum was always fiddling with something in the oven.

There is no less squealing and excitement and present ripping just because you do it later.

But it is nice to pace it out a bit through the day.
Stockings are great, but if you just rip them open on the way down to the tree, then they become a waste of time.

Stockings were opened when we were up at 6 am and kept us entertained while Mum and Dad got up.

For years I didn't understand the obsession with Christmas pjs until I realised that kids opened everything in their pjs.
Wow I would really really hate that. Half asleep, dragged out of bed, in MY pjs and someone is taking pictures.
Because we do it after breakfast, we are all up and dressed.

This year for the first time I'm going to do 'Santa' presents in the AM and save presents from family/me (I set a few back for this) under the tree for after lunch. It does mean I know I'm not getting my new phone until after lunch but hey ho, sacrifices...