If your dc don't believe in Father Christmas do presents go under the tree or still in sacks?

[heartlikecrazypaving]

Do you put the gifts under the tree as you go along instead of hiding them or put them there on Christmas Eve? How do you do things?

We didn’t do FC but presents were still just put out on Christmas Eve , ours are adult now and presents don’t go out until Christmas Day morning as our dog likes to unwrap everyone’s presents not just his own .

My children have never had sacks, so they def dont go in sacks.

DC are teens now 14 and 16, and presents are still a surprise, they still don't see them untill Christmas morning. I personally feel that putting them under the tree as you go takes away the anticipation and suprise Christmas morning. To me that is the fun bit.

We still pretend santa comes, even tho we all know he doesn't.

First year of non-belief by both boys 11 and 8. We will carry on the tradition of stocking handing on the bedroom door after they've gone to sleep and bigger presents set out under the tree for Christmas morning. We don't see any reason to change our preferred routine just because they know what's behind the magic. It's still magic.

Presents have always gone under the tree in our house. I don't ever remember DS believing in Father Christmas, he's 19 now. Never been a big thing for us.

First year that officially no-one believes.
We will stick to usual routine.
Stockings in bedrooms, presents from family under the tree.

Stockings will appear when they have gone to bed (we go to midnight mass, I might not wait for hours for them all to be asleep this time!)
But those who go to midnight Mass help me retrieve all the family presents from their hiding places and help arrange them under the tree! Then they can open ONE, and get to sleep quickly "or else Father Christmas won't come!"

Always did it the same regardless of whether they believed or not. They are now 18 and 19. Small presents in stockings in bedrooms. Larger presents appear round tree over night. Only difference is we no longer wait until they are asleep! It's the tradition that matters, not the belief.

Under the tree.

I'm in my late 20s and this is the first year we are putting under the tree. We are big kids

We put presents out together under the tree on 23rd December (older child helped with this last year aged 3.5). This includes a couple that are opened on 24th December as we live in a country where celebrating on that date is the norm but we open most on 25th. We also do stockings which are left in your room/on your bed overnight on the 24th and you wake to a filled stocking on the 25th.

In this family Father Christmas only ever brought relatively little things in stockings or pillowcases.

Everything else (under the tree) was from family.

Funnily enough, they still got stockings even after they’d stopped believing, though. Everyone gets one in this house, regardless of age - we have a special arrangement with FC. 🎅🏻

Awww this is so lovely to read thank you. I don't like to see any of my own presents until Christmas morning and the children do not see any of theirs. When I was 12 I said I'd like my presents under the tree as they arrived that year. I hated it. My mum is 82 and still has a stocking.

My children (now adults) never believed in Father Christmas, they knew it was "grown ups dressed up to keep a tradition alive". They still had stockings and presents on the end of the bed, to open as they woke up on Christmas morning.

But family presents (from aunts and uncles/grandparents etc.) always went under the tree and were opened after Christmas lunch.
It was the same when I was young, we also knew Santa didn't exist but followed the same tradition in presents....

My sons are 18 and 15 and still hang up a stocking for Father Christmas, we video it every year as we have done so since they were tiny. They still say, "We are hanging up our stockings for Father Christmas" and somehow those stockings are still filled come Christmas morning, some could say it is a Christmas miracle.

Presents from us do go in a sack because I made them with my Mum when the boys were very little. Sadly she is no longer with us but the sacks are a lovely reminder of that time. She taught me to sew when I was a child.

Presents from other people are handed directly to the children as they open them there and then so they can thank them and the person giving gets to see it. Doesn't matter if it is several days before Christmas, it is how we have always done it.

@isittheholidaysyet

First year that officially no-one believes. We will stick to usual routine. Stockings in bedrooms, presents from family under the tree.

Stockings will appear when they have gone to bed (we go to midnight mass, I might not wait for hours for them all to be asleep this time!)
But those who go to midnight Mass help me retrieve all the family presents from their hiding places and help arrange them under the tree! Then they can open ONE, and get to sleep quickly "or else Father Christmas won't come!"

Same here - children nearly thirty and married but traditions never change

This will be the first year DD10 openly doesn't believe and it will be the same as always - pillow case at the end of the bed!

My DCs still believe, but we follow what my DM did regardless of my age/belief in FC and, like PPs, we won't change things once DCs no longer believe either.
Tree gifts are from us, friends, and family. They appear under the tree as they are wrapped/gifted, so the collection slowly grows in the week of so before Xmas. Although, if I've wrapped anything super early then those items aren't usually retrieved from their hiding place until Xmas eve, so there is still a 'wow' of present growth when everyone comes dome in the morning.
Stockings are 'from FC'. They are put out empty on beds, and magically filled overnight... (They are actual socks rather than purpose bought stockings, so come in pairs. I can pre-fill one and do a quick switcheroo with the empty )

We still got ours in our Santa sacks into our 20s!
Think it was when I moved out that mum decided enough was enough but I do miss the ceremonial search for the tangerine and pound coin at the bottom.

I struggle with this. DC are 16 and 14 but when I suggested a location for their stockings other than their bedroom they were dead against it. But these days they're likely to be awake longer than I am. So what to do?

• Set my alarm for 3am?
• Do the stockings when I go to bed and just cough loudly before I come in so that they know to pretend to be asleep.

Added to which we'll have a toddler and baby staying and I'm worried that if I go creeping about at night I'll wake them up.

both... gifts from me under the tree and gifts from Santa in sacks on the day.

My oldest is a teen and has known for about 6 years, still LOVES a Santa sack through

Same way you don't have to believe in Jesus to celebrate Xmas (plenty of athiest do) or Ghosts to celebrate Halloween etc...

I still have one that believes but I don't expect I'll stop doing stockings (we all get stockings here, me and OH too) or putting the presents under the tree after bedtime on Christmas Eve but I'll stop getting the hired Santa to deliver half the presents in the afternoon once youngest stops believing. Maybe. Maybe I'll still get him to deliver until they are all moved out!

My mother still hids them away despite none of her children living at home! (All come home for Christmas though). Only presents under the tree before 10pm on Christmas eve are gifts from other people prior to then.

@JumperandJacket, I’m always up in the night, so I just put filled stockings outside all the doors at whatever a.m.

I put the presents under the tree but only on xmas eve, I also usually give a few presents on xmas eve. I only have one dd so no issue with getting presents mixed up etc :)

I put a few under the tree as I go to build anticipation… perhaps 3 each. Then on Christmas Eve we add the remaining tree presents from us and one wrapped gift from Father Christmas. Stockings are still left by the fireplace in our bedroom and all the DC (adult to tween) pile into our bed, sprawl on the floor or chair and we open stockings together before going downstairs.

I can’t wait!

Always a stocking!

Though Father Christmas has to sneak in in the rather larger hours of the morning to be sure the 'little' boys and girl are asleep.

And we wake them just after that - no early rising in excitement any more! But they do still bring them to our bedroom to open, even though we don't exactly all fit on the bed any more