Page 2 | At what point do you stop sneaking round on Christmas Eve??

festivesprinkles · 2021-12-24T23:41:56+00:00

Dc are 14, 13, and 6. I'm a single parent and I'm up and down the stairs about 10 times at least on Christmas Eve listening for any signs that someone is awake. The 14 and 13 year old know I do all but the FC presents but stockings are tricky. They should invent silent wrapping paper.

liveforsummer · 25/12/2021 01:06

I was still getting a stocking at the end of my bed in my mid 20's and so will my dc as long as they are under my roof on Xmas eve. Sneaking will never stop 😆

lemoncrisp · 25/12/2021 01:07

After 34 years of the Christmas Eve tiptoeing I've decided tonight is the last time! I realised it has now gone too far when I set the alarm for 7am tomorrow to deliver DD and her husband's filled stockings and DH gasped in horror!!!!

ThalictrumDelavayi · 25/12/2021 01:22

I got each child 2 identical stockings, one a stunt one for them to hang up, and one which I can prefill at my leisure well beforehand and just swap over before I go to bed. I've just always hidden the duplicates so they don't know. I also had printed up a couple of years ago hundreds of stickers from Bonusprint with each child's name and a different colour and design for each one that I just slap on after wrapping each FC gift. Makes it so much easier.

DappledThings · 25/12/2021 01:40

Never done it. Father Christmas only brings stockings, so that's a few small things hidden in one bag. Stockings left by the fireplace so no sneaking into rooms.

Everything else is from whoever it is from and has been under the tree for weeks now. Never knew till I was on MN people have these completed routines

AcrossthePond55 · 25/12/2021 01:51

Mine (including DH) are terrible snoops so I still hide them and put them out Xmas Eve when I go to bed. Then I set the Ring so if anyone goes in the living room it 'beeps'.

Gubanc · 25/12/2021 01:54

I called it all off today. They're 10 and 10, they've known about 'no Santa' for the last 2 or 3 but I've still waited until they fell asleep to take the presents downstairs.
Today I had enough (I've been doing all the Christmassy things by myself), told them the presents will go under the tree this afternoon.
Forgot the Santa snacks as well.

PartyPrawnRingGames · 25/12/2021 02:12

We've been putting all the presents under the tree a week or so before Christmas since dd was about 8 she never tried to open them early. I still did her a little stocking up till she was 11 or so when she lost interest in the separate stocking, she has never been that keen on Santa since she was little and hated his beard so we haven't really made a big thing about him.

PyongyangKipperbang · 25/12/2021 02:49

Well given that I had a mammoth wrapping session while the kids were watching the Muppets Christmas Carol and I would periodically shout " I need someone ..... BUT NOT [insert name]!" I pretty much think that all of them from 31 to 10 have figured out that Santa is a middle aged woman who shouldnt hit the Baileys until after all the wrapping is done :o

JurgensCakeBabyJesus · 25/12/2021 08:19

Our presents have been gathering under the trees for a couple of weeks, DS is 3 but knows not to touch. His stocking is from father Christmas everything else is from whoever it is actually from, We didn't put it in the end of his bed in case he woke up at 3am and ransacked it, it's hanging on the fireplace, filled. Shouldn't have worried because he (and DH) are both still sound asleep!

NynaeveSedai · 25/12/2021 08:22

I'm sharing a room with my DS and he stays awake later than me so this year I left the filled stocking at the bottom of his bed on the floor after I turned the light off and told him not to look until the morning! He's 13.

Bluntness100 · 25/12/2021 08:23

Don’t be going up and down the stairs, when I was at the sneak around stage I set an alarm of two am, then sneaked up and put her stocking on her bed.

Do your teenagers really still believe in Santa?

Thehogfatherstolemycurry · 25/12/2021 08:27

Mine are young teens, don't believe in santa but I still wait till they've gone to bed. Stockings get left by the bedroom door.
I hide presents in the poofs downstairs so no trailing up and down stairs except for the stocking.

2reefsin30knots · 25/12/2021 08:31

Last night at about 8pm 11yo DS said 'I'm going to bed now so you two can 'get your santa on'.

UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme · 25/12/2021 08:31

My 14 year old chose to go to bed at the same time as his 10 year old brother "because stockings" despite obviously not believing in father Christmas/ Santa. My 10 year old is a little quirky and insists Santa is real but I don't think he's being serious...

I warned the 16 year old that if she chose to stay up and be a grown-up this year I'd be doing the stockings in front of her, and she said she wouldn't look, and averted her eyes.

We do Christmas presents on Christmas Eve though (we live in Germany) and the eldest two always insist on the long running family tradition of the children watching Wallis and Gromit together in another room after Christmas Eve lunch "so the Christkind can come" - presents appear magically under the tree during Wallis and Gromit

The Wallis and Gromit ritual happens despite the fact that we don't even hide wrapped presents - they're in a wrapoed pile in the study until the morning of Christmas Eve.

Enko · 25/12/2021 08:33

Well the children are 18 20 22 and 24 and thia year is the first dh and I did not sneak down but did it this morning.

Children are still also sleeping as is d dog (on me)

Whingasaurus · 25/12/2021 08:38

What wierd world is this all the presents go 7nder the tree as soon as they are wrapped and the tree is up so some have been out fir 2 weeks now. Sticking is just silly fun things and easy to put on the bed/outside the door. Why would you make it so hard for yourself?

Whingasaurus · 25/12/2021 08:39

Bloody spell check

DappledThings · 25/12/2021 08:43

@Whingasaurus

What wierd world is this all the presents go 7nder the tree as soon as they are wrapped and the tree is up so some have been out fir 2 weeks now. Sticking is just silly fun things and easy to put on the bed/outside the door. Why would you make it so hard for yourself?

I'm with you! Never knew till I was on MN that people have this complicated system where everything is hidden until Christmas Eve. Making life much more unnecessarily complicated.

gettingolderandgrumpy · 25/12/2021 08:47

Mine still get a stocking ( adults) although I don’t bother putting all the presents the night before now mainly because I’m not last time bed anymore. I’m first up I put them all out ready in piles for everyone to open

gettingolderandgrumpy · 25/12/2021 08:49

@Whingasaurus

What wierd world is this all the presents go 7nder the tree as soon as they are wrapped and the tree is up so some have been out fir 2 weeks now. Sticking is just silly fun things and easy to put on the bed/outside the door. Why would you make it so hard for yourself?

There is no way you could fit all the presents under my tree . I’d have to have a huge tree with a huge front room to put everything under it .

Tumbleweed101 · 25/12/2021 09:22

Youngest in the house is 12. Last night I waited until they had gone to bed before taking everything down but have lost the fear of being caught! I guess when youngest child is at secondary school things start to change.

Tumbleweed101 · 25/12/2021 09:23

Used to slide stocking in through bedroom door, not on beds.

StormyCornishSeas · 25/12/2021 10:56

2 stockings! One to put out on Christmas Eve. One to pack with presents as and when it's convenient and stashed away. Then swap over. It is important that neither stockings are never to meet

Lacedwithgrace · 25/12/2021 18:38

DD7 fell asleep around 9 last night and we spent 2 hours sneaking. Her stocking hangs by the fire so no sneaking in her room.