Present opening in your house

[user375242]

How do you do it? Free for all? One by one? I am admittedly a total control freak in our house, and like to maintain some kind of order (in all other aspects of my life I am not an orderly person!) but it is only done in an attempt to maximize excitement. I found out last year that my older sibling does exactly the same with his family, despite us having different upbringings, which I thought was funny.

Everyone opens stockings on our bed, and during this time one of the adults will go downstairs and make tea/coffee to bring up and also turn on the christmas lights. Then we all go to the kitchen, and no-one can peek in the living room yet. We have a long drawn out breakfast of everyone's favourite breakfast foods, Santa pancakes, croissants, eggs Benedict etc along with Christmas music. Then it is on to the tree presents, the kids take it in turns to pick a present and open it or pass it on to who it's for, I deliberately don't use individual wrapping paper per person to add to the mystery.

If we have to visit family then I do speed it up a bit by passing them out myself a bit faster, or if someone wants to stop and play with something they can. I make sure I've put accessories that go with main presents right at the back of the tree so they aren't opened first.

Am I a total kill joy, or do others do this too? How does it work in your house? Separate piles, run down to the tree first thing? Breakfast after presents? I love planning these small things, and hearing how others do it, it gets me so excited.

We all congregate in the living room around lunch time (before if DS has been particularly well behaved) with a drink. Then DS hands everything out. He's the only child in the family so we like to make this bit of the day about him. (I try to buy really nice things for his childless aunt / uncle to compensate as I know that although they love him he's not as exciting as I / Grandma think)

We stopped wrapping the stocking stuff years ago, it's mostly small bits so not worth the effort. The dc were small and didn't notice.

We only have DS and he is 12 now but happy to play along still. He comes to ask if he can get up, we send him to see if Santa's flashing key, has been posted back through the door. If it's there, we all go down, switch on hall decorations. Stocking is hung on living room door handle, DS looks first, tree etc switched on, then we watch DS open his stash. His presents are spread out (artfully 😂).Dad opens. Mam opens. Breakfast. As a child, I was the youngest of 3 by 5 years and 9 years. We gathered together in one bed, until eldest couldn't wait any longer, and I was sent to knock on parents. We waited until Dad went down and confirmed goid news whilst switching tree etc on. Then we all had out own pile or line of presents. Mam and Dad opened their's when we finished. All done by 4 am normally 🤣I'm secretly disappointed that DS doesn't demand to be up at 3am.

He also brings one thing we've seen on TV of which I have vocally disapproved Love this!

Stockings on the end of their beds, brought into our room to open on our bed/floor at a reasonable hour (older now so 9/10 rather than 6am!) so I can watch them open them. One of the teens may make me a coffee before waking me up.
Downstairs for breakfast (usually scrambled egg and smoked salmon/bacon on English muffins) and then open presents (with Bucks Fizz for DH and I) from DH and I. They don't get tons, usually 4 or 5 so it's fairly ordered.
If in laws come round then we do their presents with them then.

When my DS’s were little it was coffee in bed and they opened stockings there with us, then downstairs for breakfast. Now they are grown up we get up and prep breakfast, shower, dress up while waiting for them to emerge from their pits. Then we eat breakfast, Once breakfast is cleared and they are dressed we go into the front room where the bags of presents are and xmas lights are on then we take it in turns to open a present one at a time, make it last as long as we can 😁with a break to pour a drink to toast xmas. Really love it but probably this is the last year of us all together as DS 1 moved away and now has his own house with his girlfriend, he is coming home this year but next i fully expect him to stay home. 😟

Same as many - stockings first thing - never wrapped! When dds were tiny they'd bring them into our room and get into bed but now we're up before them!

Main presents after breakfast before lunch. Generally children act as elves and pass one out to everyone then we all open at same time. That's how I did it as a kid and dh did it too.

With teens and only a small family the day starts later and us more chilled. So afternoon after food spent watching fils/playing board games and playing with presents.

When DF was alive he was a shocker for getting us up to open presents by 8. That's because his list was made up of books which he wanted to disappear and read.....

We have 5 kids so stockings are always downstairs. It's a free for all, which helps our autistic teenager blend into the background because she hates being watched. Once all the presents are open, I'll go for a shower while my husband gets breakfast for the younger ones, if they're not already eating chocolate.

Only the stockings are from Father Christmas in our house, the other presents are from us. The stockings are all wrapped in paper that I bought in bulk so it was the same every year and they never saw the wrapping paper out.

All of these seem very civilised!

There's only me, DD (7) and my dad. DD wakes up at whatever ungodly hour she decides and brings her stocking in to me. Then she wakes grandad up, he has a wee and goes to turn the tree lights on, then we go downstairs.

I make a quick coffee and DD attacks her presents. We then spend the rest of the morning playing with her toys/building things.

I wrap everything. Even the individual stocking bits.

Purely because part of the fun is unwrapping, but also because DD is an only and the presents would be opened in about 3 minutes tops otherwise.

I was raised in a house like yours OP (except we also had to go to church before we were allowed to open the tree gifts) and I absolutely hated it. It was so long an drawn out (especially when you mum and Nan are also teachers so have an extra 30 gifts to open) and then everyone watching you open you gift - horrible for a socially anxious introvert.

so I’m much more relaxed with my dc, stockings in there beds whenever they wake, then at 6am we go downstairs and dive right in and it’s absolute carnage for an hour. I love it that way!

At my parents, we start the day with a nice brunch - scrambled eggs and smoked salmon type thing - and then we open presents together. There just tends to be a few to open as grandparents have passed away and extended family don't do gifts so it's done pretty quickly. After that it's a walk in the local woodland weather permitting followed by Xmas films/TV/music in the background while cooking dinner.

If spending xmas with DP it's pretty much a non-event :(

Either way, I have a little tradition of leaving myself a wrapped gift under the tree to open when alone in my own house with a glass of champers so I'm at least guaranteed to get one gift I want

If you have a free for all with presents after breakfast, what fills the rest of the day? We do stockings, breakfast, couple of presents, prep for lunch, lunch, more presents.

I wish my children were the type that wanted loads of books and would then just read them, but they aren’t, so their presents tend to be stuff they want but they can’t use immediately (football goal for example).

We opened before breakfast. Kids just played with their new toys all day while eating chocolate.

As a kid it was stockings in bed with mum. Well pillow cases really.

Then downstairs for a fried breakfast. Then under the tree presents. But done one by one. Youngest first. Mum would list any friend or family gifts for the thank you letters.

We only have adults now for Christmas Day. And breakfast is sausage and egg barms with Buck's Fizz. But we still do presents youngest first.

Stockings opened in bed, then breakfast. All presents mixed up under the tree. The children pass them out and we watch each other unwrap each one before the next one is given.
Then in laws or parents arrive with more presents! These are exchanged and opened, then we have lunch, watch tv and eat too much! Other set of grandparents come after lunch with even more gifts to open!
I like that it gets spread out through the day.
Evening buffet and then gifts are magically found in the tree - a final small gift from Father Christmas to round off the day before children go to bed.

Breakfast is usually smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on muffins with bucks fizz or orange juice.

I don't understand stockings in bed.
Santa comes down the chimney then creeps into your bedroom?! Surely he comes down chimney and stays in the living room not creep around the house?!

We just have the Santa sacks and stockings in the living room so we will go downstairs, suspense opening the door then all go in and the little ones will just have at it. No rules here.

We will have croissants and bucks fizz.

we do stockings first upstairs. Then presents under the tree, they usually end up a bit mixed up even if I try to put them in individual piles so sort them out first and then once everyone’s ready we start opening at the same time. Me or DH will go to the kitchen start on breakfast whilst the kids are still opening their presents. So by the time breakfast is ready they’ve had some time to play with new toys and hopefully tidy up a bit

Stockings in rooms keeps them busy for a little longer and stops the children getting up too early!
It's always been this way, hanging out stockings at the end of the bed or on the door handle.

Yeh but it's one day they get up early. In sure I can manage that lol and most people saying they do then on their bed so there's no rest anyway!

But my eldest is only 3.5 and sleeps until 8am so it's not an issue here haha

Yes, my 4 year old is up at 7 on the dot every morning. A bit of peace and quiet for a little longer is appreciated on Xmas day!
My 7 year old would sleep til 9 though!

We wake up at about 5am, whether it’s us or the kids, they come to wake us up.. then we say we didn’t hear anything so don’t think Father Christmas has been (mean I know, but said quizzibly and not seriously) then we sneak downstairs, let the kids go in first and see all the presents on the living room - then they sit and open them while DP makes us a hot drink, then I’ll make breakfast one their finished. Then we do tree presents in the evening.

Def stockings on bed! When older can open then on their own to delay the early rising, when little open on our bed all together. It's one of my fave bits. When I was a kid, waking up and hearing the scrunch of the stocking (all presents wrapped of course!) at the bottom of the bed was one of the most exciting things of the day. It's my strongest memory of childhood Christmases.