Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

Original poster

Different traditions re Santa

156 replies

daisyflowergirl123 · 08/12/2023 08:43

Hi all

Needing some insight into people's Christmas traditions please!

For me as a child, Santa would bring a sack which had a selection of presents (small things like pjs/books/chocolates) and these would be specifically from and delivered by Santa. My parents would then have main presents under the tree from them.

DH has discussed that as a child, the parents that Santa delivered were actually from his parents, so no presents under the tree but his tradition was that the presents in the Santa sack/stocking delivered by Santa were from the parents.

Now my DD is at the age of starting to understand Christmas's were having discussions over which tradition to follow!

So what is/was the tradition in your household?Xmas Confused

OP posts:
GrumpyPanda · 08/12/2023 15:12

German here. St Nick comes on his actual Saint Day, Dec 6, and leaves some goodies - walnuts, mandarins, chocolate- in boots or shoes left out overnight. (The Dutch actually do most presents on this day, in the pre-Reformation tradition.)

Christmas presents under the tree in a dark room. After dusk on the 24th the tree is lit (live candles for us) and kids/family are allowed to enter the room. We'll often switch on some more lights for the actual unwrapping but the initial glass of bubbly/carol-singing is candlelight only.

As to who "brings" the presents, regional variations have either Santa, with helper, or the Christ child. But there was never a strong association with the actual presents at least in my youth.

londonmummy1966 · 08/12/2023 15:31

Growing up stocking presents were small and all from father christmas - everything under the tree was from named donors and not to be opened until after the Queen's speech and even then only presents from people who were there. All other presents remained under the tree and we could open one a day (on handing DM our neatly written thank you letter for the previous days present).

MIL was German so 24 th was the big day in DH's family. We sort of combined traditions so we have presents that are small enough to go on the tree on Christmas Eve, small presents - mainly useful things - from Santa in deliberately not very big stockings I made when the DC were babies and then the remaining presents from named donors under the tree after church.

Pipistrellus · 08/12/2023 15:46

mathanxiety · 08/12/2023 14:49

How does the big things from parents and small items from SC address the disparity in the haul?

It's surely just underlining the fact that some parents can afford to give more than others?

How does the comparative element creep into all of this anyway?

Children understand that some families can afford more than others. Father Christmas giving poor children less is different. Some children talk about what they got from Father Christmas and my now teen was made fun of by one spoilt child at school when he was little. Makes me glad my 4 year old doesn't believe.

WaitingfortheTardis · 08/12/2023 15:52

Dd gets a decent stocking and one main present under the tree, both from Father Christmas. We don't get her anything separate from us. Both dh and my own family have always done it this way.

Peach27 · 08/12/2023 17:51

Santa does a stocking left on bedroom doors with sweets and fun little things then leaves his bigger presents unwrapped on a sofa/chair each downstairs. About half the bigger stuff is from Santa and other half from us which is under the tree and wrapped. Presents from wider family is from granny etc not Santa. Santa also assembles, charges and cuts out wires etc so Barbie can come straight out the box immediately. It’s very similar to how my parents did it and love seeing the Christmas magic repeated for the DCs

WhatNoUsername · 08/12/2023 17:59

Santa bringing presents bought by the parents makes no sense. The elves make the presents! 😀. We always did it that Santa brought the stocking and the tree presents were from us. Can teach the whole thanking for and appreciation if presents thing. Also I did buy all the presents. I don't want Santa taking all the credit!

ChristmasIsComing2023 · 08/12/2023 18:29

Growing up I had a stocking and all of my presents would be laid out on the floor around the coffee table. I think my parents just told me which ones were from Santa as I went around and opened them I can’t remember 🤷‍♀️😂

For ds we’re doing stockings from Santa and a want, wear, need and read. The rest are from us or whoever gave them to him 😋

gerteddy · 08/12/2023 20:57

My family as a kid it was Santa got u the big toy and mum and dad got everything else and sent it to Santa to deliver.

My dh family Santa got everything.

We've had many discussions and disagreements about what we wld tell our kids. He said oh it's more magical if Santa brings everything. I initially said ok but over the years I've started adding my own bits in like saying oh sometimes I buy things and send them to Santa to bring you. I've also told her that we send money to Santa for to pay for everything. For me this explains to her that not everyone gets what they want as some parents can't afford it and she will not just get everything she asks for.

LooRollLorraine · 08/12/2023 21:22

We wrap some of the presents like the really personal / thoughtful ones and put them under the tree pre-Xmas Eve and some on Xmas even.

Then Santa fills the stockings downstairs laid out by the fireplace (everyone receives one, not just children). And Santa also gives everyone at least 1 gift. For the children it's usually 3-4 including 1 big wow gift like a new bike, or electric keyboard or, big Lego set etc. All Santa gifts have separate Santa paper and gift tags so they don't give away the secret and out us as parents.

By having Santa provide the big gift it lets us off the hook for having to live up to the children's expectations of providing other expensive items. They'll ask us and we'll just say we can't afford it, but they can ask Santa and maybe if they're lucky he'll bring it for them. I like them to believe int he Christmas magic while they're still young. When they're older and they no longer believe then they'll appreciate and understand the fact we provided it all. I don't think most young children of Santa believing age will sit back on Christmas morning and think 'wow - mum / dad worked really hard for this'. Thats for when they're older and they understand more

H007 · 10/12/2023 07:37

We do the same as my parents did when I was a child. All the presents are from parents but they are sent to Santa to bring on the big night. The one present that they really want is from Santa. Nothing under the tree until Christmas morning.

Kattiekat · 10/12/2023 07:39

All our gifts get put out on Christmas Eve night when the kids are in bed.

this is because I have no will
power and would let them open one now and again.

the gift from Santa has a label that says so. The rest have labels from whom ever gifted it.

stockings before breakfast, then a gift opened every hour through out the day until none left to open.

XelaM · 10/12/2023 07:40

Santa 🎅 brought ALL the presents 🎁

Samolino · 10/12/2023 07:46

santa brings their main gift - all other gifts from parents / friends / family. The 1 gift being from Santa seems to be consistent with what you see in Xmas movies

IggyAce · 10/12/2023 07:52

One gift under the tree was from Santa, everything else was from us or whoever it said on the tag. The gift from Santa wasn’t the biggest or most expensive.

TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams · 10/12/2023 08:16

Parents used to gift everything from Santa in large plastic sacks. They gave us no Christmas presents and it never occurred to us it was odd until about the time you are thinking 🤔 about Santa anyway.
My kids get stockings with small things often silly games and toys, PJs etc like your list. (Wicked Uncle website has been great when they are small) but they are now tweens and I need to figure out what’s next as I don’t really want to encourage makeup etc as yet

BoswellTheScribe · 10/12/2023 08:21

Growing up Father Christmas delivered all the presents but they weren’t from him, they were from parents, family etc who had sent them to him/asked him to buy them. We didn’t have stockings but we always had a bar of chocolate from Father Christmas. All presents were in individual sacks/piles. We didn’t have presents under the tree.
Now we have similar for our kids. Father Christmas is basically the delivery man and brings the presents from us/family that we have sent/asked him to buy. They also get stocking gifts from Santa and he gives us a joint family gift. All presents other than stockings are left under the tree on Christmas Eve.
This way it helps them understand why there are budgets and why different children might get different gifts.

AllProperTeaIsTheft · 10/12/2023 08:22

For us, Father Christmas brings the little bits and bobs that go in the stocking. All other presents go under the treeand are from whoever bought them. For me, that's the best option. Children get to have the magic of Father Christmas, but also to appreciate what relatives have bought them. Secrecy of stocking also a bit easier to manage than putting all presents sneakily under the tree.

Thefaceofboe · 10/12/2023 08:26

Growing up everything was off Santa (which is weird because why wouldn’t my parents want to get some of the credit?!)

So there would be nothing under the tree apart from a few things from family, and Christmas morning it would all appear.

we are doing a sack and stocking from Santa which will never be the main present, which will obviously be hidden till Christmas Day, and then some presents from us under the tree, including main present if there is one. I want my children to know we have worked hard to get them nice things.

Emmyweez · 10/12/2023 08:26

We do one from FC and one from us and the little bits in the stocking.

this was the same for both DH and I when we were younger.

ElvesAreReal · 10/12/2023 08:27

We would have the stocking placed on the end of the bed, and a stack of gifts downstairs in the parlour from family and friends. Only one gift would be from Santa and it'd be the gift I asked for in my letter.

(Our situation was a bit different though as the local Santa lost my original letter to him, and became adopted family... so the gift from Santa would be from him. He didn't have family of his own so some years we'd spend time helping him deliver to local hospitals.)

Mum tried early on to do the "Santa drops off gifts from everyone" thing but when Santa knocks on the door at 9am needing help with deliveries that goes out of the window!

AllProperTeaIsTheft · 10/12/2023 08:28

Quite a few saying stockings only from Father Christmas. What do people do about the bigger gifts that they ask Father Christmas for? Things that can't go in a stocking? Do you just say he can't get any of it so you bought it for them yourselves?

Mine didn't do the asking Father Christmas for presents thing. They asked us, because we were the ones buying the bigger presents. If they went to see Father Christmas e.g. at a school fête, they knew he wasn't the 'real' one. If he asked them what they wanted for Christmas, that was just in a general 'what are you hoping to get?' kind of way.

Primproperpenny · 10/12/2023 08:38

Stocking from FC, other presents under tree from family to be thanked. Makes no sense otherwise. My aunt and uncle did this mad charade of ‘sending presents to Santa’ to then give back on Xmas Day. So odd! And pissed off my GP who wanted to be thanked for what they’d bought my cousins.

chatenoire · 10/12/2023 08:42

Big fun stuff from Santa (unwrapped). Presents from parents at Christmas eve (always boring). Presents from other people opened in front of them.whenever they gave them.

KSJR · 10/12/2023 08:43

Every present in our house comes from Father Christmas however we tell them we send the money to him for the presents. This stopped the confusion of why some got more than others. They write a list and get everything on the list. They get a stocking filled with chocolate too. We get “refunded” if any presents are taken off the list. I only have one that still believes, now the others are older and realise it was all us they are a lot more appreciative 😊

88Pandora88 · 10/12/2023 08:46

Santa brings one or two small gifts, everything else from family.