How does FC 'work' in your house? me and dh have very different ideas!! need MN help to decide!!

[llynnnn]

It appears that Father Christmas worked very differently in my house as a child to how he worked in dh's! Now dd1 is 3 we really need to get our act together and discover how he will work for us!

So, in my house my parents didnt actually give me presents, they all came, unwrapped, by FC. We had presents from other family and friends under the tree which we were always aware of who had bought them for us. The factthat we had no actual prersents from my parents was never an issue and iirc we were told that parents sent money to FC to pay for them!

In dh's house santa only actually brought one present from him, wrapped, the rest of the gifts were from his parents and family (which were also brought by FC but tagged and left by him on xmas eve, so dh didnt actually see any presents from anyone until christmas morning)

So, how do you do it? dh thinks its shocking that FC didnt wrap our presents and also that there were none from my parents! he says he wouldve been upset that his parents hadn't actually bought him anything for christmas, this never occured to me as a child!

Santa brings everything in this house. I do send him money though as he can't make eveything and has to buy some stuff

Same happened when I was a kid, but like ladyem, my parents bought some stuff and sent it to Santa via the wardrobe LOL!

I agree - all the presents being from FC is a bit odd - whether in person or via letter, friends and relatives deserve thanks from DC for the presents, and the DC need to understand that care, thought and money have gone into them.

If I thought that was happening with children I send presents to I am not sure I would bother next time either. [bah humbug]

I think we'll be doing the stocking from FC, rest of presents from mum and dad thing. Sounds good.

I'd find it a bit odd for FC to bring all presents, what happens if your child goes to Auntie May's on boxing day and she gives them their Xmas present? Does Auntie May have to pretend its from FC?

tbh in this house we dont' bother that much with the whole FC thing now. I dont' activly say FC doesn't exist but I don't make a big deal out of it either, mainly cos I can't face the thought of the elaborate explanations and stories I'd have to keep up if I started the whole FC thing.

I take my cue from DS (4), he seems happy with the idea that mum and dad get his presents, that FC brings 'something' and that as we have a huge whopping great chimney there's plenty of room for FC to get in!

friends and relatives do get thanks for presents - from us? I find it odd that if you weren't going to get a personal thanks you might not get the child a present? Do you get them a present so that they will be thankful etc, or because of the joy they get from it?

Santa brings a stocking to everyone in the house, even us parents , all wrapped in the same paper. These are at the foot of the bed and will be opened on our bed before we have even got up!

He will have also put a "big" present under the tree. (In same paper for continuity. With disguised writing on the tag. I sussed my parents this way.) It will usually be something wooden, made in his workshop, or a toy. Never anything electronic.

We will also have bought them a few gifts, including a "big" present. These will go under the tree a few days before cristmas.

It is proving quite expensive as we have more DC, and as they get older actually. I like some of the other ideas here.

Also, santa will wrap stuff in exactly the shape it is, so a rocking horse will be a wrapping-paper coloured horse iyswim. I think it looks cute.

This thread is so interesting. Some great ideas (loving the elves asking how each family like things done )

We had pillowcase 1st thing from FC (with wrapped presents), then church and lunch and washing up (felt like forever as a child) then all other pressies from parents, relatives etc. We had to take each one to my mum so she could write the list. Though I had to write the thank yous and put at the bottom "my brothers say thanks as well" - how rubbish was that! They never had to write a single thank you in their lives! My two ds's will be doing their own as soon as they can write . I absolutely hate not getting thanked properly (whether by letter or phone) I think its rude and ungrateful.

well I spent time choosing presents, I expect my children to have some gratitude from the gifts they receive, and to be able to thank the people (in person, letter, email,however, I don't care how as long as they say thankyou) who chose their gift.

For me Christmas is as much about the giving as it is the receiving, and yes I do expect a little bit of gratitude from the people that get presents.

In the same way that DS1 loves to see his younger brothers face when he opens the present from "him" (it's a small token present that I always buy for him to give).

It also, imo helps them to understand that real people have spent real money on their gifts and that they shouldn't just expect to get anything and everything.

Read a comment earlier down where someone says that their children aren't allowed to request expensive gifts from relatives - and I agree totally.

so YOU thank the friend/relative instead of our child? Sorry don't get that at all, I expect my children to say thankyou.

In our house, Father Christmas brings everything, dropping stuff off at Grandma/Grandad's etc - this is wrapped, and there is a stocking. There is an understanding however that in the New Year, Mummy and Daddy (or Grandma, or whoever) send Father Christmas the money for the gifts. That way, a) the appropriate people are thanked for their gifts, and b) reasonable requests are made - i.e., no ponies/xboxes/iphones asked for.

yep I expect my child to say thank you as well

My DDs WILL say thank you - as soon as they figure out that presents aren't from Santa. At all other times DD1 is very grateful for any gifts adn ALWAYS thanks folk. DD2 (8 weeks old) isn't in a position to thank people - so we do on her behalf.

All presents are from Santa here.

Stocking is filled by Santa, presents under tree are from Santa and the ones DH and I buy say 'Love from Santa' on them.

Presents from Aunts, Uncles, Nan etc that say that on them were bought by them and collected and delivered on thier behalf by Santa.

Prices of mega things that Santa get's asked for may or may not be possible as there are so many children who all need presents - he may not have enough money for say, a Wii etc.

So, in effect, we buy them nothing, but this seems to be ok if DH and I buy each other a small gift to put under the tree as then Santa has brought DH and I present too which makes it ok as Santa obviously buys our gifts too iyswim?

• I know what I mean! lol

Message withdrawn

In our house Father Christmas brings small, wrapped presents which are put in the stocking which ds leaves in his room (except for some reason the apple and satsuma mustn't be wrapped - I'm not sure why, but it was what happened when I was a child).

All other presents are wrapped and labelled with who they are from (friends and family, including parents)and placed under the tree.

We also wrap the FC presents in different (cheap!) wrapping paper

FC brings most of the presents and DH and I give DS one of the bigger presents. Everything from FC is wrapped in the same paper, gifts from us in another type of paper.

(Then FC & Mrs C both get left a nice glass of JD & coke )

Of course I don't buy presents for the thanks, but I do want the recipient to know that I care about them enough to choose something that I hope/believe they will like. I disagree with the 'everything from Santa' thing to the extent that I would either subvert it (by example, by waiting until we next see the children in question and giving it to them in person) or not bother.

In our house, FC fills a stocking with a few tiny presents, sweets and useful little things (all wrapped in tissue paper) which goes at the end of their beds, and leaves 3 slightly bigger presents (eg a barbie!) under the tree (these are usually the 'asked for' items). All of these things are wrapped and are from Father Christmas himself.

Then we do one 'big' present from mummy and daddy that are also under the tree with any presents from rellies. FC plays no part in these - I've never really understood the Father Christmas delivery service idea.

Everything is torn open at the crack of dawn on Christmas morning - although we do make sure we take the time to appreciate each thing (for about 30 seconds or so!) - and then we sit amid the piles of shredded paper and new toys and eat our breakfast - it's lovely!

Those of you for whom FC only brings the stocking toys, what do your kids ask him for if they write to him or visit him?

Ah - therein lies the basic flaw in the whole thing. They do ask FC for things (well, sort of, going to see FC is not a big deal in this household) but if they do get them it will be from M&D/someone else.

TBH asking FC for things is not really how we do it - I ask them directly for ideas as to what they might like (with no guarantees that they will get it).

FC did stockings (which were proper socks). Presents under the tree from family and friends. No letters to FC, but we were consulted on presents from Mum and Dad when we were old enough . Will be doing the same here - am a bit puzzled at making a gigantic effort to ensure children 'believe' in Santa Claus. But that's a whole other MN argument

And I am NOT going to wrap stocking presents, we'll be drowning in a sea of paper and plastic as it is!

Any few presents from more distant family members and friends whom we won't see on Christmas day or just after arrive by post and go under the tree.

On Christmas night these presents, presents from FC and a main present from me all make their way into the pillowcases left out by the DC.

I just realised a few days ago that while I have quite a few stocking fillers, I didn't have main presents for either of them. While ds2 (nearly 4) wouldn't notice, I know that ds1 (7) would as he is used to having a present from me.

Presents from people we see over the Christmas period are given directly to the dc's.

Dc's will be at ex-inlaws this year with their dad, so think we will leave pillowcases under the tree before they go (on the 20th).
When they come back on 26th we are probably all going to my parents for our Christmas Day so we might take their stash over there to open.

Wow, had no idea there were so many people who don't wrap presents. Where's the suprise? And the thrill of anticipation? If it ain't wrapped, it's not a present, it's just a thing - a bike, a ball, a dolls' house.

Way it worked when I was little was FC brought stockings and big presents under the Christmas tree. Nothing from mother and father although that never worried us for some reason.

We saw relatives in the days between Christmas and New Year, and they gave us presents that were definitely from them, and got presents from our parents.

With ds, he gets a stocking from FC, and lots of tree presents too. Then one or two big presents from us. Everything else is handed over by Nanny/whoever when we see them, sometimes on Christmas Day, sometimes later.

Father Christmas brought us a pillowcase of wrapped presents. You could sometimes hear him swearing at about 2am as he wrapped up the last ones!

In this house, Father Christmas will be filling the rather more traditional and less grabby stocking for DS, until such time as his socking presents require a larger receptacle. There will be no 2am swearing.

I have a friend who said all her presents were from Santa, both stocking ones and tree ones. It's just bizarre and wrong Wrong WRONG!

Wow I thought my family were the only crazy ones who bought presents only for santa to take them away and bring them back again. Seems like loads of you do that too! I can remember when I was about 7 telling my mum that I didn't believe in FC because the whole idea of presents being taken from our house to the North Pole and then back again for no apparent reason was too unbelievable to be true!

Ds receives presents from us and Father Christmas. I prefer it that way.

Talking about using different wrapping paper, Father Christmas always used very cheap different paper for the presents in the pillowcase to the ones from our parents under the tree. 30-odd years on, I'm still nostalgic for it. It was extremely lurid, very thin and had a specific, crackly texture, and you could buy a roll of 20 sheets for 50p from street traders in the weeks before christmas. It was part and parcel of Christmas morning, that paper. How you could put your finger through it while it was still on the present, and then screw it into tiny, vivid-coloured balls after you'd ripped it off.

How daft is it to be nostalgic for crappy cheap wrapping paper?!