Anyone Have A Spouse That Works Christmas?

[GOOFY4DONALD]

This is the first year that my DH has to work on Christmas. We have a usual routine of a couple of small presents on Christmas Eve (usually PJ's) and then the next morning the kids get Santa gifts and the rest of their presents. I don't want my DH to miss too much but I don't want to make the kids wait until 6pm to open their presents. For those that have a spouse working what are your traditions?

 

[An_Island_Girl]

Growing up my Mom always had to work every other holiday until 3PM. We were always allowed to open our stockings and any Santa presents, but we had to wait to open the other presents under the tree until she got home.

She would also leave out a small pile of presents that we were to open each hour during the day. These were always puzzles or games to keep us occupied and they really did make the day go by faster.

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

Growing up my Mom always had to work every other holiday until 3PM. We were always allowed to open our stockings and any Santa presents, but we had to wait to open the other presents under the tree until she got home.

She would also leave out a small pile of presents that we were to open each hour during the day. These were always puzzles or games to keep us occupied and they really did make the day go by faster.

Thanks for the reply. Maybe I will go get the kids some little presents..like a couple of games and puzzles. That may keep them busy until DH gets home. Santa is leaving less thi year so DH won't miss too much.

 

[DawnM]

My dad worked a LOT of Christmases. We just worked around it. We had our presents opened in the evening, or the night before, or whenever. It was fine.

Having games to play to occupy them would be a great idea.

Dawn

 

[ilovejack02]

My husband works shift work, so some yrs he works, some not.
Our kiddos thinks Santa works around Daddy's schedule.
If daddy is working days on Xmas, then Santa comes Christmas eve and we open all presents then too.
We live in area full of shift workers, this is how most of us do it. Of course with relatives nearby there are always more presents to open Xmas day.

When my oldest stepson was a child .. his mother never let him have a xmas day with us, so we always told him Santa came early.. sometimes a whole week LOL.

 

[htmom]

DH is a police officer. So he never is home on Christmas, DS gets a note from Santa with a small gift Christmas morning and the note tells him when he will be delivering his gifts. (whenever dh has off next, this year it will be the Monday after Christmas, vacation is so long anyway it breaks it up)

 

[LIBLULA]

I'm a nurse on a orthopedic floor. I work everyother Christmas. This year I work from 7-3pm. My DD8 still believes in Santa. She normally wakes up around 4:30-5am. I plan on her opening her presents before I leave for work at 6am. Last year she was up at 3:30!! I made her wait until 5am--she used her Barbie walkie-talkies to wake us up

 

[Luv Bunnies]

My dad was a police officer and my mom was a nurse. There were many years when at least one of them worked on Christmas Day. Whichever parent was home would cook the turkey. When the working parent got home, we would open our presents and then have dinner. We even did this a few times when we were fairly young kids and we survived. Our friends would call and ask what we got and we would tell them we haven't opened our presents yet. Some of the kids were envious because the rest of the day was a letdown for them and we still had the big event to look forward to.

I like the idea of letting them open something on Christmas Eve that will keep them busy for part of the day. That way they'll have something new to make the waiting easier.

 

[Colinsmom]

My DH is a firefighter and works many Christmases (not this year). Last year he worked both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so was gone from 5am on Christmas Eve until about 9am on the day AFTER Christmas. We didn't tell the kids (DS was 5yo) anything ahead of time, just had Santa come on 12/23. Santa left a note for DS that he heard that Daddy had to work, so he came a couple of days early. That way, nothing about the day was rushed, and DH got to fully participate in the kids' excitement. We figured that it was better to have Santa show up early vs. having him come late.

In years that DH works Christmas Day, Santa comes on Christmas Eve morning. It's harder when he works Christmas Eve because he doesn't get home until 9am on Christmas Day but we haven't dealt with that when DS was old enough to understand. I do remember one Easter when the Bunny came around 9:30am - DH hid in DS's bed with him, then the Bunny rang the doorbell and I let him in to hide the loot.

It's workable but definitely requires more creativity as the kids get older (but still believe)!

 

[jpeppers]

I work in a prison so I get Christmas off every 7 years if I keep the same days off. I'm fine with it but when married I think it was an issue. It has just become a part of my life.........usually a quiet night at work.

 

[fireman17]

I've either had to work on Christmas eve or Christmas day at the firehouse since I started in '86. Now that I have over 20 years in I am very blessed to have great brothers here many always step up and work for me on either Christmas eve or Christmas day and I'll work for them on New Years eve.
This year I am off for the entire week of Christmas and for me that's a home run seeing that Christmas eve is our wedding anniversary.
Two more years and it will be 15 years together and hopefully a Disney cruise.

 

[BeckyScott]

Two different stories-

My DB used to work Christmas every year. It was "optional" but since he was getting paid triple time, my SIL would boot him right out the door. When their kids were quite young, they'd just move Christmas to the 26th and the kids never knew any better (she also took full advantage of the day-after sales for last-minute stuff). Once the kids got older, they just told them outright that Dad had to work and they had to wait until he got home to open most of their gifts.

When I was young, it was important for my gparents to be there for the openings, but they didn't live with us. So we did everything on Christmas Eve. My gpa talked to Santa and explained the situation and Santa agreed to come early. After all, he has a busy night and it worked out fine for him to get us off his list. We would pile in the car to go look at Christmas lights, and Santa would come while we were gone. Usually gpa would stay behind so he and Santa would have a chance to chat, you know Santa will talk to grown-ups that way.

 

[RMulieri]

I am a nurse and often work Christmas.this year I work 11p-7a Xmas Eve so i will just be getting home when Dd wales up.The other years we either open before i leave for work ,like 530 am or we wait till I get home after 3p.It was alot harderwhen I worked 7a-7p on Xmas Day , but dd wasn't here yet.I can't imagine working a 12 hr shift on Xmas day with my 4 yr old at home

 

[mishtb]

Both my husband and I have had to work on all the holidays.....even christmas and thanskgiving. Thats what happens when you work for the airlines.... no days off. Every year at least one of us misses our daughter's opening presents from santa

This is the first christmas we both have off.....so we're finially going to have our family christmas ...we're doing it big this year.... very excited....

 

[DisMN]

DH works shift work so he's often not here on Christmas, sometimes a double shift to boot so he's not here at all. We just work around it.
Over the years we've discovered that the actual DAY/DATE isn't what's important, us being in the same room at the same time is The Big Deal.

So sometimes our Christmas gift opening is way before Christmas or way after. We just adjust our holiday to DH's schedule.

 

[Stephaniecmc]

When we were little and one of our parents had to work on Christmas we would make salt dough ornaments. They take about 50 minutes to bake and then you paint them. It was always something that occupied our time and we had gifts to take with us to holiday parties...or for next year!

Merry Christmas!

 

[bear74]

I am a nurse and often work Christmas.this year I work 11p-7a Xmas Eve so i will just be getting home when Dd wales up.The other years we either open before i leave for work ,like 530 am or we wait till I get home after 3p.It was alot harderwhen I worked 7a-7p on Xmas Day , but dd wasn't here yet.I can't imagine working a 12 hr shift on Xmas day with my 4 yr old at home

I am working this year 7a to 7p I hate that we are doing 12hr shifts on the holidays. I am an RN. My DD's are 5 and 14 months. Santa is going to send a letter or email to oldest DD telling her that mommy works Christmas so he is going to come to our house Christmas eve.

 

[susykt4]

I work every Christmas (and every other holiday) unless it falls on my scheduled days off (Fri and Sat.) My kids have never had any problem believing that Santa agrees to come early to help out working parents and to scratch some kids off his list. This year Santa's going to accomodate us by coming the Saturday before Christmas.