Christmas morning gift opening..

[Feralpeg]

We do one at a time on Christmas Eve. Santa always brought the gifts for Christmas morning and they were not wrapped. Now, that we have no little ones in the house, we sleep in on Christmas morning.

 

[maslex]

I'm also in the club of "we open one at a time". Ever since my boys were little they would each take a turn picking out a gift under the tree and give it to whom ever it belonged to. Again, makes the pace a lot slower, we can all see what each other got and I'm able to take pictures.

We always did this as kids also (had 3 kids in my family) But when I started dating my DH, I remember going over his house for Christmas and seeing the gifts under tree all piled up in different piles. Thought it was strange the way she "positioned" the gifts. I guess she used to give each kid a pile of gifts and said "here ya go....open away" I never liked that. But to each his own.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

This year my parents, sister, and I, (and also the cat,) will be opening presents Christmas Eve. Not sure if we're going to take turns or not, and seems kind of pointless to even wrap the stuff, since I know what I'm getting.

Then Christmas day at my grandparents we will take turns, and go around and see what everybody gets.

 

[bigbabyblues]

Gift opening is just about an all-day event for us. We try to do one at a time, and it works, for the most part. It's fine at our house, it's just the 2 DS' opening here. We go to DH's aunt's house after ours, then to the IL's, then to DH's grandma's. Considering there are 20-25 people there all day (after our house), by the time we're to grandma's....sometimes we speed it up to get done. Of course, it's usually 4:00 at least by then.

It's a great day though, all in all. DH's parents and grandma come to our house to watch our kids, we have cinammon rolls, etc. At DH's aunt's house, she always makes a huge breakfast for everyone, and we take our time eating and talking and opening gifts. At the IL's, it's usually noon or so when we get there, and we don't have real food, just appetizers and lots of cookies. Dinner is at DGrandma's, usually after the gifts are opened, sometimes before.

 

[mjkacmom]

One at a time and we alternate by age, youngest to oldest one year, oldest to youngest the next. The kids remember, I don't .

We have done this on Christmas Eve. for about 80 years (obviously I haven't been doing this, tradition started by my great grandparents). Then, Christmas morning is just santa gifts, unwrapped. I enjoy this a lot more - lots of screaming and laughing! Then the grandparents come over, and we all unwrap at the same time. So we get to do it three ways.

 

[mjkacmom]

why don't you wrap presents?

Because santa doesn't wrap presents - he's very green! Seriously, I'm in my 40's, and santa never wrapped a gift for me!

 

[ajk912]

Frenzied free for all!! I can't imagine (for us) not wrapping presents. That's 90% of the fun on Christmas morning, seeing the pile of stuff and wondering what's in each box!

 

[happygirl]

why don't you wrap presents?

When I was small my Santa never wrapped presents for us I guess I never thought Santa might wrap presents. I'm glad I HATE wrapping

 

[Freyja]

One at a time, everyone watches and it usually takes us about 3 hours.

 

[Art 1]

We take turns. One person opens all their gifts then another.

 

[pilotwife_02]

We try to do one at a time, but since since we have family from out of town with us that usually means 8-10 adults and 6 children so that would take FOREVER so we try to at least let the kids open there quickly and play while the adults take a little longer to open theirs and "enjoy the experience".

 

[vanillamickey]

I'm an only child, and (besides the two presents I'm getting for my parents) I'm the only one getting presents this year. So, I guess it's both. XD

Santa always wrapped presents for me.

 

[::Snow_White::]

My parents have my brother and I sit on the floor and they'll hand us each a gift and we'll unwrap at the same time so they can take pictures. Then after we're finished or sometimes we'll stop in the middle to let our parent's open their presents and we'll take pictures. It doesn't take too long, maybe an hour.

It's the same on Christmas Eve with family, but there is a lot more people so it takes a long time.

 

[C&OsMommy]

Depends on the age range...now there are 6 kids (cousins) 6yr and under all together at my mom's, so it is sort of a free for all, especially for Santa gifts. The adults take turns. I am going to try to hand out gifts slowly this year if there isn't too much complaining from all the kids!!

When I was little, one person got to play "Santa" and pass out the gifts and we took turns. I think that started when my littlebrother was about five or so.

At my husbands family for Hanukkah it is a free for all even for the adults which I don't really like b/c you can't see whateveryine gets and it is over quickly.

 

[JVL1018]

Kids open their stockings first. Then DH and I open our stockings.
Then the kids open their gifts from Santa.
Then I hand each of them a gift from us, they open them together one at a time.

All of that sounds like it takes a long time, but after the stockings it's about 10 minutes. They're fast! LOL

After they are done, the kids give us their gifts and my husband and I exchange with each other.

 

[kristilew]

DD, an only child, comes down on Christmas morning to find the gifts from Santa, which are not wrapped. We wait until the rest of the family gets here to do the other gifts, and everyone takes a turn opening one gift at a time so we can all see reactions and ooh and aah over it and take pictures.

The more ocd among us even pause to write down the gift and who it is from, and the most ocd one keeps a list of what he is giving, and checks it off as it is opened. We have always teased him about it, but a couple of times the list has saved a present that would have been lost in all the discarded paper otherwise.

There's also an order to opening the gifts here, you open "littleies" at the beginning and work your way up to your "biggie."' When someone hands you a gift and says "this is your biggie," you know that is your last gift from that person.

We're a little nuts here.

 

[KSchwagg86]

one at a time in a circle, it's a lot more fun, and it takes longer which is nice when you do it that way.

same here!

 

[pigletgirl]

One at a time, everyone watches and it usually takes us about 3 hours.

Ditto!!

We let the little ones open together. They usually don't make it too long/....

 

[startrekkie]

usually on christmas Morning I open my presents first and then I will help my wee sisters open their presents anyway then my mum and dad exchange gifts with each other.

 

[NMAmy]

We are frenzied free-for-all folk. DD is an only child--she digs out the gifts and passes them out. Since I know what she's getting, I know when to get the camera ready.

We do this for our extended family Christmas, as well.