Do you put your gifts under the tree before Christmas?

[maslex]

My boys are 13 & 15, so they haven't believed in Santa for a few years now. Even though they don't believe anymore, I still wait until they go to bed on Christmas Even before I put the gifts out. I just remember how exciting it was to come into the living room when we were little and to see the tree all lit up with the presents underneath, for the first time. It was always so magical.

Well, last year I had a hard time finding hiding spots for the boys gifts throughout the month or so before Christmas. So when the tree went up I put their gifts underneath it and as I bought more stuff, it went right underneath the tree. The only thing I did differently was put a different name on each of their gifts so they couldn't figure out which one was theirs. LOL My oldest was Rudolph and my youngest was Frosty. LOL

My oldest could care less what I do, but my youngest asked for the gifts NOT to be put under the tree until Christmas Eve because he told me that HE TOO likes to come into the living room Christmas morning to see it all together for the first time. But he did tell me to keep using different names on the gifts. He thought that was too funny. So this year my oldest in Comet and the youngest in Cupid.

So, do YOU put yours out early or wait until Christmas Eve?

 

[kacaju]

we wait until christmas Eve to put out the presents. We have dogs and cats, so one year I tried to put them out, but they started to chew on the presents!!

 

[AKL_Megs]

About a week before.

 

[nmmom95]

My youngest is only 7, so Santa still comes here, but my mom & dad waited until we went to bed on Christmas Eve until we got married. I like waking up to gifts under the tree, so I will continue that tradition for my boys.

 

[SDFgirl]

Long after we stopped believing, my parents would wait until we went to bed to put most of the gifts out. It's definitely exciting to come to the tree and see everything out!!

 

[Art 1]

Before.

 

[antmaril]

My son is almost 24 years old and I still wait until Christmas Eve to put his gifts under the tree

 

[PollyannaMom]

We put gifts from us to other people (who don't live here, but we'll be seeing at Christmas) under the tree as soon as they are wrapped.

Gifts that come in the mail go under as soon as they arrive.

We tend to put a few "teasers" under early, but most of DS's gifts (even the ones from us) are not there until Christmas eve. Same with most of our presents to each other.

I love to watch it gradually grow, and then the big transformation Christmas morning.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Yes. Even when the kids were young we did that. If we got a C. gift from someone we would put it under the tree.

We also do the teasers as well and we have fun with that. Like putting rocks, marbles, or something to alter the package. So even if they feel up the package they know that it could be "altered" and then try to guess that.

 

[NHdisneylover]

We do the same thing that both my husband and I did growing up:

Gifts from everyone except Santa are wrapped and under the tree as soon as they arrive, or are bought (or when the tree goes up for the many things I buy throughout the year). I LOVE the look of those under the tree and enjoy seeing it through the month.

On Christmas Eve we hand out the stacks of gifts and open them up around the tree after dinner (and church if we live near one we go to). We enjoy "having our tree" (as my southern aunts say) at night with the lights on it sparkling. After everything is opened up the kids make a big display of it on dining table and then set out cookies for Santa.

Christmas morning the kids come down to their (one big each--or once in a while a set of a few small items that go together) gifts from Santa set up under (or in front of in the case of many bigger gifts) the tree. Everything is all assembled and put together and set up like a store display (meaning I have spent hours putting together playmobil houses , putting all the people and furnishing in them, adding "magazines" and fake snow around the outside and whatever else to make it look extra special--or whatever the equivelant would be for the year). Stockings will have also been filled with a variety if (unwrapped) gifts. The awe value of the big gift tends to keep the stockings from being thought about for an hour or so though.

We really like how this spreads out the gifts into a longer period of time with more chance to appreciate one thing before moving onto the next--and the kids always love the displays--so the things really look like all those ads they have seen

 

[golfgal]

Growing up we always had family gifts under the tree, gifts from grandparents, our parents, etc. but obviously nothing from Santa. For our kids we always waited until Christmas Eve to put them out but last year I put some under the tree early-mainly to drive the kids nuts with trying to guess what they were. I figured out that they never had that anticipation and wonder so I will probably continue to do that-although not all of them go out.

I also "coded" all the presents. We picked goofy names for the "To" part but they were themed. The kids would come home every day after school and arrange packages by who they THOUGHT they were for. It was pretty funny. They had a good time doing that.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

We put some gifts out the other night - we have a small house and it would be very easy for the kids to stumble over a toy or two, so I wrapped up the gifts from DH and I to the kids. We did decide to wrap Santa presents, but those are put up on the top shelf of the hallway closet, in special Santa paper.

All last night, DS keeps saying he wants to open his gifts. I've never said "no" and "not now" so many times in one sitting!

Keeping in line with our Disney trip-countdown chain, we've got Advent calendars to use now. I told DS we can't open gifts until we are out of chocolate!

 

[Rora]

My parents always put gifts under the tree the night before. Or, whenever they got them wrapped.

Now, "Santa"'s presents never went under the tree. Even to this day.

DH and I (no kids yet!) put our presents out underneath the tree the night before even though Santa doesn't visit our house and we usually know what we got each other..

 

[golfgal]

We put some gifts out the other night - we have a small house and it would be very easy for the kids to stumble over a toy or two, so I wrapped up the gifts from DH and I to the kids. We did decide to wrap Santa presents, but those are put up on the top shelf of the hallway closet, in special Santa paper.

All last night, DS keeps saying he wants to open his gifts. I've never said "no" and "not now" so many times in one sitting!

Keeping in line with our Disney trip-countdown chain, we've got Advent calendars to use now. I told DS we can't open gifts until we are out of chocolate!

We used to hide Santa presents in the trunk of DH's car when the kids were little. The house we had then didn't have great closet space so we just left them in there one year after shopping and decided it was a great way to do that. As the kids got older and electronics came into play, we started hiding the gifts in the emptied Christmas decor tubs.

 

[NMAmy]

Ours go under the tree on Christmas Eve for two reasons.

The first reason is that I cannot remember what I've purchased and so I have to wait to wrap everything until just a few days before Christmas.

The second reason is that my dd is insanely good at guessing what the gifts are. I can wrap 6 dvd's individually and stick them all in a bigger box with padding and she can STILL figure out what it is just by picking it up and shaking it. She's the Christmas present psychic.

So, because it irritates me to have dd know what's in the gift boxes when I can't even remember what it is and I'm the one who put it in there, I hide the presents and then wrap them and put them out on Christmas Eve.

 

[luvmy3]

Gifts from us to eachother, family and friends go under the tree as soon as they are wrapped. This year we have a new addition to the family and since I don't trust that she wouldn't chew them up I will have to put them under the tree in the family room since she isn't allowed in there yet.
My youngest still believes so of course Santa gifts come out on Christmas Eve and I'll probably continue to do that as long as they wake up here on Christmas morning.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

We used to hide Santa presents in the trunk of DH's car when the kids were little. The house we had then didn't have great closet space so we just left them in there one year after shopping and decided it was a great way to do that. As the kids got older and electronics came into play, we started hiding the gifts in the emptied Christmas decor tubs.

My parents did that once... until I had to get a blanket out of the car to go see my cousin's auto-race. Dad sent me to the car to get the stadium blanket and lo-and behold, was my future present from "Santa".

My grandmother used to buy stuff starting around July - she'd put them in trash bins in their basement (it was her version of storage as she could get a massive trash can cheaper than a rubbermaid tub). She had so many down there that I'd never mess with peeking. My brother, however, found out every year... the sneak!

 

[Chelley00]

We don't do Santa, but we still wait to put the kids gifts out until Christmas Eve after they've gone to bed. Everyone else's gifts (grandparents, uncles etc) go under the tree as soon as they are purchased.

 

[jen0610]

When the kids were younger and Santa still made stops at our house, only the gifts that were from mom and dad and brother/sister were put under the tree. The Santa gifts were put under on the 24th. DS and DD each had their own Santa wrapping paper each year, so they knew exactly who each gift was for and who it was from.

Each year there are some bigger gifts aren't put under the tree, for the lack of room. But those are hard to hide as well. We hid DS 34" tv last year in the dining room - more or less in plain sight and the kid never noticed it. Not sure how we lucked out on that, but we did.

 

[kinntj]

I would love to put some under the tree before Christmas eve, but out kitten would have the corners of every gift chewed off. She's on our desk now chewing on the corner of the Kleenex box. I spray her, but she's ignoring me. Time to pick her up and drop her on the floor.