How does opening presents work in your home?

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We open gifts Christmas Eve since that's what DH likes. The kids take turns passing them out and we open them one at a time so everyone can see what the gift is. The kids also start playing with toys, ect. Christmas Eve. It's pretty hard to get them calmed down and into bed. LOL

Then Christmas morning, the kids get up and run to check under the tree for their gifts from Santa and to wake me up (DH won't get up early so he misses this part). Then once I'm up, they check out their stockings.

 

[robinb]

Opening presents waits until after the Hanukkah candles are lit. My DH and I exchange a gift early in the first few nights but DD gets gifts every night. This year I wrapped everything and put them in a box with gifts from her grandmother and she can choose 2 gifts to open every night. My DH was out of town last night and we waited for him to come home to light the candles, but DD had already zonked out! I was expecting him home earlier but his flight was delayed. So, she's get double gifts tonight.

 

[puffkin]

When I was little, mom would just hand out presents and we would open them as fast as we got them. Then, one year when my little bro was a toddler she realized that she never saw my brother and I open one single present because she was so busy helping little bro. The next year they set the video camera on a tripod and instituted the "opening chair". We would take turns one by one sitting on the chair and open a present. Everyone would see, the camera would get a good shot, and then the next person would take a turn. Worked really well! Stockings we open later in the morning, kind of like a little bonus....these we just kind of worked through at our own pace.

We only have DS3 so it is a bit different for us. He opens at his own pace and every now and then we sneak in a present for mommy and daddy or the pets. We usually do the stocking Christmas night as a fun little bonus and so that it doesn't get lost in the morning excitement.

My parents and brother usually come over Christmas Eve. My parents give DS the bulk of his gifts then, so again he opens at his pace. If we had another child, they would take turns opening. Late Christmas morning we head over there and us adults exchange gifts. My mom passes them out and we open one by one. She usually has one or two small gifts reserved for DS....but he is usually so busy playing with his new stuff he does't really notice. It is mainly for the adults. Then she starts preparing for the extended family to arrive for Christmas.

I don't know why, but when my grandfather arrives he automatically hands all the great grandchildren their gifts. Of course they open them right away, they are kids! Drives us nuts because we are usually so busy setting up for the meal we never see what they get. I have no idea why he can't just wait or leave them in the car til after the meal!

 

[pipersmom]

We go to my mom's for Christmas Eve and do appetizers as a meal..things like shrimp ring, oysters, etc, then open one gift before we come back to our house. In the morning when she wakes up dd has her stocking at the foot of her bed with a book in it that she can read until I tell her to come out. Santa has left about half her presents (unwrapped), so she goes through those, then unwraps her wrapped gifts. When she's done, we go to my mom's and meet my bro and his fam there to have breakfast, and then open gifts from them, Gram, and some relatives who don't live in the area. Always one person at a time, reading the tag, and THEN unwrapping. Myself and my bro also both keep lists of who got what from whom, so thank you notes are extremely easy! It's usually 12 or so by the time we're done opening, then we make phone calls to thank rels for the gifts, then have Christmas dinner around 4 or so.

 

[MickeyHereWeCome!]

Our kids get to open one gift on Christmas Eve. It's always a special ornament to add to the tree.

Christmas morning, they always find (and eat) the Christmas M&M container that Santa leaves under the trees in their rooms. This year we have to change that, though. The kids got guinea pigs this year and they squeak every time anyone enters the room. We told the kids that Santa will have to leave their treat outside their door because of our new "alarm system".

Once we all get up (at a predetermined,acceptable, time), we all come downstairs and find the gifts that Santa leaves unwrapped by the tree. He usually leaves 3 per child. Then, we open stockings. We used to save the stockings for last because that's how my family used to do it, but the kids decided we should do all of the Santa gifts first, so that is now how it is done.

After the Santa gifts, we make cinnamon rolls and eat breakfast. Then, we'll open presents from family and friends. We do it one at a time. We try to go in some sort of order, but that gets difficult with 6 of us, especially since our gifts are just scattered under the tree (not in piles or separated by name).

After gifts, we take things out and set them up....and play for a bit. Then, we get ready to down to my parent's house for dinner and more presents

A few days after Christmas, my brother and his family come to town. My Aunt and Uncle plan their visit to coincide with his visit. We'll get together at my parents for another Christmas dinner and a chaotic gift-opening session! We do one at a time for all 13 of us. It takes forever, and we are always exhausted at the end of the evening. My Aunt and Uncle won the lottery and really go overboard. It's fun getting spoiled that night, but it's a lot!

I love having our "2nd Christmas". It really makes the season last a little longer for us.

We have relatives who have one daughter. When she was little, they would seriously open one gift and then spend a lot of time with that gift. If it was a game, they would play it. If it was a CD, they would stop and listen to it. A book would at least get started. We used to go over for Christmas dinner, and were always amazed that they had only opened about 4 presents, and still had many to go. They didn't have an excessive amount of gifts since there were only 3 of them, but this gift opening would last all week!

 

[NMAmy]

When I was a kid, we did it the way the OP's husband's family did. We pretty much do it the same way now except dd hands out the gifts (there's just the three of us.) Stockings are always last and breakfast comes after that.

At our extended family Christmas with my sister's family, it's the same way. Several people will distribute gifts and then we open them willy nilly.

I enjoy it this way--opening them one at a time would probably annoy me just because it's not something I've ever done.

 

[puffkin]

Forgot to add to my post that MIL always hosted Christmas dinner for the extended family. DH said that whenever he woke up he would go out and find his pile of presents (she had seperate piles for his sister and brother). DH's were always on the sofa. Then he would open his presents by himself. Sometimes his siblings would be there, sometimes they were still in bed, or already finished and off doing something else. His mom would be in the kitchen cooking dinner and his dad milling around setting up for the dinner. They might peek in once in awhile, but he pretty much was by himself. His parents also only gave practical things like clothes, underwear, socks, etc. Never name brand things...just very practical. Every now and then he would get a small toy or book or game, but not much.

Christmas evening, his parents would make a big prodution out of opening their gifts to each other. They would have "special alone time" together to do it and give each other mounds of gifts with music playing lots of time to watch each other open. Some gifts were again practical, but some were wants.

I just found this to be incredibly depressing. DH does not have fond memories of Christmas at all. He thinks my family goes overboard (we do a bit ) but at least we have a blast. We try to only by DS "wants" at Christmas and keep it reasonable (I actually pulled a few things last night from his pile to hold for his birthday in March because it was getting to big) but it is fun. Yes us adults have a great exchange to, but not at the expense of the children. The kicker is that the inlaws who are not rich by any means, but also not struggling financially no longer give ANYTHING to their own children. My husband would be thrilled with a Tshirt or a DVD. Something to acknowledge that he is their child. They do give a small gift to each of their 3 grandchildren (usually clothes) but they continue to lavish themselves and their two dogs with gifts. I just find them to be so strange and self absorbed.

 

[cmaee]

We put out all of the presents Christmas Eve night after the kids are asleep. Santa brings 1 present that is not wrapped and fills their stockings. When the kids get up on Christmas morning, they see what Santa brought them and go through their stocking. After they have played with that stuff for a little while, my DH will read from Luke and Matthew about Christ's birth and pray. Then he will hand out presents one at a time so we can each see everyone's gift and reaction. After the presents are all opened, I will make breakfast and we will have a relaxing day where we lounge around.

 

[jakoky]

Christmas eve we spend with my family do appies and we also open gifts one at at time...

christmas morning we get up and santa doesnt wrap his one gift but does wrap all the stocking stuffers...we open them one by one and then go on to gifts and also do these one by one...

then we head off to the inlaws for brunch and gift opening where we taught them to open the gifts one by one... then back to my parents for turkey dinner....

I love opening the gifts one by one, it truly helps help the day to last longer and everyone gets to see who gets what and truly appreciate each gift...with a family of 5, our christmas morning last quite a while, at least a couple of hours, sometimes more, which i love...

The funniest thing is, my kids are 18, 16, and 14, and in all the years they have only ever woken us up twice, we have always had to set an alarm to get us up...if we werent up by 7, we were in trouble as opening takes us awhile...i also know we could never do breakfast first...i remember my dad doing to this to us as kids, and i could never eat anyways, as i way too excited, so we eat later..

Nice to read everyone's traditions!!!

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Our Christmas Eve begins with a family puzzle we work on all day -- we have a theme each year, this year it is the nativity, and then segues into a viewing of holiday lights and watching some holiday movies. I'll also probably be making last minute treats we've run out of -- fudge, cookies, etc. DS always opens one present on Christmas Eve. It has always been Disney pjs, but his last year's Disney pjs (adult small), were a bit big, and I believe will now fit just right, so he'll be opening slippers this year.

Christmas morning we wake up to what Santa has left opened and ready to go on the coffeetable, and while he's enjoying that (ok, he's no longer a believer, but some of that stuff is big and hard to wrap...), we get drinks for everyone. Then we individually open our stockings, filled with unwrapped small gifts.

Then we will start on the wrapped presents, passed out and opened one at a time. We may take a break and have breakfast, or we may wait to finish. We will definitely stop for the WDW parade and cinnamon rolls. When we have breakfast it is a big meal with pancakes, bacon, sausage balls, hash browns, fruit, etc. Then we are full -- we'll either finish opening or start to relax. This year we have a Celtics game in the afternoon!

Instead of a big dinner we are doing "nibblies" -- mini sandwiches, stuffed mushrooms, chips and dip, chicken fingers, etc., so people can just take what suits them and relax. We'll all gather for pie or homemade ice cream pie a little later, and we also have a few Christmas movies ready to watch, whatever didn't get watched the night before.

I love our laid-back Christmas. When I was small I got carted to my grandparents, and they lived two hours from us, and an hour apart from each other. It was a travel nightmare, and I never got to enjoy my gifts. I decided early on my ds wasn't going to have that issue. My dad spends the holiday season with us (he lives 1500 miles away), so he's already there. And my ILs are not interested in seeing ds, so it's not a problem. I wish they cared enough to want to see him on Christmas, but that's another thread...

Maria

 

[disneygirl338]

My Kids open one present that is under the tree on Christmas Eve, then they go right to bed. Then the kids that are up early can open their stockings and we wait till the older ones are up to open the rest.
It is fun to see all the ideas from other Familys

 

[PixiePlanner]

When I was a little girl, we would get up and open stockings gifts(wrapped) and Santa's gifts(unwrapped in front of the tree). We would then eat breakfast, get dressed and head off to church. After struggling with sitting still for what seemed like 12 hours, we would head home and open presents. We still give Mom a hard time about this. However, it made Christmas last.

Fast forward 30+ years... we get up and open stockings gifts(wrapped) and Santa's gifts(wrapped in front of the tree). We then eat breakfast, get dressed and play with Santa's gifts. After a little while, we open the rest of the gifts, one at a time. We really enjoy the fun and watching reactions.

FYI-the kids can't go out and mess with the gifts unless we're awake. They are told it must be atleast 7:00.

 

[MommytoaSweetie]

This will only be our 3rd Christmas with kids, so this is pretty much as it has been and the plan for this year. (Although the first year, our tree fell during the night so Christmas morning was spent cleaning that off and some gifts lost their wrapping paper during that, but we're flexible )

Anyway, the girls get new jammies on Christmas Eve. Christmas morning, they come down and open stockings (when they're older, we may let them do this on their own as long as they're together - to give us a chance to finish dressing ), and I get breakfast in the oven. Then we open gifts, one at a time, before we eat breakfast and head to my parent's house. I'm looking forward to Christmas this year with two girls!!

 

[tinkerfan1]

DH and I get up early and put the turkey in the oven so the wonderful smells can start floating throughout the house. Then, the kids start stirring. We go to the Christmas tree. I usually sit on the floor and hand out gifts, one by one. We take turns, watching each other open the gifts. Stockings are saved for last. My parents come over mid-late morning as well. We have a few goodies sitting out while we visit with them and finish getting the meal ready. We usually eat mid-afternoon. It is always a wonderful day of time spent with family.

 

[jensen]

Opening gifts is sheer chaos in our family... we do xmas eve with my family (21 total people). We all go to Mass and then have oyster stew, appys and lots of wine. Just before bedtime, we open gifts. We don't all exchange gifts, we just buy for grandpa and grandma and they buy for all of us, but it still gets a bit crazy with everyone opening gifts at the same time.

Then we head home, put out cookies for Santa and read "'Twas the Night before Christmas" before tucking the kids into bed. DH and I put out the Santa gifts (one for each child) and our gifts for the kids (typically only one or two gifts). Whenever the kids wake up (usually between 4 & 5 am) we get up and open our gifts... this, too is a free-for-all. Though really not crazy with so few gifts and just the four of us.

If it's really early, we may go back to bed for a while, otherwise we start breakfast while the kids enjoy their gifts.

We do xmas dinner at noon with DHs family (16 people total). This is where the true chaos happens - and I dread it every year. MIL goes nuts buying lots of gifts (mostly junk!) and the two SIL also buy gifts for everyone (more junk)... we stopped buying them gifts years ago, but they haven't gotten the hint. After we eat dinner, everyone takes a seat and someone hands out the gifts until we each have a huge pile in front of us. The kids start tearing into their gifts and go from one to the next to the next... The kids barely notice what they got, they are so intent on tearing into the next gift - before we had kids, I swore it would never be this way with our children, but it's so hard when all the cousins are acting like heathens to teach our kids the right way to act.

After this harrowing scene, I cannot wait to get home and enjoy a peaceful evening with DH, DS and DD.

 

[Bearvet]

The kids get to open 1 gift Christmas Eve - a special ornament that I'm afraid will get lost or broken the next day.

On Christmas morning, Santa leaves a pile for each boy in the family room and they go through it at their own pace. We agree on the time the night before. DH comes down a bit earlier to let the dogs out and start the coffee. I put breakfast casserole and apple pancakes (made the day before) in the oven. Then we move to the living room to open gifts to/from each other and from out-of-town relatives. I've always had the boys choose a gift to give each other and 1 for DH and myself. I think it teaches them that it's fun to give a thoughtful gift. These we do 1 at a time.

Then we take a breakfast break.

We do stockings last - many times they may contain an accessory to a bigger gift, so I don't want them to get it before the actual gift. An example might be headphones and an ipod case, but the gift is an ipod.

The boys are now 20, 16 and 14 and they still want to do Christmas like this!

 

[LBIJim]

At our house, we don't open the presents until Christmas NIGHT.

That's how we did it too. I don't remember how we managed to "train" our now grown kids to be patient and wait or why we decided to do it this way, but by the time the kids were in their early elementary school years, we waited until after dinner to open gifts.

The kids usually got some gifts from grandparents or other relatives on Christmas Eve, so I guess they played with them Christmas morning while I slept till noon.

We also hung stockings but never filled them with little gifts. Have no clue why.

Jim

 

[indimom]

Usually the kids wake up a little early and dad and I like to torture them by dragging out their efforts to get us out of bed. Then, dad and mom HAVE to make coffee.
Finally, we let them drag us into the living room for presents. We open one present at a time, rotating between the kids, and throwing in a gift for mom and dad whenever they feel like it. We take it pretty slow and easy and take lots of pics. After the gifts, I make DH' grannie's homemade Biscuits with Chocolate Gravy (as you can guess from the name, this isn't a breakfast we could eat every day ).
We have an open house policy for the relatives and keep a pot of chili or spaghetti going all day. Usually the grandparents stop by some time before noon and check out the kids' stash. The aunts/uncles/cousins will drop in during the afternoon to show off some of their new toys and play.

This year we are changing things up a bit because we are leaving bright and early Dec. 25 to head to my sister's house 12 hours away. So, we will go to church at 6:30 p.m. Christmas Eve, then open our gifts. We invited both sets of grandparents to watch the gift opening, since they won't see the kids for a week after Christmas. We'll probably have some light snacks, but I haven't decided what yet.