In our house, Santa follows more of my family's traditions than DH's. And to be honest, I don't really know what DH's traditions are since he isn't close with most of his family and chooses not to talk about them.
However, he made up a tradition for us to begin with our family the Christmas before DS was born: the parents do the stockings and on Christmas morning we get the stockings and bring them and the kids into our bedroom and we help "open" each others stockings while we cuddle in Mom and Dad's bed. My DS actually asked about this last year because his class was talking about their holiday traditions and all the other kids said Santa brings their stockings. We told him that Santa loves to hear about families starting their own traditions and when DH wrote him to see if it was ok if we gave the kids stockings, Santa wrote back that he thought it was a wonderful idea and he would make a note of it for his "files" and he even made a list of suggested stocking stuffers to help us that first year. DS loved this story and now I'm trying to figure out what to do when he asks to see the letter
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Santa brings one big gift in our house and it is unwrapped. Last year he brought DS a CARS work bench with tools and DD a Princess throne.
DH and I also give the kids a few smaller gifts. Last year was a Tag reader and a couple of books for each of them.
Since all our family lives at least 5 hours away, we usually have Christmas alone at our home since DH's job does not allow him to travel during the holiday's. To save on shipping for the relatives, I pick up gifts all year long and hide them away and when relatives call to ask what to get the kids, I tell them what I have hidden away and they usually pick something and send me the money that I paid for the gift and then I wrap it and put their name on it.
I have a question that is sort of along these lines: When did your kids first write a wish list to Santa? Every year we write a letter to Santa telling him thank you for making the trip to see us and to wish everyone in the North Pole well in the coming year (kind of like a Christmas card for Santa and Company
). DS dictates the letter and I write it for him then he signs his name. But he just asked me yesterday when he should write a letter to Santa to let him know what he would like for Christmas because all his friends at school are doing it. I told him that since Christmas is so close now, that the letter probably wouldn't get there in time so we would make a note on the calendar for next year to send a letter in October, that way Santa would still have enough time to get something DS would like. He seemed satisfied with this, I am just curious about when other children start writing letters to Santa.
), ipods, etc. In the past they have always wanted a bunch of different cheaper toy items so it is quite an adjustment for us! 
