Jen500 Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Growing up, we went to church after dinner, and then opened our family presents on Christmas Eve. Santa left presents for Christmas morning. I have never opened presents on Christmas Eve w/my kids----they would never get to bed! I don't think I've met anyone who does the x-mas eve gift opening. When do your families open gifts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeathenMom Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 we celebrate Yule which is a mulit-day event and my kids get presents from the 23rd to the 25th. it's qutite the exhausting marathon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jujsky Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 (edited) We've always done it Christmas morning. My mom grew up opening her presents at midnight. My grandfather used to wake them up with a big cow bell :001_smile: My grandparents tried to continue the tradition, but when my mom and her older brother became parents, they told my grandparents it was way too much for us, and they moved our family Christmas party to Christmas day. Edited December 1, 2009 by jujsky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FourOaks Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 We also open our gifts on Christmas Eve, but I'll agree with you, not many other people seem to do that. It started in my family growing up and I've continued it with my kids. My kids usually get to bed about 11 or so on Christmas Eve. There's no up before the sun rises on Christmas morning --- very nice!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 I buy my kids new pajamas, wash them, wrap them and let the kids open them on Christmas Eve. That way, they look decent for pictures. :lol: All other presents are opened on Christmas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tutor Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 We open stockings on Christmas Eve and everything under the tree on Christmas morning... if we're home. If we're not home, we open stockings and everything at our house two days before we leave then open gifts at at my parents' or his parents' according to those traditions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unicorn. Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 We have always opened them on Christmas morning. My brother however, opens Christmas Eve, w/ Santa the next morning. I used to beg my mom to let me open just one on Christmas Eve. One year (I was in High School) she relented, and I grabbed a box I just knew was something cool! It was socks and underwear. I never asked again! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crissy Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 When we were young my parents always chose one gift for each of us to open on Christmas Eve. The rest, plus a small gift from Santa, were opened on Christmas morning. My kids open gifts on both occasions. We spend Christmas Eve with my parents and sisters, so everyone opens gifts together after dinner. On Christmas morning our boys always retrieve their stockings and come to sit at the end of our bed to open their Santa gift and unload the stocking. Now that they're old enough, they usually bring us coffee in bed first. :) We open the remainder of our gifts after breakfast. Next comes dinner with my husband's family. Gifts are usually opened first, then we eat, drink, visit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsmamainva Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 We open them on Christmas morning. My husband's family does Christmas Eve and we tried it one year, but the kids didn't go to bed until 2 in the morning so we never did it again! :lol: On Christmas Eve, we stay up until at least midnight, playing boardgames as a family...which I really love!!!! We'll be going to our family Christmas party on the day after Christmas, so it'll be two straight days of presents! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impish Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 I've just started giving them pjs Christmas eve...for the same reason as mentioned earlier, so they'd look good for pics the next am! :lol: Otherwise, its Christmas am for everything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawn in OH Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 (edited) We open presents Christmas morning, have some breakfast/brunch and then head over to Grandma's house where they open their presents from Grandma and Grandpa and their Uncle and his girlfriend before dinner. Edited December 1, 2009 by Dawn in OH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secular_mom Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 We have started the tradition of opening gifts on the 21st, Winter Solstice. It just makes more sense to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aubrey Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 We do immediate family gift exchange Christmas Eve, along w/ finger foods & games. It was the best night of the whole season when I was a kid--Dad wasn't drinking, & nobody was yelling. BUT I was raised Church of Christ--they do not believe in the religious side of the holiday. So we didn't have any kind of special church services or anything to complicate the evening. When dh & I first married, we did every other yr the way my family had done it & every other yr we went to his fam's Christmas Eve service. The family night thing has grown on him, & I still feel somewhat uncomfortable w/ the religious aspect of the holiday (old habits die hard), so we've stayed home for several yrs in a row, & now it's kind of assumed. Although, if he suddenly up & wants to go to a Christmas Eve service, I guess it is his turn. ;) :001_smile: But, yep, Santa was Christmas morning. Mom made a big deal out of the empty tree the night before. Fil was so aghast at this tradition the first few yrs after dh & I were married, he kept saying I was grinching myself & that we were cheating & opening stuff early. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizzyBee Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 We opened gifts on Christmas Eve after the children's program at church. My bachelor uncle and sometimes other company would come over, and we'd have cookies and coffee and stay up late. When dh and I got married, I wanted to open gifts on Christmas Eve, but dh's family had always opened them on Christmas. Opening them on Christmas Eve just didn't seem right to him. So we compromise. The kids open one gift on Christmas Eve and everything else Christmas morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aubrey Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Fwiw, we're going to open gifts from the 13th-25th this yr. Santa's bringing the tree (if we can find one at a good price), so it counts as a gift. Decorating the house counts as a gift. Going to look at Christmas lights counts--we print cards w/ candy canes to hand out at our favorite houses--"Candy Cane Awards." And since the elves will be here early, creating all kinds of mischief, some of the kids' Christmas movies will end up wrapped, w/ a stringing-popcorn-Christmas-movie-night-theme. Stuff we mean to do anyway, but often don't get around to because we're so busy shopping, etc., lol. I'm hoping it will make for a slower, more meaningful, *cheaper* year. :D And we'll still do the family thing Christmas Eve, & there should be something left to unwrap Christmas morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Word Nerd Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 We let the kids open a gift or two on Christmas Eve and do the majority of the opening on Christmas morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Christmas Morning. When I was a kid, we'd go out on Christmas Eve, ice-skating or a movie, dinner, maybe some mall walking, and then my parents would drag my brother and I around the whole entire state (okay, maybe it was just our city) to look at lights, and then we'd get to open one present (picked by them, but never pjs or socks or underwear) on Christmas Eve. Everything else was in the morning. And we slept in our clothes and sleeping bags so we could hop up, roll the bag up, and get going at the crack of dawn (since we were dressed and our beds were made :lol:). Dh never really had traditions. I think maybe they opened on Christmas Eve, but his big memories are if his siblings coming home (the four are 9-20 years older than he is) and other family coming over. Now we usually start opening gifts at about 10. I've had to wake boys up in the past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rose in BC Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 We open gifts Christmas Eve which is our major celebration (German background). This is also how both my dh and I grew up. It's church, dinner (which is late on this night) then gifts. Christmas day morning is for sleeping in, nice brunch and then Christmas dinner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Atl Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 We have multi-openings. Christmas Eve (FIL's birthday... So, we open those at his house). Then ours Christmas Eve, when we get home from FIL's. Christmas Day, at my Mom's. When my MIL was alive, we had two on the 25th, MIL's in the AM and my Mom's Christmas night. :svengo: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynn Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Christmas morning here. Growing up it depended when mother worked. If she worked Christmas EVe we would spend the evening at a neighbors or my aunts then open presents when we got home. I think she did it so she could sleep in Christmas morning. If she worked Christmas day we would wait until Christmas morning. When we got older it was just easier for all to open gifts Christmas Eve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crissy Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 We have started the tradition of opening gifts on the 21st, Winter Solstice. It just makes more sense to me. Do you have a special lunch or dinner or any other fun traditions to celebrate Winter Solstice? I have a friend who sends me the most beautiful Solstice card every year, and she decorates her home with lots of gorgeous greenery and herbs. They have a feast of some sort on the Eve of Winter Solstice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFSinIL Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Christmas morning...after the kids have eaten something. One year my aunt-in-law tired to get us to bring all four kids to her sisters (my mil) for Christmas -for all day - insisting that "the kids can have their gifts Christmas Eve, they won't care." She wanted to see "all the kids" (all six GROWN-UP kids) at their parent's house. I refused, and have made sure that my growing kids would have their Christmas mornings, gifts, tree at HOME. Then we can visit or be visited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 My DH grew up with the Christmas Eve tradition. Someone in his family would slip out of church at the end of the service to go home and put out all the gifts, including Santa ones. Yes, they played all night and fell asleep at dawn, but they had no where to go on Christmas day so it was really no big deal. My family didn't do church and we opened our gifts on Christmas morning. We (DH and kids) don't do church and open our gifts Christmas morning whenever we get up. It's never been earlier than 8:00am. Last year I went to the hospital before 7:00am with a stomach virus and the kids waited until I got home about 10:00am. They said it wasn't Christmas without me. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Christmas morning. My parents allowed us to open one gift on Christmas Eve, but I've never been able to convince Mr. Ellie to do that. :-) Sometimes dds would get up early and go through their stockings, but they were very quiet, and they waited until it was light out before touching anything else. When we lived in the same city as our parents, we went over to their homes after we had opened our presents and schlepped around a little. We alternated Christmas dinner with our parents--dinner here, dessert there one year, the opposite the following year. A friend always did a big deal on Christmas Eve--open all the presents, make a big dinner, whatever--but that makes no sense to me. What else is Christmas Day *for*?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyJoy Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 I don't think I've met anyone who does the x-mas eve gift opening. When do your families open gifts? My DH's family always opened their gifts on Christmas Eve, though he can't tell me why they did it this way. Neither of our families "do" Santa. My family opened one present on Christmas Eve, which was always a new set of pajamas to wear to bed/the next morning while opening gifts. We plan to carry on this tradition in our family. My dad's family opened gifts after having a large breakfast and washing all the dishes. This drove my ADHD dad crazy! He was nearly bursting with excitement to get to the gifts and thought his parents were torturing him by doing it this way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paula in PA Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 We have started the tradition of opening gifts on the 21st, Winter Solstice. It just makes more sense to me. This is what we started doing a couple of years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 The only thing under the tree before Christmas morning are new pjs for the kids, which the kids get to unwrapped Christmas Even. While we don't "do Santa", we don't put the gifts under the tree or fill the stockings until after they've gone to bed. One year, we just put them out as I wrapped them, and it wasn't as exciting, so we went back to keeping them hidden until after bedtime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secular_mom Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 We've started decoupaging empty jars (pickle, spaghetti sauce, etc.) with brightly colored tissue paper and setting them around the house on various shelves and in knooks and such. On Winter Solstice we will put tea light candles (or votives if I can get a good deal) in each jar to celebrate the returning light. :) I'm working on adding something small each year, that way it's simple and not too overwhelming and we'll have something new to look forward to doing each year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cera Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 I wish my husband would go for opening gifts Dec 21st. We currently open gifts from family as they come in (usually my parents/grandparents/his mother sometime before Christmas and his father/siblings sometime after). The kids open new pajamas and a book on Christmas eve and the rest from us on Christmas. Santa only fills stockings and the date we choose for Christmas varies depending on what we have going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myfunnybunch Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 The children open Grandma's (my MIL) presents on Christmas Eve. She feeds us and we open a few gifts. They open their stockings and present from Santa when the get up on Christmas morning. They open the rest of the gifts after breakfast on Christmas, which is usually aruond noon. Our younger dd is at her dad's until then, and we wait until she gets home to open family gifts. Cat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaT Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 We open everything Christmas morning. Then we load up and go to Florida for a week to open presents from extended family. I grew up opening presents on Christmas Eve, but mostly because my sisters were married and had to divide their time between families. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzanne in ABQ Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 We meet the extended family at my mom's house on Christmas Eve, and open those gifts (between cousins) that night. All of our nuclear family and Santa gifts are opened Christmas morning (and throughout the day). The Santa gifts are unwrapped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeathenMom Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Do you have a special lunch or dinner or any other fun traditions to celebrate Winter Solstice?I have a friend who sends me the most beautiful Solstice card every year, and she decorates her home with lots of gorgeous greenery and herbs. They have a feast of some sort on the Eve of Winter Solstice. we do as well, the solstice is known as Mother Night and we burn the yule log, feast, and honor the goddesses and female ancestral spirits. i plan on attempting a yule log cake this year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest janainaz Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 We do it first thing Christmas morning. Christmas Eve was always one gift when I was little. My mother chose it and it was always pajamas. I can't do that with my boys, but I let them open one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalknot Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 My family does one gift on Christmas Eve, just before Midnight Mass. The rest are opened on Christmas morning, after a big breakfast. My husband's family does gifts for all kids on St Nicholas' Day, so the kids get gifts then from the inlaws Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imprimis Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Christmas Eve morning my children open the gifts they chose for each other. In the evening, we always head to my brother's house where we have a light dinner and open our exchanged gifts. When we return to our house, the kids open two gifts each. One is an ornament I get them every year. They hang their ornaments on the tree and I let them each choose one other present to unwrap (I put a few gifts under the tree in the weeks leading up to Christmas). On Christmas morning, I put Christmas music on, make coffee, bring breakfast out to dh and the kids (who have already opened their stockings and are waiting not exactly patiently by the tree ). After breakfast is eaten, the kids begin to unwrap. We ask them to take turns opening gifts so I can take pics and everyone can see what was received. Dh and I open our gifts on Christmas Day, not necessarily in the morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Growing up, we went to church after dinner, and then opened our family presents on Christmas Eve. Santa left presents for Christmas morning. I have never opened presents on Christmas Eve w/my kids----they would never get to bed! I don't think I've met anyone who does the x-mas eve gift opening. When do your families open gifts? My family is of German background - in Germany everyone opens presents on Christmas Eve. Growing up, we always got all dressed up with the women/girls in fancy Christmas dresses and the men/boys in suits. We have a rather odd meal of sandwiches with cold cuts and liverwurst, tuna noodle salad and deviled eggs (though I never eat the latter, yuk!) - I think this is somehow a typical German supper of wurst and bread that somehow got a bit mixed-up in the couple of generations since my grandparents immigrated. Then we open presents around 7pm. I think it's lovely with all the lights twinkling and everyone dressed up, I couldn't imagine doing it on Christmas morning when I'm disheveled and half asleep. Things that have been added - my mother added a Christmas morning stocking (mostly an orange, some chocolates and nuts) in deference to my quite American dad, and then for my kids I added one present from Santa in the morning (the presents in the evening are from family). Growing up, we never went to church - now we go to the 4pm candlelit service where we all sing carols and then come back home. In Germany the tradition is to put the tree up on Christmas Eve as well - the children are not allowed in the room to see till a bell is rung to indicate that the Christkind (who brings the presents) has come. This has not been tenable in the US. My mom tried it one year and gave up. My grandmother would do it when we visited her, though. The tree stays up through Epiphany - that I still do. The other awesome thing about having everything on Christmas Eve is we never have to fight with the in-laws over whose turn it is. My family (parents and my brother's family) all get together on Christmas Eve, then the in-laws get Christmas day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iwka Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Christmas Eve, bc it it a tradition of my country (Poland) and faith (Catholic). We decorate Christmas tree, have a special supper, sing carols, pray and then open the gifts, which are mostly very few. Then we go to church. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momof165 Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 (edited) We open all of our Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve. I try to keep our family traditions alive. (German heritage). Sonja Edited December 2, 2009 by momof165 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen500 Posted December 2, 2009 Author Share Posted December 2, 2009 My family is of German background also...maybe I'll let the kids open a few presents on Christmas Eve this year. I guess I'm feeling nostalgic about my family traditions. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katemary63 Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 My DH grew up opening them Christmas Eve, after dinner and church. It's because they were strick about the no santa thing so, why wait till Christmas morning. I grew up with the Santa thing so we always woke up early on Christmas morning and opened the gifts that "Santa" left. As a family, we did Santa and so open them Christmas morning. Sometimes, DH talks us into opening ONE gift Christmas eve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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