PinkInTheBlue Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 We put everything out on Christmas Eve night after everyone is asleep. Our teenagers are a little disappointed not to still believe in Santa, so we keep the fun up for them too. :) lol The 6 year old is still having a ball with it all. My family put a little out during the season but did the big Christmas morning reveal even to this day (if we were over there for Christmas morning). My husband's family put things out a little at a time with no changes on Christmas morning. He says it was so much fun to come home from school and see a few new presents and run to see who they belonged to and wonder what they were. I'm still a sucker for the exciting Christmas morning. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshin Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 With cats, dogs and a curious husband we wait until Christmas eve. Otherwise the wrapping is pretty torn and tattered by the big day! I do wrap the gifts as I buy them and they are all kept in one place, so it only takes a few minutes to set everything out once the kids go to bed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaners Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Thanks to two rambunctious pups and a determined cat, the gifts don't go under the tree until Christmas morning. My 15yo cat has dedicated himself to the task of removing all the ornaments from "his" tree. Then, the dogs eat the ornaments. The poor tree is starting to look a bit bare. Presents don't stand a chance here. This sounds like our house. I'm lucky if our tree lasts till Christmas. Forget about presents! Aww.. I'm beginning to regret putting them under the tree. I was already feeling like the magic of Christmas is gone. I just wanted the tree to look festive. Oh well. i'll consider it a learning experience that influences what I do next year. :) :grouphug: I bet it looks nice and warm and cozy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan in SC Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 We put the gifts under the tree a few at a time, starting a week or so before Christmas. I have the bad habit of hiding things so well that I can't find them, so this helps a little! Our Santa presents and stocking gifts aren't wrapped, so they go out in the wee hours after children finally fall asleep on Christmas Eve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoot Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 The gifts have always gone under the tree as soon as they are wrapped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down_the_Rabbit_Hole Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 I usually put the gifts under the tree as we get them, but dd has always had at least one big unwrappable package that gets brought out Christmas morning, until this year. So when I mentioned all the presents were under the tree she said not all, Santa will bring at least one for Christmas morning. She was very sure of this and would not listen to anything we said, needless to say I had to go out and buy an extra gift that was Santa worthy to put out Christmas morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisbeth Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Christmas Eve after the kids go to bed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pippen Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Gifts don't go under the tree until the last minute because my cat likes to rip off paper. I do have a pile of boxes nearby though. If my kids were younger I'd try and convince them that Santa has moved from the North Pole to Amazon. :laugh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GailV Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 I put the stuff that is not from Santa under the tree whenever it is wrapped. Santa fills each stocking and places it on the couch or one of the chairs with that person's Santa gifts, which are all unwrapped. He puts family gifts under the tree. He also turns the Christmas tree lights on, so it is the only morning the kids wake up with a lit tree. That with the explosion of Santa gifts around the room supplies the magic. Growing up, there was no end point to Santa. As long as you believed, he came. It never stopped being magical. Never. When I met DH, I made him believe again. ;) I refuse to give up the magic when my kids age. :D Very similar here. We don't have the stockings on our chairs -- they stay hung by the chimney, because, what the heck, that's the entry-point to and egress from the house. Still lots of magic here! Dh feels the same way. The first year we had to be serious Santa helpers when dd was little was sort of a shock for both of us -- I think deep down we were surprised we had to pick up so much of the slack. And our living room can be shut off with French doors, so the cats don't climb the tree or ruin the presents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivka Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 We always have a Douglas Fir for our Christmas tree, so it never looks "empty" or "naked." They are full, full trees, with branches right down to the base! When I was a kid, we would each bring down our presents to each other on the evening of Christmas Eve, when we hung up our stockings. Then all the other presents (Mom and Dad, out-of-town relatives, Santa) appeared overnight. My kids may be starting to be old enough to do it that way too. Until now, everything has appeared after bedtime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayne J Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Ours don't go under the tree until Christmas Eve. In my family growing up, we put the bare tree up on Christmas Eve and Santa lit and decorated it. There was nothing like those mornings, coming down to see the tree all lit and beautiful and the gifts in pretty paper underneath. I don't have the patience to decorate a whole tree as well as putting out gifts, so that particular aspect has been dropped, but the OhhhhAhhhh factor of seeing all the gifts on Christmas morning, that I will stay up late for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewingmama Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 Christmas Eve - no earlier if I want to keep my sanity. :glare: DD has no impulse control - the gifts would be opened. DS2 would ask every 5 minutes - "Is it time to open presents" He already drives me nuts asking every couple of hours if it is christmas yet. Plus DH guesses all his gifts just by looking at the shape and ruins the surprise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewingmama Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 dp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elfknitter.# Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 Gifts from others, like Grandma, go whenever we get them. Otherwise, they go under on Christmas Eve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deannajo Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 I put the stuff that is not from Santa under the tree whenever it is wrapped. Santa fills each stocking and places it on the couch or one of the chairs with that person's Santa gifts, which are all unwrapped. He puts family gifts under the tree. He also turns the Christmas tree lights on, so it is the only morning the kids wake up with a lit tree. That with the explosion of Santa gifts around the room supplies the magic. This is exactly how we do it - it's also just so much fun seeing the kids trying to guess the presents during the days leading up to Christmas morning and planning what they want to open first, etc. And come Christmas morning when they come down to the tree all lit up, their stockings full and Santa gifts waiting - so magical for all of us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenCat Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 If they come from others, I put them under as they arrive. I usually wrap ours about 4-5 days before hand, putting them under the tree as soon as they are wrapped. Santa gifts aren't wrapped so they go out late Christmas Eve, along with the stockings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belacqua Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 We wait until Christmas Eve, but mostly for feline reasons. She isn't intentionally destructive, but she just adores licking shiny things. Plastic bags and photographs are her usual targets, but sparkly giftwrap would be far too tempting for the old girl. It doesn't tear the paper, but I'm reasonably certain my family would rather all their gifts not be covered in cat spit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 No gifts go under the tree until Christmas Eve after the kids are in bed, except those for friends and the adults. My eldest gets severe anxiety otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TN Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 It depends on where we are. Usually we are at grandparents' house, so gift are put under the tree as soon as they are wrapped and gifts are opened on Christmas Eve. Every few years when we're actually home for Christmas we put the gifts out on Christmas Eve after the kids are in bed - it's just too tempting for the littlest ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenangelcat Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 After the kids have gone to bed Christmas Eve. Before we had kids, I used to make dh do it after I went to bed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perogi Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 Gifts that don't come from Santa go out as they're wrapped up. Stockings and Santa presents come Christmas Eve. :) This is exactly what I do. I don't usually start wrapping and putting things out until a few nights before Christmas. This year the kids had their gifts for us and each other wrapped and under the tree about a week ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Right now, not until after they go to sleep Christmas Eve. I like the way they look, but the girls still believe. Even after they figure things out, I probably won't put anything out until Christmas Eve either because they're smart and nosy! LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giraffe Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 I try to wrap and put them under the tree as they are bought, but this year we're not succeeding. It will be a wait until DD has gone to bed Christmas, I guess. Here Santa "only" brings the stocking so the rest needs to be wrapped (and bought, but lets not talk about that, ok?!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa in SC Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Very, very late Christmas Eve or very, very early Christmas morning. Why? Well, we wrap in one last minute marathon. We don't do Santa, but there are no wrapped gifts until everyone is asleep Chtistmas Eve. Perhaps if we believed, Santa would send a couple elves to help?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Izzy Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Christmas Eve after the kids go to sleep. I can't even keep the ornaments on the tree and I know there's no way the presents would stay wrapped! I was just saying today that I need to wrap some fake presents so our tree doesn't look so bare. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristusG Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 As they are wrapped....which meant that I already had some gifts wrapped at the end of November when our tree went up, so the pile has been growing since then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myfunnybunch Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 I don't think I have high expectations, but yes I am bummed they seem indifferent to the whole season. It's hard when they get older. I forget how old your other children are. But my girls, at around 14-16, seemed kind of blah about the whole thing. They weren't rude or unkind about it, just kind of...meh. The boys were little, so I still had someone to "play" Christmas with, but the girls' attitudes did put a bit of a damper on things for me. They passed through that stage. This year, dd19, will spend the night so that she can be here Christmas morning to open stockings. Dd17 kept asking, "When will we (make cookies, go see the lights, etc.)?" Hopefully it's just a stage, and they'll grow through it back into being excited about the season again. :grouphug: The puzzle sounds like fun! :) Cat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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