If your family does NOT do Santa, do your kids wake up early on Christmas?

[athomeontheprairie]

Title says it all.

[Tess in the Burbs]

We don't do Santa. Both kids were up early today(we open presents today). Excited kids :)

[DawnM]

When they were little, absolutely.   The excitement for presents doesn't come from a belief in Santa.

 

 

[nd293]

I certainly hope not because it's 4am on Christmas day here and I've been awake for an hour or so and I need to get back to sleep and sleep in to catch up!

 

We moved gift giving to before Christmas here - the kids just open stockings today, and they do that after breakfast, No Santa and no getting up early!

[athomeontheprairie]

When they were little, absolutely. The excitement for presents doesn't come from a belief in Santa.

See, this is what I'm wondering.

I had Santa as a kids and was always up super early.

We have never had Santa and my kids will wake up between 7-9 (this will be the year they prove me wrong). I'll be up by 6 ready to go! And I'm waiting on the kids. Sigh. They're excited, but not enough?

 

*I* want those early morning Christmas memories, and my kids haven't cooperated for 10 years

 

Eta: Dc are 10,8,4,2.

Edited December 24, 2015 by athomeontheprairie

[73349]

My kid gets up before 7 every day unless he's sick. He's not allowed to leave his room any earlier than usual on Christmas, so if he wakes up earlier, he will be reading or playing in his room.

 

We don't open anything until we get home from church.

[maize]

They get stockings they can have as soon as they are up, so yes they are up early! Other gifts have to wait for everyone though.

 

Not quite sure what you mean by not doing Santa though, we say Santa comes and fills the stockings but without any pretense that Santa is real--I.e., the kids all know that Santa in this case is a code name for mom and dad (re, mom, that is; dad doesn't have much to do with it ;) )

[maize]

Hm, are there no presents that appear overnight in your house, regardless of who gets the credit? In that case I can imagine a bit less excitement. The surprise element is a big deal, and if the presents have been under the tree for a week that's not so exciting.

[athomeontheprairie]

They get stockings they can have as soon as they are up, so yes they are up early! Other gifts have to wait for everyone though.

 

Not quite sure what you mean by not doing Santa though, we say Santa comes and fills the stockings but without any pretense that Santa is real--I.e., the kids all know that Santa in this case is a code name for mom and dad (re, mom, that is; dad doesn't have much to do with it ;) )

Santa here usually means kids believe the whole story-not knowing it's really mom/dad. Edited December 24, 2015 by athomeontheprairie

[athomeontheprairie]

Hm, are there no presents that appear overnight in your house, regardless of who gets the credit? In that case I can imagine a bit less excitement. The surprise element is a big deal, and if the presents have been under the tree for a week that's not so exciting.

There are gifts under the tree. But those are to siblings from siblings and the gifts for extended family. we'll put their gifts out tonight after the dc are in bed.

[maize]

Hmm, I dunno. I was always up super early, sneaking out with a flashlight cause I was afraid of getting in trouble for being up too soon. All that without ever believing in Santa.

[Pippen]

Oh gosh yes. Life was much better after we started letting them get their stockings and take them back to their rooms as soon as they woke up. I would put plenty in there--including stuff like a DVD, magazine, CD, etc--to keep them busy. And I wrapped it ALL in tissue paper. 

 

Oh, and they had candy for breakfast. They thought it was awesome.

[Sherry in OH]

They plan to set their alarms for 7 am.  

[Prairie~Phlox]

We open all gifts Christmas eve & then on Christmas morning stockings are stuffed & 1 present for each kid (only 3 from us the night before, a book, article of clothing & something I feel useful) Stockings are a highlight for my kids. My mom never did stockings, so I love doing them. They don't wake up super early, but they're a little older now.

[purplejackmama]

See, this is what I'm wondering.

I had Santa as a kids and was always up super early.

We have never had Santa and my kids will wake up between 7-9 (this will be the year they prove me wrong). I'll be up by 6 ready to go! And I'm waiting on the kids. Sigh. They're excited, but not enough?

 

*I* want those early morning Christmas memories, and my kids haven't cooperated for 10 years

 

Eta: Dc are 10,8,4,2.

Oh honey. Let's trade places. I would LOVE to sleep in on Christmas morning!!

[Guest]

They don't wake up earlier they just don't lollygag around in bed on presents days, so we are effectively downstairs thirty minutes earlier than usual. If they could will themselves awake earlier, I'm sure they would but, happily, they can not :-) We've never ever done santa.

[coralloyd]

We don't "do" Santa in any way really. My son (9yr.) was up at 4:45! My girls (11 & 13 yr.) were up a little after 5:00. They were so bummed and very ancy waiting for the baby to wake up at 7:00. The excitement has always been there. However, Christmas is very big in this house.

[AmandaVT]

Santa comes here and DS doesn't wake up any earlier than normal typically. (hope I didn't just jinx myself!)

[ashfern]

My kids wake up early every morning.  :lol:

[gardenmom5]

the year I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning, I let dh know NO ONE was allowed to wake me up before 8am.  that also meant the kids weren't allowed in the living room before 8am.  it stuck.   I'd hear my kids whispering to each other outside my bedroom door, asking what time it was.  that was many many years ago - and we still don't do gifts before 8am.  and we take turns,  

 

it made me chuckle a couple years ago, when everyone was here and up at 8am - and dudeling was still asleep (even though on other mornings he was up before that.). . .. . .

Edited December 24, 2015 by gardenmom5

[Garga]

DS13 wakes at 6:00 every day.

DS10 wakes at 7:30-8:00 every day.

 

I suspect that DS13 will wake up at 6:00 and wake up DS10 at the same time. They'll tiptoe around for a little bit in the bathroom, but I don't know how long they'll be able to stand it. They usually let DH and I sleep in the morning so they'll probably wonder if they should wake us up or not and will stand undecisively outside our door debating what to do.

 

I'll set my alarm for 6:15 so they don't have to worry about it.

[Pawz4me]

I don't remember our boys ever getting up very early on Christmas.

[magic]

We have never done santa but our kids always get up early on Christmas morning.  Our 19 year old is the worse one.  He will sleep in any other day of the year but not Christmas morning.  I asked him if he was going to get up early tomorrow and he said he probably would.  I am hoping to sleep in a little.

[TechWife]

When they were little, absolutely.   The excitement for presents doesn't come from a belief in Santa.

 

Same here! 

 

I don't think college boy will be getting up before 10:00 am tomorrow, though! 

Edited December 24, 2015 by TechWife

[IndigoGlitter]

Mine do. Early being like 30 minutes to an hour early.

 

We don't do "Santa" but we do stockings and have a big present with the stockings.

[Jean in Newcastle]

My kids never got to open presents until after breakfast so there was no point in getting up super early.  It didn't mean a less excited or happy time.  Just one with adequate sleep. 

[ikslo]

Last year DH and I were up enjoying coffee and quiet for 2 hours before DS rolled out of bed. Excitement is still there, DS just doesn't feel the need to get out of bed. He's known there was no Santa since he was 5, but we still do stockings. He's also an only. No need to worry a sibling will get more gifts than him!

[porque]

My brother and I always got up super early on Christmas! My kids, not so much.  Dh and I often are up wondering if we should wake them. They are all teens/adults now, but it has always been this way. I have seriously laid back kids!

[rebcoola]

Our kids won't wake up an earlier but they will wake me up early 7-8 they usually watch tv in the morning while I sleep in until 9

[Butter]

We DO do Santa and I usually wake the kids up about 9 because I get tired of waiting!

[rmtzc2009]

We don't do Santa. My kids are still up really early. They'll open the stockings and then come harass us until we roll out of bed. We try to start presents around 9-9:30.

[PeacefulChaos]

We don't do Santa. 

 

But honestly, even if we did, I highly doubt they'd be up early.  Our house is one full of people who like to sleep in lol.... Most likely, DH will wake up first out of habit.  Link might follow behind around 8/8:30.  Last year Pink, Astro, and I were still sleeping at 9.

[sbgrace]

We've never done santa, but we do open gifts. We don't open until after I'm up and everyone's had breakfast. So there is no reason to wake early.

 

I still have one who may wake before the sun is up. He never sleeps well when he's excited about the next day. His twin will likely wake about his normal time, if his brother is quiet enough anyway!

 

My inclination is that kids getting presents, santa or not, are likely to react similarly in terms of sleep. Excitement and anticipation is the same I think.

Edited December 25, 2015 by sbgrace

[Guest]

Yeah, we never did much in the way of Santa...my kids picked up on the idea of Santa and I didn't bother to correct it, but I never told them stories about Santa bringing them gifts. So no, I think any excitement is just about presents and it is a different type of morning than all the other mornings of the year. My kids never get up super early.

[Word Nerd]

We've never done Santa but we do stockings and a treasure hunt. They still wake up fairly early, though not as early as when they were younger.

[The Girls' Mom]

Mine just asked me how early they could get up in the morning..lol.  You see their ages below.  They are just excited over the gifts.  I get excited too and usually don't sleep late either.  

[Joker]

Mine are teens who haven't believed in Santa for years but they still wake early and are excited for Christmas morning. They do get stockings they can get into right away but all presents have to wait until everyone is awake and we all take turns.

[MercyA]

LOL, yes! We've never done Santa. I can't imagine my child being more excited about Christmas. It's *way* past her bedtime, and she still can't go to sleep. Here's hoping a little Jim Weiss Goodnight will help!

[Arcadia]

DS11 tends to sleep until lunch on any given day. DS10 tends to wake up at sunrise everyday. Even when we do presents, they still wake up at their typical time.

[strange_girl]

No Santa here. Yet somehow all my kids will be excitedly whispering by 5 or 6, I'm sure. Why wouldn't they be excited?

 

Christmas isn't about Santa, ya know.

[pehp]

We don't do Santa, and my children do not wake unreasonably early (on Christmas, or in general!). I predict 7:30-8am tomorrow (we'll see if I'm right!)--they went to bed rather late tonight, too.  They are CRAZY excited. They'll open stockings, then we have a leisurely breakfast, and then open the other gifts after we dine.  We love to take our time on Christmas morning. 

Edited December 25, 2015 by pehp

[Seeking Squirrels]

This is kind of the opposite of what you asked, but we DO santa and the kids don't get up until about 8:00. I guess we'll see if they end up waking up crazy early this year. But so far we haven't had a super early christmas morning. They are super excited, it just doesn't wake them early. The moment they're awake they're jumping on us and yelling and dragging us out there.

[SKL]

We might be weird, but so far my kids have never gotten up really early on Christmas, whether they believed in Santa or not.

 

It's a good thing, too, because it takes me until past dawn to wrap all the presents.

 

Usually I have until about 8:30am before they get up on Christmas.  Their normal time to get up for school is 6:45.  I assume they are up late chatting in bed and then end up sleeping in.

[Ellie]

Of course. Because they still get gifts.

 

[Holly]

We don't do Santa, but do stockings and gifts.  We usually have to wake them up so we have time for breakfast, stockings, & church.  We usually open presents after church.

[Slache]

He's not allowed to leave his room any earlier than usual on Christmas

Reported.

[KathyBC]

Nvm, I get it now, thanks. 

 

Edited December 25, 2015 by KathyBC

[Rosie_0801]

Nope. She's just as likely to sit in her bed reading and having her usual morning personal space.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

I had night visits at 2am, 4am, and 6am asking if it was morning yet.  At 7am, I gave in and announced it was morning.  :-)  

[Guest]

Not abnormally early, no. We'd like to sleep in and they refuse to do that, but we eschew Santa and the kids wake up around their normal time. They're still super excited but not waking us at all hours :)