giving up a tradition?

[ktgrok]

My kids are the third generation, at least, to have all their stocking items individually wrapped in tissue paper. And that includes the stuff in the stockings and all the stuff that doesn't fit in the stocking and is placed on a chair next to it. It's a LOT of stuff...it is tradition to go overboard. So each person has a paper grocery bag (not lunch bag, but grocery bag) of stocking stuff. 

 

Wrapping it takes FOREVER. There are six of us now. Six grocery bags full of small items to individually wrap. I'm terrified of how long it is going to take. And it won't start until Christmas Eve after they are asleep. 

 

Part of me is thinking we should only wrap the stuff that doesn't fit in the stockings. So much less work, and we'd get done faster...we head to my mom's house after we open stuff here and she and my dad and my sister all wake up earlier than we do, so are impatient about waiting for us. 

 

Another part can't imagine not having that time where they eagerly unwrap each thing.

 

It's tradition. But is it one I want to saddle my own kids with? The idea of getting a bit of sleep Christmas eve is appealing. 

 

Or I could try to recruit the 18 year old to help DH and I...that's another option I guess. 

 

Thoughts?

[Frances]

We didn't wrap stocking stuff when our son was young and getting primarily other gifts. Since we started doing only stockings sometime during the teen years, we started wrapping the stocking stuff.

[Rosie_0801]

New rule: Close your eyes when fishing something out of your stocking or the grocery bag.

 

Justification: It's more environmentally friendly. (Because that sounds more noble than the need for sleep. :p )

[ktgrok]

 

Justification: It's more environmentally friendly. (Because that sounds more noble than the need for sleep. :p )

 

I actually thought Santa could leave a note saying he cut back on wrapping to reduce waste.

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[Liz CA]

I don't think anything I put in either dh or ds's stocking this year is wrapped. I know that means nothing to you and your tradition but it does take a lot of paper and time to wrap everything and it sounds to me as if you guys have humongous stockings for each person. 

I think the sun will set and rise again if you skip the individual wrapping and follow Rosie's suggestion.

[Liz CA]

I actually thought Santa could leave a note saying he cut back on wrapping to reduce waste.

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Brilliant. Santa's gone green.

[eternalsummer]

Well honestly I think it's insane, but that's just me, hard to convince relatives (if relatives are your concern) based on the opinion of some random chick on the internet.  But fwiw, I think the wrapping and the grocery bag (!!!!!!!!!!) full of stocking stuffers are both just beyond the pale.  If it's what floats your boat, okay, fine.  But if you don't want to do it, there is no earthly reason to do it.

[ktgrok]

Lol if it makes it less insane a lot of it is stuff like toothbrushes, toothpaste, body wash, etc.

[Rosie_0801]

Brilliant. Santa's gone green.

 

He'd lose his charm if he didn't keep up with current trends. 

 

Not to mention all he has to lose from global warming. Like, his real estate portfolio. :lol:

[OneStepAtATime]

I get the impression this is Santa that is supposed to be wrapping every single possible thing.  I realize once something has been started it can be hard to change, especially if it has already been established for your own kids and they expect it.  That is a LOT of work, though.  I agree, shift the tradition.  That would drive me nuts but to each their own.  Since this is causing issues, however, I would absolutely start shifting this.

 

1.  We only wrap one or two "special" stocking stuffers for this reason.  It takes too long and seems over the top to wrap everything that goes in a stocking since the stocking itself is "wrapping".  And our stockings are apparently a lot smaller than yours.

2.  We put one something that kind of blocks what else is in the stocking at the very top so they can't glance in and see it all right away. 

3.  No, I wouldn't want to saddle the next generation with such an exhausting enterprise.

4.  Have you considered for next year having fewer items but a bit larger so they take up more room (fewer things to wrap)?

5.  And are these the primary gifts or are you saying the kids get a full size paper grocery bag amount of stocking stuffers PLUS gifts?  If so, then definitely cut back on what you are wrapping.  Love the idea of Santa going green.  Do it.  Break tradition.  Just maybe wrap a couple of special little stocking items if you want.  

7.  Or you could double up, if you really are balking at the idea of changing completely.  Meaning maybe you could put 2-3 things in one tissue paper instead of doing so many individual items.  Right after the holidays look for clearance materials that would allow you to dump several items into tiny bags that then go in the stocking.  Faster than wrapping in tissue.

8.  And when you say there are 6 of you, I assume you mean you, DH, and your four kids.  Do you have to wrap yours and DH's and the baby's stuff individually?  Surly the three of you would be o.k. if every single thing in the stocking was not wrapped? Come up with a good excuse for why Santa has changed policy then just wrap a couple of items for each of you.  The rest are just in there.  Would your 18 year old be o.k. with not having every single item in his stocking wrapped?  That would only leave 2 sets left and maybe just wrap a few more items in those stockings instead of every single thing.

 

Whatever you decide, I wish you luck.  I know it is hard to shift traditions, especially if some aspects at least are very appealing.

[Rosie_0801]

Lol if it makes it less insane a lot of it is stuff like toothbrushes, toothpaste, body wash, etc.

 

That's how my mum made our prezzies look good. She never went so far as toothbrushes, but all the pencils, sharpeners etc we needed for school were wrapped nicely and look good!

[Acorn]

Dh and I had to mix traditions. So we started with the 2 or 3 special things in the stocking wrapped, but the food, candy, toothbrushes etc were never wrapped. Its evolved to nothing wrapped in the stocking.

Yes, my mil wrapped tic-tac containers and chapstick for 8 people for decades.

[OneStepAtATime]

This is how DH got underwear most years.  After we got married, our first Christmas DH realized he hadn't gotten underwear in his stocking.  He was upset.  How was he going to get new underwear?  Uh, dear, you can buy underwear at the store.  And frankly, if you had wanted underwear in your stocking you should have said so.

 

How on earth was I to know that underwear in the stocking was a thing?  LOL

[eternalsummer]

Okay, that makes more sense, toothbrushes and underwear and food products :)  

 

I would not be wrapping them individually though, my god.  I like the idea of Santa wanting to be more environmentally conscious this year.

[Peaceseeker]

A tradition should bring you joy. If it is causing more stress than joy it is time to let things go. Like all the people who quit stressing about homemade cookies and just bought a roll of premade dough and focused on the experience. Find the part of the stockings that brings you joy and let go of the part that doesn't.

 

Santa can definitely go green in 2017...

Edited December 24, 2017 by CaliforniaDreaming

[Carol in Cal.]

Here is how to do it fast:

 

1.  You get those large diameter pipe cleaner things in assorted colors.  

2.  Instead of wrapping each thing painstakingly in tissue paper, you use origami paper.  More festive, PRECUT!!!, and you can pull it up around each little thing like a chocolate kiss and then tie it with a pipe cleaner thingie.  

 

Here is a great source of pipe cleaner thingies for next year, cheap too:  http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?product=3446&xes=237530000ESC&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6fXYk4ii2AIVW57ACh30cgQkEAQYAyABEgKEbPD_BwE

 

For this year, use aluminum foil.  Crumple it around everything.  Don't tape or tie it.  So fast, so easy.  So environmentally incorrect, but any port in a storm.  Next year you can be politically AND environmentally correct.  Or you can use small gift bags with those pipe cleaner thingies in which case you can reuse them for years to come.

[Alte Veste Academy]

My mom wrapped every single thing in the stockings and everything else from Santa. I wrap none of that. The stocking conceals the stuffers, although some stuff usually spills out and around. The kids have big stockings, and I love to fill them. It's (cumulatively) our kids' favorite Christmas gift. Besides the stocking, Santa only brings one other (big) gift. It's unwrapped too, and the most exciting thing when each kid lays eyes on theirs.

 

Love the idea of Santa going green! Perfect!

 

He'd lose his charm if he didn't keep up with current trends. 

 

Not to mention all he has to lose from global warming. Like, his real estate portfolio. :lol:

:lol:

[Elizabeth86]

I say if it stresses you, ditch it.

[Tap]

Is there a reason you have to wait till Christmas eve to wrap it all?  

 

I just wrap periodicaly as I shop and write a letter on it for each kids initials.  Then when I sort stocking stuffers from the stash, I just sort by initials and it is done. 

[happi duck]

Iiwm, I would not dump the tradition completely and out of the blue but scale back.

 

Also, are things wrapped with tape and straight edges the way one wraps with wrapping paper? With tissue I usually roll things up in the tissue and don't use tape.

 

I wonder how this tradition started? I wonder if there was a specific reason it was first done like making the stocking seem fuller or because of wanting stockings to take longer. Not asking, just musing!

[wintermom]

 

Part of me is thinking we should only wrap the stuff that doesn't fit in the stockings. So much less work, and we'd get done faster...we head to my mom's house after we open stuff here and she and my dad and my sister all wake up earlier than we do, so are impatient about waiting for us. 

 

 

Yes, slowly cut back on the wrapping. This sounds like the perfect way to start. 

[ktgrok]

Is there a reason you have to wait till Christmas eve to wrap it all?

 

I just wrap periodicaly as I shop and write a letter on it for each kids initials. Then when I sort stocking stuffers from the stash, I just sort by initials and it is done.

I just don't get to it until then. I just finished wrapping regular presents at midnight. But in theory i could get it done earlier.

[scholastica]

Is there a reason you have to wait till Christmas eve to wrap it all?

 

I just wrap periodicaly as I shop and write a letter on it for each kids initials. Then when I sort stocking stuffers from the stash, I just sort by initials and it is done.

This is my thought exactly. Why not wrap a little at a time? We wrap a few evenings throughout December. The stocking stuff gets placed in a bag labeled with the child’s name which is disposed of discreetly after the stockings are stuffed. It would stress me out to no end to know things still had to be wrapped on Christmas Eve!

[maize]

My idea: use all those matchless socks floating around the house and stick an item or two in each sock.

 

(we don't do a gazillion stocking stuffers and I do seem to have an inordinate number of mismatched socks floating about; I bet my kids would get a kick out of stockings inside a stocking...)

[barnwife]

Okay, I come from a family like this. Stockings are big and full of millions of things. There's a tootbrush, toothpaste, travel shampoo and conditioner, lotion, tic-tacs..you get the idea. Each and every thing (okay, not the candy cane nor orange nor apple) is wrapped (in wrapping paper). It's...a lot.

My mom still does this for my siblings, our spouses and children. We have asked (and asked and asked) for it to stop.

So, as someone who has grown up in a family like this, I say a few things. a) why the heck do you wait until Christmas Eve to wrap? That makes no sense. I do absolutely no wrapping Christmas Eve. None. Heck, I am usually done at least by the 3rd week of Advent. b) Why do you continue to make them so full? You can cut back!

Fast forward to my sister and I having our own families. I know that our children get way less in their stockings. I aim for 4-6 things in them, plus a candy cane, apple, and orange. So know that your children might be overwhelmed at the thought of this tradition and modify it so it works for them as they grow up! IOW, maybe they'd like the change!

Merry Christmas no matter what you do!

[JustEm]

You could always use tissue paper and just wrap it around the items with tape. It's still wrapped and a lot of work but not nearly as much.

[teachermom2834]

When I started changing traditions it was hard at first and then I realized it was really OK. It actually is very nice to have the freedom to change things up from year to year.

 

Traditions really can become a burden so I think you are right to consider saddling your kids with this expectation. I keep telling my 9 yo dd that when she is a grown up she will be free to make her own ways about Christmas and that will be OK.

 

I do think the wrapping everything in the stocking would be too much for everyone. Obviously if your family loves it, then go for it. My big kids would be annoyed to have to unwrap all that stuff and clean up the paper. My kids have always loved reaching their arm down their stocking and pulling out the treats. Wrapping seems really unnecessary and I never considered it was done that way. I would definitely experiment with cutting back a bit. See if the tradition is as loved as you think it is. You can always wrap everything up the next year again and then you'll just have another family story about the year Santa ran out of paper or tried to be an environmentalist or was lazy or whatever.

[ktgrok]

This is my thought exactly. Why not wrap a little at a time? We wrap a few evenings throughout December. The stocking stuff gets placed in a bag labeled with the child’s name which is disposed of discreetly after the stockings are stuffed. It would stress me out to no end to know things still had to be wrapped on Christmas Eve!

I only had a chance to buy the stuff last weekend. It's a several hours process of going to multiple stores. Every night this week I've been wrapping regular christmas presents. 

 

You are right though, I need to buy the stuff earlier and try to get it wrapped earlier. 

[ktgrok]

You could always use tissue paper and just wrap it around the items with tape. It's still wrapped and a lot of work but not nearly as much.

I actually do this already, lol. 

 

My mom wrapped things in enough layers of tissue so you couldn't see what was inside. I do a token single layer, lol.

[Kassia]

Is there a reason you have to wait till Christmas eve to wrap it all?  

 

I just wrap periodicaly as I shop and write a letter on it for each kids initials.  Then when I sort stocking stuffers from the stash, I just sort by initials and it is done. 

 

I do something similar and start way before Christmas.  I fill nine stockings and wrap almost all the gifts.  I get a plastic grocery bag for each person and label it with their names and, as I wrap, I just put the gifts in the correct bags and then transfer the gifts in the bags into the stockings on Christmas Eve.  I do get stressed about it ahead of time thinking how many gifts I need to wrap, but it always gets done pretty easily as long as I start early enough.  

[regentrude]

As somebody who was forced to give up plenty of loved traditions and chose to give up some unloved ones, I heartily encourage you to dump a tradition that does not bring you joy.

[Annie G]

If you decide to continue it, don't feel that you are saddling your kids to carrying on the tradition.  If they marry, they generally have to mesh the traditions of both families and figure out how they are going to do it.   Mine have kept some of our family traditions and adopted some from their significant others.  

 

 

[JFSinIL]

My "kids" (youngest now 21, how'd that happen?) still get stockings, and they are huge (what was I thinking?). "Santa Mom" fills them and any larger items lean next to the stocking on the chair or sofa (full stockings much too heavy to hang). Nothing is wrapped, usually - this year youngest dd is getting a more fragile ornament that I am wrapping just so it doesn't break.

 

For all you know, all these years the kids have just been politely impatient with having to rip off tissue paper to get to the loot!

Life is too short - skip the tissue. It is your Christmas, too. If anyone objects "Santa didn't wrap my items!" remark "Santa decided to save a tree this year. Good being green, Santa!"

 

A few years ago I gifted myself permission to stop with the gazillion cards we felt we HAD to address,sign, mail.

 

Last year our dds started a NEW tradition - they went and bought hubby and I stockings and filled them and snuck them into the living room! We got stockings! :-)

Edited December 24, 2017 by JFSinIL

[SparklyUnicorn]

I never wrap anything that goes in the stocking, but then the stocking is not the main thing.  If it was...hm..I dunno.  I'm a sucker for watching ppl unwrap stuff.  But with that many to wrap, I can totally understand not wanting to do it!

 

 

[skyday]

Do the kids realize this has been a tradition? I ask because our Santa does not wrap the gifts from him. One year, we went out of town and as a result, I ended up wrapping the Santa gifts so they wouldn't see them in the trunk. I decided to leave them out Christmas Eve wrapped. The kids never asked (or noticed, I guess) why the Santa presents were wrapped that year. It just seems like a lot of unnecessary stress and work for an already stressful time of year. 

[KungFuPanda]

Can you modify it? Just roll everything up in a big ball of scrap paper/newspaper from your recycling bin and let stuff fall out as you unwind it.

 

Where do you put all of that “stuff?†At some point it has to be a lot of filler. I wouldn’t continue a tradition this tedious. The juice ain’t worth the squeeze.

[Catwoman]

I would wrap it all. But I'm a lunatic. :)

[Word Nerd]

That tradition makes zero sense to me as a member of Team The Stocking IS The Wrapping, and I would refuse to keep it going just for tradition’s sake.

[Tanaqui]

I bet the kids aren't as emotionally invested in this custom as all that. If you stop, they either won't notice or will forget all about it by next year.

[Guinevere]

If you dont wrap it, will it be a huge bag of jumbled little stuff? None of the things you mentioned seem that exciting to receive, so it seems like the unwrapping is the fun part. I guess I can't quite envision a grocery bag full of random things being fun.

[katilac]

Have the 7- and 5-yr-old ever particularly mentioned this tradition? I'd cut back this year, leave a few things unwrapped, and see if they even notice, lol. You can have the Santa note at the ready if it's needed (I wouldn't leave it out automatically, because truly they might not even notice). I'd also group some items together in one box, like toiletries. It sounds like you could do both of those things and they will still have a ton to unwrap. 

 

I already feel bad about our excess, my guilt over the piles of unneeded paper trash would definitely outweigh my guilt over changing a tradition. 

 

 

 

 

[Guinevere]

If you wrap 2 items together, that is half the wrapping time, and probably half the tissue paper.

[Guest]

I personally have no qualms whatsoever about dropping any tradition that no longer suits me/my family/my needs. This would be one of those for me, personally.

 

One of my kids is getting more little gifts in the stocking this year than usual; I usually stick mostly to candy but for some lip balm or nail polish. But I don’t wrap these goodies. The stocking is already the wrapper.

[Night Elf]

Gosh with all this talk about wrapping stocking stuffers, I'm wondering if I should do it myself! I didn't get much because our stockings aren't really big and the kids have two presents each. 

 

Well, nevermind. Dd19 just said that would be annoying as hell to have to unwrap every little thing. 

 

So no, I won't do it. :)

 

I agree with others. Scale back and see if anyone notices it. If they don't, then don't do any of it next year. 

 

And yes, have you oldest help with the stuff for the younger siblings. Tell him he's being a helper elf.

[Corraleno]

I don't put things like toothpaste or shampoo in stockings, but I do have huge stockings that are filled to overflowing, and I only wrap the special presents that are surprises. So this year DS has a ton of candy, some jars of Marmite (crazy, I know!), Pringles (thanks to whomever provided that tip!), and Christmas cookies, plus these items in wrapping paper: mini-Leatherman tool, earbuds, a nice tie (rolled up), portable phone battery/charger thingy, body wires (for fencing), and a new fencing glove. DD has the same assortment of candy and food (except Marmite), plus a tiny Swiss Army knife, earbuds, portable phone battery/charger thingy, some nice makeup, and a gift card.

 

So I vote to wrap the special, nonconsumable presents in tissue, and don't bother wrapping toothpaste and things like that.

[katilac]

Oh, another thing you could do is to drastically cut down on the wrapping for the people you know won't care: yourself, dh, baby, and likely oldest ds. I can't imagine they're going to get too upset if your stuff isn't all wrapped, lol. 

[HS Mom in NC]

If you don't love wrapping stuff on Christmas Eve after the kids go to bed, don't do it. If you do, go for it! Traditions are worthless for their own sake.  Traditions are valuable when they enhance life in a meaningful way.  There's no way I would ever wrap every stocking stuffer.  Not.gonna.happen.

I hate wrapping presents, so I'm going to start making quilted giftbags (similar to fabric giftbags items can come in from Amazon-various sized pillowcase shapes with pretty fabric bow drawstrings) that coordinate with all the handmade fabric ornaments youngest and I made and the quilted stockings the older two and I made with the help of the women folk in my family.  That will be meaningful to me and they will last me a lifetime. My girls will help, so it will be a family memory. Yes, it's environmentally friendly, but mostly I'm buying discounted Christmas fabric this week because I love to quilt and I hate to wrap presents.  Win win! I'll probably end up wrapping unusually large items that won't fit in my variety of bag sizes, but that won't be most of them, so it won't be so bad.

[sassenach]

One year we had a lot of things go wrong and a lot of our traditions just didn’t happen. I learned that Christmas was not held together by our traditions but by our love. And it was all ok.

[matrips]

STockings were always our favorites and mom always wrapped. It was a race to be the first to unwrap the toothbrush and other identical items.

 

I wrap for my kids and they love their stockings too. A little mystery. But their stocks aren’t large and I always stick something in there to take up a bunch of room. Past years it was socks or underwear. This year a water bottle will take up most of the room. So probably just about 6-7 items fit in it. Very doable.

 

I would prefer less stuff, but still wrapped. But ask your kids. And merry Christmas!

[Zinnia]

This is how DH got underwear most years. After we got married, our first Christmas DH realized he hadn't gotten underwear in his stocking. He was upset. How was he going to get new underwear? Uh, dear, you can buy underwear at the store. And frankly, if you had wanted underwear in your stocking you should have said so.

 

How on earth was I to know that underwear in the stocking was a thing? LOL

I can't imagine not getting socks and underwear! That's Christmas! ;)