Gifts from Santa

[IamThunderbolt]

Was this typical of most families, the kids get up early and play with their gifts?
As kids we always had to wait upstairs until the adults were ready for us to come down (usually afterbreakfast, 8/9am), we'd see out santa gift, we'd empty our stockings and then we'd open gifts in a very orderly fashion, with everyone taking turns opening one gift at a time until they were all gone. I can remember this taking an almost intolerable amount of patience as a young kid because after you opened a present it could be another 10 minutes before you got to open another one since mom/dad/grandmom/granddad/brothers got to take their turn.

Once the parents were up, this is what we did - see unwrapped santa gifts, empty stockings, then my sister and I played "santa" and gave everyone 1 gift, then we took turns opening that gift, then on to the next round. It was very orderly. The one gift, open in turn is how we do it with our family now as well.

 

[DeaconPeach]

Once the parents were up, this is what we did - see unwrapped santa gifts, empty stockings, then my sister and I played "santa" and gave everyone 1 gift, then we took turns opening that gift, then on to the next round. It was very orderly. The one gift, open in turn is how we do it with our family now as well.

This was my family too, and continues now today with my oldest nephew & niece filling the roles that my brother & I held as kids.

 

[LadyDeac03]

growing up, having unwrapeed santa gifts was key b/c we could wake up @ 4, go downstairs and play with all our santa gifts, then position back to where they were and feign surprise when we got up with our parents @ 6-7ish

This x1000...except I don't really remember feigning surprise. I refused to sleep in Christmas morning, so I would always sneak down super early to see what Santa brought, but then wait a little later to wake up my parents.

LadyDeacToy's family did wrapped Santa, so we're going to have to figure something out once we have kids.

I am a very strong proponent of unwrapped Santa gifts for the following reasons (both kid and parent perspective):

1) Kids can wake up early Christmas morning and have something to do and let the parents sleep in.
2) Less work for parents wrapping everything.
3) Environmentally friendlier to not use as much paper and supplies

All of our family Christmas presents are wrapped and under the tree leading up to Christmas. On Christmas Eve we would go to bed and in the morning the Santa gifts would be out and unwrapped (my brothers and I each had a chair/couch so we knew who's stuff was who's). We played with Santa and stocking (also from Santa) stuff before breakfast, then ate, then opened presents. Santa stuff tended to be more toys and fun things and parent stuff was more clothes, etc, with a few fun things thrown in. I have nothing but great Christmas memories from doing it this way.

In fact, last year Santa still visiting my parents' house (I was 29, and my brothers were 26 and 23...what of it?!)

 

[OrangeTerrapin]

So, at what age do kids stop believing? As much fun as they have with this Elf on the Shelf thing, I think it will increase the likelihood of not believing sooner.

Despite the signs telling other wise, I pretty much still held onto the belief until I think the age of 9, which I believe is on the later side of things.

Because I have a brother who is seven years younger than me, I did at least have to pretend he was still real for a few years after that as well.

 

[Baconwfu]

My son is eight. He told me a couple of months ago that a kid at school told him that Santa wasn't real. I told him that Santa was real to me, and that if he doesn't believe then Santa doesn't have to bring him any presents. He's a pretty pragmatic kid. So he is choosing to believe in Santa this year. But I think this is it.

the last xmas where I fully believed in Santa, and really the only one I have vivid memories of was when I was 5.(i.e. i know I believed in him before, but don't have good enough memories of what I got or the xmas eve jitters trying to stay up and hear santa on the roof or something) I know because I remember we got a nintendo (xmas of '88) and I thought that was the tits. I had a good idea he wasn't real by the time I was 6 and was certain by the 2nd grade (I was in a second/third grade combination class so the third graders confirmed his lack of existence).

Of course I was that kind of kid. One of my Mom's favorite stories is "where little bacon's thinks kids come from". I don't remember this, but apparently mom was driving my brother and I back from a friend's house when I was 4 and he was 5. This friend's mom had just had a baby so my brother asks where babies come from and my mom, as you would expect, hesistated a little because, well, it's a delicate question to answer. Upon hearing mom's hesistation, I offered my explanation that went something like the following....."Daddy sticks his penis in Mommy's pajamas when she's sleeping". The shock and hilariousness of this caused my mom to run off the road and run over a few shrubs

 

[Deacon923]

Just to post pad/over-encourage. Try the plain brown paper with red bow strategy, and you will not be disappointed. I'm talking about the paper that almost feels like a paper grocery bag. Makes it seem like a special package "delivered" by Santa. If it doesn't make a cool/lasting memory for your kids, I will pay for all your wrapping plus interest when they grow up.

As an aside, my mom still does this for my sister and I. Our ages? 23 and 19. Pathetic?

i think the wife has already wrapped most of the "santa" stuff this year but may try it next year.

Here's something cool I did last year - my father in law got the kids a Wii that they opened on Christmas Eve. That night I went in and made a Mii with a red shirt and beard and named it Santa. My five year old was just all kinds of thrilled to think that Santa had played some Wii and made himself a Mii overnight whilst drinking the milk and eating the cookies. He still talks about it.

 

[LadyDeac03]

My son is eight. He told me a couple of months ago that a kid at school told him that Santa wasn't real. I told him that Santa was real to me, and that if he doesn't believe then Santa doesn't have to bring him any presents. He's a pretty pragmatic kid. So he is choosing to believe in Santa this year. But I think this is it.

Despite the signs telling other wise, I pretty much still held onto the belief until I think the age of 9, which I believe is on the later side of things.

Because I have a brother who is seven years younger than me, I did at least have to pretend he was still real for a few years after that as well.

I can't tell you the age I was when I realized Santa wasn't real because I don't have a distinct memory of it, but my mom loves to tell the story that I was getting older and had never said anything to them about my disbelief in Santa. So they sat me down and said something like, "We know you've probably heard Santa isn't real, but we really appreciate you not saying anything to your brothers" (who are 3 and 6 years younger than me). Apparently I replied something to the effect of knowing that Santa brought me awesome presents and I wasn't going to spoil the fun by telling and having him not come anymore!

 

[Deacfreak07]

Was this typical of most families, the kids get up early and play with their gifts?
As kids we always had to wait upstairs until the adults were ready for us to come down (usually afterbreakfast, 8/9am), we'd see out santa gift, we'd empty our stockings and then we'd open gifts in a very orderly fashion, with everyone taking turns opening one gift at a time until they were all gone. I can remember this taking an almost intolerable amount of patience as a young kid because after you opened a present it could be another 10 minutes before you got to open another one since mom/dad/grandmom/granddad/brothers got to take their turn.

This is similar to our situation though with a direct correlation between when we open presents and our age.

 

[Wakelaw2006]

Wrapped with different paper and different handwriting, but big stuff (like a bike) would be unwrapped. Everything in my stocking was unwrapped, but it was always relatively small stuff (both in size and value).

 

[DeacHoops]

Was this typical of most families, the kids get up early and play with their gifts?
As kids we always had to wait upstairs until the adults were ready for us to come down (usually afterbreakfast, 8/9am), we'd see out santa gift, we'd empty our stockings and then we'd open gifts in a very orderly fashion, with everyone taking turns opening one gift at a time until they were all gone. I can remember this taking an almost intolerable amount of patience as a young kid because after you opened a present it could be another 10 minutes before you got to open another one since mom/dad/grandmom/granddad/brothers got to take their turn.

definitely not the deal with my family. i was deathly afraid of what my parents would do if we came downstairs early. we were allowed to go into their room starting at 7:30 (upstairs). the way their house is set up, you can kind of see into the living room (where the tree was) from upstairs, but they were smart ones and put all of the santa gifts out of view from upstairs. then we had to walk down the BACK stairs and through the kitchen to get to the den where the stockings were (different room than presents). my brothers and i emptied out stockings while my parents watched, then we had to sit there and wait for my parents to empty theirs. that's TORTURE for a kid who just desperately wants to see what's in the next room. and my parents knew it and dragged it out like none other. only after that were we allowed into the room with the tree/presents, where we handed out/opened presents one gift at a time.

 

[HalIncandenza]

I learned Santa wasn't real in first grade. My buddy Scott told me that he saw his grandparents bringing "Santa" presents over to his house on Christmas Eve (I'm assuming the grandparents' place was where the parents hid the presents). What a jerkface.

 

[RollTheQuad06]

Was this typical of most families, the kids get up early and play with their gifts?
As kids we always had to wait upstairs until the adults were ready for us to come down (usually afterbreakfast, 8/9am), we'd see out santa gift, we'd empty our stockings and then we'd open gifts in a very orderly fashion, with everyone taking turns opening one gift at a time until they were all gone. I can remember this taking an almost intolerable amount of patience as a young kid because after you opened a present it could be another 10 minutes before you got to open another one since mom/dad/grandmom/granddad/brothers got to take their turn.

I don't think I would have gotten to keep any presents if it was ever discovered I snuck down to the tree. So I definitely never did that.

Christmas morning we'd all wake up (upstairs), and gather together as a family and read the story of the Birth of Jesus in the Bible aloud, each taking turns. Then we'd walk downstairs to the tree in age order, parents first. We'd open stockings first, then have a quick nibble of breakfast like a danish then open presents in an orderly fashion. My sister liked to be the distributor of gifts as she could give out more to other people and have a stockpile for herself. One gift opened at a time. Sometimes it would take hours. That was awesome.

 

[rjequalsmj]

growing up, having unwrapeed santa gifts was key b/c we could wake up @ 4, go downstairs and play with all our santa gifts, then position back to where they were and feign surprise when we got up with our parents @ 6-7ish

we used to do this it was tight.

 

[TownieDeac]

Wrapped. Everything was wrapped.

Same.

 

[Deacfreak07]

I don't think I would have gotten to keep any presents if it was ever discovered I snuck down to the tree. So I definitely never did that.

Christmas morning we'd all wake up (upstairs), and gather together as a family and read the story of the Birth of Jesus in the Bible aloud, each taking turns. Then we'd walk downstairs to the tree in age order, parents first. We'd open stockings first, then have a quick nibble of breakfast like a danish then open presents in an orderly fashion. My sister liked to be the distributor of gifts as she could give out more to other people and have a stockpile for herself. One gift opened at a time. Sometimes it would take hours. That was awesome.

Did Col. Von Trapp give good gifts?

 

[Deacfreak07]

I think we are being a little cavalier with this discussion of Santa's authenticity considering the Doofi read these boards.

 

[RollTheQuad06]

Did Col. Von Trapp give good gifts?

yes.

 

[OldGoldBeard]

People who don't wrap Santa gifts are communists. Fact.

 

[RDurr]

I've never heard of unwrapped presents from Santa until this thread.

+1. I am floored. Some people have really, really shitty parents. i mean, how lazy/cheap is it to not buy separate wrapping paper for Santa?

my parents used different colors of tissue paper to wrap, which got around that problem, and eliminated the need to write on name tags.

 

[wakegrrl]

My mom always went downstairs first, started coffee, turned on the tree lights, got cameras ready, etc. Then I got to go down with the rest of the grownups behind me (#onlychildwinning).

We do the same thing now: kid comes to our room and I go get things ready while Dad and Gran keep him calm, then I call him to come down.

Of course the last two years all the grownups have been up before he woke up. In fact two years ago I had to go in and wake the kid up because it was 8:30 and my husband was about to die to have Christmas.