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I really didn't like the policy of opening each gift separately. I was very shy, and it put me on display. I also remember feeling very irritated by the "oh, what did you get?!" comments...I always wanted to say 'you bought and wrapped it, you KNOW what is it!"
This made me chuckle, because what I figured out this Christmas is that despite having bought and wrapped the kids' and DH's gifts, after they were all under the tree, I had quite a few moments of "I genuinely have NO idea what is in that box!"
My personal opinion is that presents should just be for the kids. Nothing more annoying than watching a bunch of adults tearing into their presents and watching their unappreciative faces when they receive something other than the perfect gift. Or if you come from a large family and do Christmas Eve or morning together, draw names from a hat earlier in the year and buy just one present each and have a $ limit to spend to be fair. In my family the adults agreed to just buy for the kids since the adults always took back their presents anyway.
I guess I come from a weird family. No one ever stays at our house or comes over Christmas morning ever. Actually my mom was never fond of having anyone stay at our house for an extended period of time ever. We have NEVER had family stay with us on Holidays EVER. So there was never an outside influence.
When I was a little kid we always got up around between 6 or 7 for present. My mother gets up around 5 every day so she was already down stairs. My dad was always up too. My mom never wrapped presents until I was old enough to know there was no santa and my sister and I started requesting they be wrapped bc we felt like we were missing out. Which looking back is extreamly funny and I am surprised my mom went along with this.
This year was the best Christmas ever. I got up at 10, went downstairs, opened all of my gifts with my mom. Then my dad came home from church. Ate some scrambled eggs. My sister came over and opened her gifts. We ordered Chinese. Then got on a plane to Las Vegas.
I guess I come from a weird family. No one ever stays at our house or comes over Christmas morning ever. Actually my mom was never fond of having anyone stay at our house for an extended period of time ever. We have NEVER had family stay with us on Holidays EVER. So there was never an outside influence.
When I was a little kid we always got up around between 6 or 7 for present. My mother gets up around 5 every day so she was already down stairs. My dad was always up too. My mom never wrapped presents until I was old enough to know there was no santa and my sister and I started requesting they be wrapped bc we felt like we were missing out. Which looking back is extreamly funny and I am surprised my mom went along with this.
This year was the best Christmas ever. I got up at 10, went downstairs, opened all of my gifts with my mom. Then my dad came home from church. Ate some scrambled eggs. My sister came over and opened her gifts. We ordered Chinese. Then got on a plane to Las Vegas.
I know this is a little late, but I haven't had time to use the internet since Christmas. This isn't exactly a parenting question, but I thought this was probably the most suitable forum for this question.
I would like to think that most people would find it unacceptable for children to act greedy and selfish on Christmas morning. I can understand how many kids would be excited to open their presents, but I'd like to think that parents would teach their kids to be patient. When I was a child, I was excited to open my presents, but I was always able to contain that excitement until it was time to open the presents. I never pestered my parents to open the presents RIGHT NOW NOW NOW.
What are your thoughts on children who won't even give you 20 minutes Christmas morning to "wake-up" after you've just woken up? Do you just open the presents as soon as you get out of bed or do you like to have 20 minutes or so to "wake-up" and maybe grab a cup or two of coffee? Of course, this question applies only to those who open presents before breakfast.
What if it wasn't kids who were behaving greedily on Christmas morning? What if your adult relatives were very insistent on opening presents as soon as you walked out of the bedroom, before you even had a chance to use the bathroom? What if they wouldn't allow you to have 10-20 minutes to "wake-up" and grab a cup of coffee before they started opening presents (they'll open presents with or without you)? Would this bother you? If so, why?
The OP didn't describe greed or selfishness, she described excited children.
We waited for our parents, but they certainly didn't make us wait long. They'd just say, "Wait until we get down there so we can see!" We waited out of respect for them because they were excited and interested and wanted to be a part of it. They didn't act like it was a hassle and they needed to wake up first, get coffee, and drag themselves in there. They hurried down and we opened gifts while the coffee was brewing.
I didn't make my kids wait either. I didn't need to. They piled onto our bed and bounced around until we woke up. It never occurred to them to go downtstairs and open gifts without us. We didnt make them wait. I wouldn't want to make them wait. It's Christmas morning afterall. When they were older, we switched to opening one present on Christmas Eve. As they got even older, we switched to opening all gifts on Christmas Eve.
My grandfather used to make my mom (as a child) have a large breakfast and then attend church before opening presents. My mom still talks about sitting and trying to listen but just DYING to get home. In our house you have to wait until 7 and no one goes downstairs without Mom and Dad, bathroom trips are of course made first, otherwise its straight to the presents. I set the coffee on a timer the night before
ETA these are little kids and Christmas is the best day of their lives for such a short time. Don't be such a scrooge, someday you'll be sitting around wondering where the little kids are.
I definitely think this is determined by the ages of the kids involved and traditions will change. Little kids-say under 5 or 6 will be most excited than say 8 or 9 year olds who should be able to wait a bit so adults are awake and groomed.
When I was a little kid living overseas we tried to follow the customs of the country we were in and always lived off base. My father did not let us believe in Santa or any other myth for that matter so we knew gifts were from our parents.
As we got older, he wanted us to get up early to open a few gifts so he could be the first one on the golf course. Yes it's true-that is how he spent Christmas Day. sad indeed.
ETA these are little kids and Christmas is the best day of their lives for such a short time. Don't be such a scrooge, someday you'll be sitting around wondering where the little kids are.[/quote]
This is so true! My girls are 11. Christmas was great this year and they received some very nice gifts. In fact, I still stay up late wrapping everything and they don't see it until Christmas morning. No shaking of boxes and trying to guess. But nothing(!) can replace the amazement in their faces when they were little, as they saw gifts under the tree from Santa. It's really magical, IMO.
PS. I know I didn't edit the above quote correctly but thanks to the poster.
Last edited by LVKim8; 01-06-2012 at 09:30 PM..
Reason: Bolding text
I'd say that Christmas morning is only cute and magical with the real little ones (5 and under). For any child older than that, it's just plain greed.
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