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So it looks like some families have massive presents to open. I was raised in a small family-just brother and me and we never lived close to or even knew cousins, aunts, etc. Father was career military officer and we lived all over the world. So I can't relate to chaos under the Christmas tree.
Now with my own children I always let them open one gift at a time alternating between children so we could all see the gift. But to tell the truth we never had more than 4-6 presents for each kid. We got them what they needed when they needed it and tried not to spoil them too much. My son would count presents to make sure everything was 'fair". He's a million miles away from us and I even miss his happy greediness right now. I wish he were home.
Our 10 year old girls are getting a bunch of clothes from Lands End, hand me down Kindles cause we got paperwhites, a wii game to share, another board game, some puzzles, some books, some special coloring books and markers, and two huge boxes of Legos. So not much to open really and they will be perfectly happy.
Merry Christmas Everyone!!
We open Christmas presents, early morning....everyone seated...one at a time....Oohs and Awes....
I enjoy the one at a time...savoring. I allowed them to open one gift Christmas eve...usually from a non-family member.
Last edited by JanND; 12-24-2012 at 04:32 AM..
Reason: edit
So it looks like some families have massive presents to open. I was raised in a small family-just brother and me and we never lived close to or even knew cousins, aunts, etc. Father was career military officer and we lived all over the world. So I can't relate to chaos under the Christmas tree.
Now with my own children I always let them open one gift at a time alternating between children so we could all see the gift. But to tell the truth we never had more than 4-6 presents for each kid. We got them what they needed when they needed it and tried not to spoil them too much. My son would count presents to make sure everything was 'fair". He's a million miles away from us and I even miss his happy greediness right now. I wish he were home.
Our 10 year old girls are getting a bunch of clothes from Lands End, hand me down Kindles cause we got paperwhites, a wii game to share, another board game, some puzzles, some books, some special coloring books and markers, and two huge boxes of Legos. So not much to open really and they will be perfectly happy.
Very much like what we do. About 5 or six gifts from parents. We savor the gifts of each child.
The children exchange gifts with each other and with us.
Everyone has a stocking and we do those first. On Christmas eve after church, new PJs and slippers for all.
Merry Christmas Everyone!!
We open Christmas presents, early morning....everyone seated...one at a time....Oohs and Awes....
I enjoy the one at a time...savoring. I allowed them to open one gift Christmas eve...usually from a non-family member.
Merry Christmas! And we do the same! We savor the gift and admire one another's. take pictures.
We don't give a massive amount of gifts, but we all put a lot of thought into it. Even when my children were young they were taught that Christmas was about giving, not just getting. So they always had gifts for one another and for us.
In our family, and later my sister's family it was one gift at a time and we (or mother when we were too young) of who each gift came from so we's know when writing thank you notes to the givers that were not present on Christmas Day.
When they were little, Santa would always put unwrapped toys under the tree for them to find on Christmas morning. They would play with those while the adults got their eyes open and had a cup of coffee. The kids are older now, but things haven't changed all that much - they still wake up to some unwrapped goodies under the tree and in their stockings .
Once everyone in the house is awake and ready, we all gather around the tree to open presents - we wait until each person has a present before we open them.
(Santa is coming tonight! Merry Christmas everyone!)
We have always done one gift at a time. The kids like to see what everyone else got as much as what they get. We've never gone overboard with the number of gifts, usually 4-6 "real" gifts-toys, games, stuff they asked for, but sometimes there were funny things wrapped up for them to open too. I tend to wrap things in bigger boxes for "impact" on Christmas morning though. Christmas is about wants at our house. Our kids are FAR from spoiled doing that. We use the word NO as needed .
OR do you give the gifts out one at a time to each person?
We give each person a chance to open the present and savor it, Also to thank the appropriate people.
Our children EXCHANGE GIFTS - with each other and with us.
Even when they were young - no ripping off the presents like frenzied, greedy maniacs.
Yes! Frenzied, greedy maniacs here. And we never say thank you to the appropriate people. Where's the fun in that?
At Christmas dinner, we don't even bother to carve the turkey. Everyone just rips off the piece they want, or goes straight for the pie, and we eat it in front of the TV. But we do open Christmas crackers and put on the hats. Keeps our hair out of the food.
Yes! Frenzied, greedy maniacs here. And we never say thank you to the appropriate people. Where's the fun in that?
At Christmas dinner, we don't even bother to carve the turkey. Everyone just rips off the piece they want, or goes straight for the pie, and we eat it in front of the TV. But we do open Christmas crackers and put on the hats. Keeps our hair out of the food.
Works great for us!
Sounds kind of like a "viking" Christmas - total free for all, eat with your hands, wipe your hands on your shirt, belch loudly, lol.
So it looks like some families have massive presents to open. I was raised in a small family-just brother and me and we never lived close to or even knew cousins, aunts, etc. Father was career military officer and we lived all over the world. So I can't relate to chaos under the Christmas tree.
Now with my own children I always let them open one gift at a time alternating between children so we could all see the gift. But to tell the truth we never had more than 4-6 presents for each kid. We got them what they needed when they needed it and tried not to spoil them too much. My son would count presents to make sure everything was 'fair". He's a million miles away from us and I even miss his happy greediness right now. I wish he were home.
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Is 6 gifts not a lot?? How many are we supposed to give? My son is only 3, but he's really looking forward to Christmas. I got him 4 gifts, and the grandparents will bring another 4 or 5. It seemed like a lot to me.
We also weren't planning to have any rules about opening stuff, since only the child is actually going to have any presents under the tree. The rest of us just decided it's easier not to bother, or else we gave and opened our presents earlier.
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