Before breakfast or after? Do you allow one gift on Christmas Eve? Do you all tear into your gifts or take turns one by one? As a child I had to wait until after breakfast to open EVERYTHING. And a big southern breakfast at that. Homemade biscuits, fried eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, grits, gravy.... So my kids get a Christmas Eve Gift...we did Pajamas when they were little but now we do a board game, so our tradition is they open one together gift (the game) and we play it as a family that night. On Christmas day they open their stockings first thing. This offers them a few small toys to keep them occupied while breakfast is cooked and if they finish eating before everyone else. Then I cook breakfast for us and my parents and brother. Then after breakfast we open the gifts under the tree. We take turns opening our gifts one by one. What does your family do?
We open PJ's, a Christmas book (I add a book every year to our collection so we can enjoy them all season long), a Christmas movie and a board game (although this year it is a puzzle to do as a family) on Christmas Eve so we can watch the movie and do the puzzle together that evening. On Christmas morning we do stockings and Santa gifts.
We do not open gifts on Christmas eve... (I did when I was a child, but my husband does not like the idea..) We get up on Christmas morning, I have a cup of coffee, while my husband reads the Christmas story out of the gospel of Luke. We then pray and thank the LOrd for sending us his son. After that.. its gift opening time... we do it one by one, my husband gives out the gifts.. stockings are last. Then we eat breakfast which is going to be Beigents this yr. since my mother and father will be here and it a tradition that she started for our family...
We do pj's on Christmas Eve and the kids open their gifts from each other (They draw names.) We open the other gifts before breakfast. In the past, they were all passed out, and everyone opened at the same time. I think this year we are going to slow that down and do one at a time.
We go to my parent's house on Christmas Eve night and see all my siblings, nieces, nephews, etc. We do a kid pollyanna there and an adult pollyanna for all the siblings and significant others'. When we get home, we sing a few Christmas songs and hubby reads the Christmas Story from the Bible. Then we do 1 gift on Christmas Eve (always Pj's). And the kids ALWAYS want to wear them Christmas Eve night, of course. On Christmas Morning, the kids get up and go down and "look"....they're not allowed to touch a thing until we get downstairs!!! They usually have a bowl of cereal waiting for us to get up - I usually make the bed and stuff before I come down, hubby makes himself coffee, etc....so it works out nicely....ha ha ha ha!!!! We try to torture them as much as possible to totally build the excitement! HA HA HA!!!! BAD PARENTS!!!! Actually, my kids kinda like it that way! But....it will be interesting how it goes this year.... Then they open their stockings. And we go one by one to open the other gifts. Then I go start making breakfast and my folks come over for breakfast. I usually put the turkey in before they leave. And of course we exchange with them while they're here.
My kids aren't even allowed to look before waking us. . I'm not really sure how that will work this year. Our house here is a split floor plan and the two older girls share the larger of the two master's on the opposite side of the house as the other bedrooms. They'll have to walk through the living areas to gather everyone else if they are up first. I think last year, we had to wake them!
We open one gift on Christmas Eve (PJs) and MAYBE the gift from Memere. Christmas morning the kids get up and make us coffee before coming to wake us up! :lol: Once the kids drag us into the livingroom with the enticement of coffee they get to open their stockings. Depending on the year we may or may not make breakfast after the stockings are opened. We don't do a free for all but we also don't do just one at a time. The older kids will hand out the gifts and they will get opened as they are received for the most part.
My husband's family comes over on Christmas Eve and we all have a dinner and open presents from each other. Because of this, they don't open anything from us that night. On Christmas morning, we get up and they open stockings first. Then they open one present each, take a minute to actually see what it is, then move on to the next. We can't/don't buy a huge amount of gifts and if we allowed them to just go for it, everything would be opened in under a minute or two. This way they can see each gift and hopefully it registers in their excited brains what they are seeing. After the gifts have been opened and enjoyed for a bit, I make breakfast. I think this year I'm going to make cinnamon rolls. I'd love to make homemade donuts like my husband's grandmother used to make on Christmas. I might try but I'd hate to disappoint. I should mention that we have weird kids who wake up after the parents on Christmas. So, my coffee is already made and in hand before everything starts. My sons rock.
On Christmas eve, we have dinner and church with my dad, and then open presents at his house. Christmas morning we open presents here first thing, then have a small breakfast. We go to my mil's and have a big dinner and more presents.
Growing up, we used to open all our presents on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day was more of a quiet time. Currently, we have a small family dinner with some of my husband's side on Christmas Eve, with a few present for the cousins. It used to be a big family present pile-up, but they have pared it down because it was getting to be just too much! Now we just do one or two small gifts for each boy. There are seven, soon to be eight boys, all ten years old and under. Christmas day I turn on the Yule log channel and we open our own presents when everyone is awake. This isn't at the crack of dawn, because my husband works nights, so probably around 9ish. After the presents are done, we watch It's a Wonderful Life and one of the Jesus movies. We don't have a Christmas breakfast tradition yet.
the christmas eve gift........... can you guess....... PJ's! the kids usually wake up early every single day of the year....... lately they have been letting Dad wake up first ... he blares the music on the Yule log chanel and they all come in the living room....... (for the 3rd time probably)
Everyone, including adults, gets 1 Christmas Eve present to open. It is marked clearly that it is for Christmas Eve so there is no whining or wanting to pick a gift. It is always pajamas. This is so that everyone has clean new pajamas to wear for opening presents Christmas morning. You are not allowed to get up before 5:30am and dd has to come wake us up before she can go to see teh Christmas tree. We start with stockings, which are pretty basic fruit & candy nothing wrapped. Then gifts are opened one by one and split amongst everyone so that one person doesn't open everythign and have to wait and nobody is left with just stockings waiting their turn. After opening gifts we eat breakfast or go lay back down or get ready to visit other family depending on the year and what is planned for the day.
My mom makes all of her grandkids pj's for Christmas eve so they get to open that from her. On Christmas day we start with stockings and then make breakfast then move onto the gifts. We take our time and let the kids play with the newly opened items rather than rushing through getting everything opened. Between meals and my daughter nap last year we didn't finish opening gifts until about 6pm.
somhow when I was growning up I did not catch on to it....... I guess I was gullible....... my mom would say " OHHH Amy why don't you pick that one!" after getting the go-ahead to pick a gift--- only child too though
Like!!! We would go to BOTH sets of g'parents on Christmas Eve. We'd start early with dinner at Mom's parents, open the gifts, then rush to Dad's parents. Sometimes we'd be there until after Midnight Mass, though we didn't always stay that late. Then in the morning, we'd open our pesents bright and early, and then go back to Dad's parents for food. Both my parents came from large families (seven and nine). We have LOTS of cousins, most of whom lived out of town. But every Christmas, SOMEONE came in! It was a great time playing with cousins I rarely ever saw!
Well, with just one kid, it is pretty easy. We wake up and I go downstairs first to light the tree and start coffee for dh. Ds starts with his stocking and then proceeds to open each gift. We are unique I guess in that we don't do the whole pajama thing. Ds is a run around the house in his undies kind of kid.:lol: Seriously, as soon as we get home from anywhere, it is a matter of minutes before I see his clothes in a pile somewhere. He runs hot and pajamas would make him melt. Growing up, I had 2 sisters so Christmas Eve we always opened our "sister presents". There was always a huge stocking that was a family stocking and then we each had our individual stockings. We took turns opening each present. My dad's family (huge with his 6 siblings and I don't even honestly know how many cousins, maybe 50 now) always did a family get together on Christmas Eve. It just ended a few years ago since everyone is so dispersed now and it is hard to juggle immediate family gatherings and this big event when people have limited time in town. So, it was always Christmas Eve dinner and gift exchange with dad's side of family followed by sister gift exchange right before bed. I guess we never did the pj thing growing up either.
Ok, I'm feeling left out of the pajama tradition!!! We've never done that, but now I'm thinking about getting my sewing machine out. It is so crazy how entertaining it is to watch some logs burn! :lol: We end up waiting for the hand to appear and add another log or move the logs around. hehe
