Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Fun with Polls When do you open your Christmas presents?

I used to sneak a peak. It was so exiting. I've been thinking about my husband's habits. He doesn't sneak a peak, but he is not allowed to pick anything up until Christmas morning! He figures it out!

This is what I have to do but even then he figures out what I've done (the deceptive part):

I bought some LOTR paintable dudes. They rattle in the box. I got a McDonald's fry box. That is bigger than a box of printer paper. I wrapped the small boxes of figurines in bubble wrap. I added marbles (for noise) and towels (so the boxes wouldn't move). I hoped the marbles would mask the noise of the figurines, but he sat there with the box for something like 15 minutes and he deduced that there were marbles, unneccessary bulk (towels) or he was getting a pile of sweaters, and some metal item in there somewhere. After some time he thought the metal items were figurines, loose gnomes (he likes gnomes so that's why he would have thought that) or tools. THen he though of what I would get him and was quiet some more. He ended up thinking it was something from The Games Workshop.

I tried to keep a straight face.

I bought him some DVDs so I tried to change the weight and sound with those. He already picked one up and figured out he has a certain one b/c of it's size. Me stupid. He annoying.

I tired to add a heavy book to sweaters once. He said there is a book and some clothing in here. ARUGH.

I bought him a sword once. So I decided to buy two swords. Why? He saw one and said it's a sword. It was in a rectangluar long box tight in foam. I said no it isn't! SO I bought a second one. Why? Who would buy two swords for someone? They're expensive. That threw him off. He thought I couldn't afford it. I tried to fake a second box but I couldnt' get the right weight and weight distribution and sound production if it was shaken.

After doing that I have to use glue, tape and any type of untearable paper. Once I used Saran Wrap and some sort of super strong plasic paper. I like making it difficult to get open and he cannot sneak a peak then.

He has a spy or two when I shop. THAT MUST BE IT!!!

The Christmas receipts are another story....

ROTFL, SuperRoo! )

LabRat

CC, as ever, you crack me up! ), presents were never opened until late afternoon on Christmas Day. We had to get up, have breakfast, go to church, come back and help with Christmas dinner (or watch TV), have dinner, clear up, usually watch whatever blockbuster movie was on that year, and then presents were passed around one by one.

I kind of got into the routine of that. And it's fun to wait. So we - it's usually just John and me, although this year we've been invited for Christmas dinner by some very special people - make dinner, watch a film, either on TV or DVD, and then make coffee and open our presents. So, while the Amazon boxes build up, they get stacked neatly in an appropriate place and we just look at them occasionally.


Wendy

Well, there is what we have normally done, and there is what I'm going to do this year...

When I was a kid, my brothers and I used to get up early and go through our 'stockings'. (They weren't usually stockings; my parents were quite practical people, so one year all our presents were delivered in brand new waste-paper baskets!)

How early we got into the stockings usually depended on my oldest brother. Christmas was the one day of the year when he would wake up first; he would come and wake me when he had finished opening his presents, or when he thought he could get away with it, whichever was later. (One Christmas morning, he came in, woke me up, chivvied me into unwrapping a few presents, and told me how he had lain awake the night before and waited for Dad to come in with his stocking. Then, under the cover of darkness, he had unwrapped all his presents. And that, dear folcs, is how I learned, at a very tender age, the 'truth' about Father Christmas.)

After I'd gone through my stuff, my brother and I would then go to disturb my other brother, who was, apparently much more grumpy in the morning than I was. (My, how things have changed!)

We'd then have a terrible wait. Then again, all waits are terrible when you are a kid. We couldn't unwrap any of the presents under the tree until Mum and Dad had got the pudding steaming and the turkey in the oven. Then drinks had to be brewed, pens and papers found so that we could make lists of who we needed to thank later on... and so on. Only then -- finally -- would Dad hand out the presents.

So, that was a childhood Christmas. And rather wonderful they were, too.

This year is going to be very, very different.

I'm going to be on my own this year. This is my doing, I hasten to add. My choice. And, grumpy soul that I am, I am rather looking forward to it.

The problem, as far as any presents are concerned, is that some people have delivered them to my mother in person. She won't forward anything on, so I'm having to wait until one of my brothers visits her and does so. Anything that gets sent through the post will get redirected to where I am staying at the moment -- but as I'm not going to be here over the holiday period, I won't get any of that until after new year! The end result, I suspect, is that any presents I'm lucky enough to receive will finally catch up with me around epiphany!

How's that for delayed gratification?!

How will I spend Christmas day? I'm not sure yet, but I think going for a walk along a perfect beach just might factor in there somewhere. It's going to be a very alternative Christmas, and I'm looking forward to it.

Chris

I had to go with Depends.

If we are at Elisabeth's parent's house, we open them on Christmas morning, just after a huge breakfast(we all sleep over night)

If we are at my parent's home, we open them up on Christmas Eve, after Christmas Eve services.

If we are at our house...I don't know, we are always at one place or the other, but I think Elisabeth's tradition would win out.

James

Hi!

It always surprised me when I watched Christmas films(from US of course)where the kids go to sleep before midnight to wake up in the morning to open their presents.

Because here all the presents are open right after midnight, after Santa comes and leaves the gifts under the tree.
When me, my brother and other cousin were younger the adults use to take us out to see the fireworks at 12pm, so when we came back to the house "Santa's presents" were under the tree, so the next thing(after the fireworks)was open the gifts. We don't believe in Santa anymore but still, we open our presents at 12pm sharp
So I'm when I read that you *can* wait 'til morning or in Wendy's case until the afternoon to open the presents!

Other thing that we do different is that we stay the whole night awake to wait until 12pm, when we were younger sometimes our parents send us to bed (at 10pm a kid is usually sleepy) but woke us up at 11 or 11:30 pm again.
Oh! And after all the presents were opened we go to the dinning room for Christmas dinner.
So we kids usually stayed until 2am playing with our new toys while the adults usually stayed awake until 4am talking...
Now after dinner I don't go play with my toys but go enjoy the talk with my relatives and we stay up until 3 or 4am.

Carolyn