Reading all these replies has reminded me of something else -- at my house, it was never an opening 'frenzy.'
All the presents get mixed up under the tree. The kids took turns 'playing Santa,' as we called it -- delivering. So first kid goes up, gets a present for everyone else and one for him/herself. Then we take turns unwrapping.
The reason for this is twofold:
1. It makes it last longer. <g> Especially important as we got older and got fewer (but more expensive) gifts.
2. It allowed my mom to write a list of what we got from whom. So it was nice and handy when it came time to write thank-you cards. "What did I get from Grandma and Grandpa, again?!?"
And, metwin, I'd never known that about the Chinese culture -- not to open gifts in front of the giver. In my family at Christmas, all the extended relatives were long-distance, so the only ones we opened in front of the giver were the ones from siblings and my parents/"Santa." And, as Wendy said, we always had fun seeing the expressions on their faces when they opened things. Especially as they un*wrapped* things, seeing as my family likes to disguise/double wrap/use obscene amounts of tapet, etc.
Bethy
