When I was a kid, we children put presents under the tree as we wrapped them. They get separated into piles on Christmas morning, when Lo! and Behold! they are augmented by gifts from Santa (Mom and Dad).
When my kids were little, any gifts that came from relatives went right under the tree, but gifts from us (Santa) waited for that magical morning.
Now, however, the only gifts that go under the tree ahead of time are gifts for me, because I can resist. My son and my daughter have been known to open their gifts and rewrap them ahead of time, so I make them wait until Christmas Eve. They are 22 and 20, by the way. A few years back they convinced me to open gifts after the midnight service so that we could all sleep in on Christmas (my only day off) and I have reluctantly agreed.
I miss those magical mornings when the plate of cookies is empty (except for half a cookie with a bite out of it) and the Santa mug of milk is drained (cats come in so handy!) and the tree is surrounded by gifts.
We put them under as soon as they’re wrapped. Then we pick them up again, and take them to Grandma’s house, which is where we’ll actually BE for Christmas. They’re randomly assorted, and on Christmas morning, we sort them into piles. It would be more efficient to do the sorting first, but I think no one’s thought of that.
When I was a kid there was always a large pile of presents under the tree before Xmas. Then after a night of trying desperately to get to sleep and not being able to, and then a morning of squirming around waiting for it to be 0700 so that we could wake our parents, we’d go out there and there’d be TWICE AS MANY!
That was awesome.
This was all before the parents got divorced, though.
We usually put them under the tree as we get them, but this year there is one gift I’m going to put out late Xmas eve, after my husband goes to sleep. He really wants a new CD player for the home stereo, and the one he picked out is very nice and a bit pricey.
I told him that we can't afford it, and that maybe he'll get cash from his parents and my mom and we can find it on sale after Xmas. In the meantime, I found it online at a price I can afford, so I ordered it. It came about a week ago, and it's hidden in the back of a storage closet. If I put it under the tree now, he'll figure out what it is, so I'm savin' it for Xmas eve.
And we always piile the gifts willy-nilly rather than sorting them out- I have 5 sibs, so it was always a good pile, and we took turns "playing Santa" and passing out the gifts.
Everything was set out Christmas Eve, youngest kid’s items under the tree, everyone else in piles organized by name on chairs elsewhere in the living room. Christmas morning, stocking presents opened in order of age from youngest to oldest (starting with pets!), brunch, main presents, again youngest to oldest. This was up to a couple of years ago. Now opening’s in random order, but the pressies still don’t get set out till Christmas Eve.
Just call us the Anal family. Er, on second thought, don’t.
As a kid, everything went out on Christmas Eve, probably for the very good reason that my sister and I would’ve been trying to sneak-unwrap things if they’d been out any earlier.
They are all under the tree right now. At least all the ones I wrapped. Except for the one that’s a bit too big to wrap, at least for now. It does make for some fun though, every time I see it I can ask the girlfriend “Wonder what’s in the box?” Just like I can now.
Gifts have always gone under the tree as soon as they’re wrapped here. When I was little, Mom would put a few small unwrapped items in front of the tree that “Santa” had brought. She continued this practice for me and the dog (Snoopy) until I stopped believing. Snoopy never bothered anything under the tree - or the tree itself, for that matter - but she would carefully inspect packages as they were placed under the tree, and quickly picked out any that contained dog treats. We did have to set gift bags out of her reach, since she wouldn’t hesitate to stick here entire head in the back to sniff the contents.
Stockings are always stuffed on Christmas Eve; Mom gets them so full that she has to put them on the floor.
I have a 4-yo who asks every day if she can open any presents she can see, and a 20-month-old who would tear any presents open, without asking. Although I have always liked to put presents under the tree as they get wrapped, they are all in a pile on top of a cabinet.
