I had a really idyllic childhood in America in the 70s and 80s, and I got a ton of Christmas presents every year, like 20 to 30 individual wrapped presents, whether cheap gag gifts in a stocking or real presents under the tree. What was it like for you?
I had 3 brothers and 2 sisters, with a family this large a good Christmas would mean 5 or 6 gifts. To save the disappointment of opening presents with underwear and clothes, my mother would wrap all clothing items in one box.
We were one of the very few Jewish families in a 99.9% Christian neighborhood. Our parents didn’t want us to feel left out, so we had a Christmas tree with presents, plus 8 days of presents for Hannukah (although some of them were things like socks.)
My parents used this formula (in 80’s early 90’s money):
1 main ‘entertainment’ present- $50-$75
3 secondary ‘educational’ presents- <$20 (‘educational’ because it could include erector-set stuff, or Construx stuff and the like)
1 thing to make artistic stuff with present- usually <$10
Stocking of stuff- toothbrush, word search booklet, etc
2 metal cones on the tree with candy*
For each of us (I had two older brothers) the presents were wrapped until each figured out Santa wasn’t real (around four or five for each).
Although my parents are incredibly insightful gift givers, so I really loved each present and still have many of the presents I received.
*My first name is Andy so I always got lots of ‘Andes Candies’ (this is my excuse for poor apostrophe use) 
None. My family never celebrated Christmas.
I really don’t remember. One to two dozen? I got six this year.
Not very many.
I don’t really remember. I know that other kids at school and our cousins got more individual presents than we did, our parents weren’t into the big piles of presents thing, but I never felt deprived exactly, either.
I have a 16 y.o. boy. When he was very little, I was poor as heck so I came up with the rule of three presents (3 wise men) and Santa filled the stocking. I figured I’d always be able to scrape up three gifts, and Santa couldn’t bring anything that didn’t fit into the rather small heirloom stocking, so I set the tradition up to be reasonable. We exchange with the entire extended family, so he’s never lacked for anything.
However, after 13 years of it being just the boy and I on Christmas morning, I’ve had a partner these last few years so we’ve completely changed. No more stocking, since the boy is too old to pretend Santa belief anymore, and now the three of us each have a pile of presents on Christmas morning, he had over a dozen to open.
I don’t really remember… lots it seems, but when I really think about it there was the small spread from Santa (usually the ‘big’ things… like the year I got a Cabbage Patch and lots of accessories ditto with the Barbie year) and a present or two from everyone else we celebrated with.
I got quite a lot, more than most of my friends. Part of this was because my birthday in January and in the 1970s, the stores were out of most of the popular toys right after Christmas. So, I got more for Christmas knowing that my birthday would be a lot smaller.
It varied widely from year to year. From about age 10 onward my parents operated their own small business, so some years were really sparse and others were plentiful. I was an only child but had three step-brothers and sisters, so presents for 4 can look pretty exciting piled around a tree. Sometimes they got a few large, cheap things just for the shock effect. I remember one year we all got beanbag chairs. That was an inexpensive way to make Christmas pretty cool.
Probably too many. I was the only girl and had a doting grandmother, so I always got lots of dolls and their houses and accessories, and clothes, and hundreds of books, and hobby supplies. It was great. I had two younger brothers and they got stuff I liked, too - tinker toys, Cooties, Lincoln Logs, a microscope - take a look in the Vermont Country Store catalog, we had a lot of that stuff.
There were six kids in our family, and each of us got about 5 presents. A couple practical ones, a book or two, and a toy or game.
We only have one kid, but guess what…he got about 5 presents.
We gave my son one big present($50 Optimus Prime), one game, a movie(Wall-E), and 3 little bionicle toys from McDonald’s happy meals. He seems fine with what he got.
Maybe three, at best. Small family, not exactly a ton of presents. Then again, the way I was brought up, we would give presents and treats at various times throughout the year, so Christmas wasn’t really that much of a big deal.
I still remember having a pillowcase at the foot of the bed when I was 6, though. Must have been some cool stuff that went in there.
I really don’t remember. I remember the big presents like flutterby. I do know that my mom busted her ass to make sure me and the brother got the same number each year (including stockings). When we became adults we busted our asses to make sure mom and dad got the same numbers as us. I think eventually it was like 6 - 3 from bro and 3 from mom & dad.
A few years I recall mom told us we were only getting 3 gifts because that’s what Jesus got and we were not happy about that idea. So we must have gotten more than 3 usually. Amazing considering our parents’ financial state when I was a kid.
Jewish. 7 small presents and one larger one. “Small” meant a little toy, perhaps (~$3). “Larger” meant something like a hardback or two paperback books, or (for my sister) a Barbie. Sometimes there would be a board game, to be shared with my sister. It was not a big holiday, and we were not very solvent.
We weren’t rich, but between my parents, two sets of grandparents, one set of great grandparents, 12 sets of aunts and uncles, I used to get so many presents that I would actually dread trying to find a place to put them all.
One year, from my Nana alone, I got a large toy box already full of toys.
Christmas, and the onslaught of presents, lasted three days. Christmas Eve at Nana’s where the kids would sometimes throw up from so much candy and excitement. Then Christmas day with the family, back over to Nana’s then over to Grandma’s. Boxing day was spent with the Aunts and Uncles and more gifts.
It was a ton of fun.
This Christmas Eve I spent alone. The power went off from 6 pm till 10 pm. I spent the 4 hours in the dark, alone, sitting on the couch. This morning I had one gift to open. It was a candle. My Christmas dinner was a pizza pop.
This Christmas sort of sucked.
My sister and I didn’t get a lot of Christmas presents when we were kids but the ones we got were really cool, like junior chemistry sets and a homemade Georgian dollhouse and miniature china tea sets. We also got books and savings bonds, which didn’t mean a hell of a lot to me as a kid.
My parents are very thrifty (CHEAP!!!) people, so the stuff we got was good quality but not a lot of stuff. We also got a trip to Manhattan every Christmas to go to Radio City and FAO and Rockefeller Center.
But what the hell, we were kids and we didn’t know the difference. I still have the dollhouse and the china tea set, too! 
We were poor and only got a few for most of my youth. Dad got a better job somewhere in my early teens and we started getting bigger gifts, but often “for the family” gifts. (One year we got a pool table “for the family” and little else.)
About five, and they were usually games that I had to play with my sister (the favored child) or tacky stuff I didn’t ask for or want. The last good “me” gift I remember getting was my Tiny Tears doll when I was six.