I usually open the present my folks send to me on Christmas Eve. That’s due to a childhood tradition of getting to open one present each before we went to Midnight Mass.
Well the only present I get is from my Mom, and I open it immediately. Mostly because I am under orders to from her for immediate inspection. Because the Mailman may have stolen the real present and put in rocks and newspaper or something I guess. The last time I tried waiting I got emails constantly about things that may have happened to it. For her piece of mind It’s easier to give a full report immediately.
It depends. If the gift is wrapped, I wait until Christmas Day, maybe Christmas Eve. This year, my presents from my SO were not wrapped, and some arrived a month early…I have no willpower, unless he asks me to wait. He sent a necklace I had hinted/asked for, and I was GOING to wait…but I really, really wanted to wear it every day until Christmas. And the other major present he sent…well, he made me go pick it up RIGHT THEN and then open it and get it set up and running, so I really didn’t have a choice. The presents the kids are sending won’t get here until very close to the big day, so I will wait on those.
If I think it’s food, I’ll open it when I receive it. If it’s probably something non-perishable, I’ll let it sit decoratively on the coffee table, under the little Xmas tree if I bothered to put it up this year, to await Xmas morning.
I am not now single, but when I was (and stuff still arrived in the mail) the answer was “Whenever.” No tree then, so stuff sat in my room until I opened it. More than once, I opened it with a caller on the other end of the line wondering if it had arrived OK. But there were times I opened them just because I needed a surprise at the end of a long day.
p.s. I did Xmas Day and Thanksgiving feasts every year for my household then.
Mostly on arrival, it might be something perishable, and I also want to see what it is. BUT, if I am all by myself, as in the past (currently my closest friend is my house-mate), then I would often save one thing to open Christmas.
Christmas day. No exceptions. As a kid, my mom would just toss all the presents in the guest bedroom, say “don’t open that door, the presents are in there”, and I would never peep. Opening presents early just ain’t right.
Well, that’s part of what I meant. I could have said, “When do people like me who are single and have no family locally and don’t live with anyone who would offer peer pressure to wait until Christmas to open presents open their mailed Christmas presents?” but I only had so many characters available in the title.
Other, it depends. Single, no kids, family far-flung around the globe and I’m not seeing any of them Christmas day.
I’ve already been to two Christmas parties, and everyone opened their gifts at the party, so I did too. I think it’s nice to open gifts when the giver is present. I have another couple of get-togethers between now and The Day, and I imagine we’ll do the same thing.
OTOH, since it was customary to open family gifts on Christmas morning when we were kids, we all adhere to that habit as adults/parents. I have a couple of mailed packages that I won’t open until Christmas morning.