No, this isn’t THAT Santa situation. We’re firmly Team St. Nick over here at Casa de NSJM. But a conversation on tonight’s car ride home has proven that we (Dan and yours truly) do not see eye-to-eye on how, exactly Santa brings the presents.
Here’s a recreation of our conversation:
Me: “I really need to wrap some presents.”
Dan: “We really need to find a place to hide the wrapped presents.”
Me: o_O ::scratches head:: “Uh, we put them under the tree.”
Dan: “But Santa brings the presents.”
Me: “But they’re not all from Santa. Some of them are from us.”
Dan: “But Santa brings those, too.”
Me: o_O “No, Santa brings the big presents. And Santa doesn’t always wrap his presents. Some of them are just ready and waiting for play when you wake up on Christmas morning.”
Dan: O_o “That’s dumb. Because then you wouldn’t want to open anything else. I think you need to ask The Twitters about this.”
Yes, he really suggested asking The Twitters.
We’ve been together for 8 Christmases now and until tonight had never shared our Santa stories with each other which proves that there’s always something new to learn about those you think you know.
When I was little, presents showed up sporadically under the tree throughout the holiday season. No tags were used so we didn’t know which presents were ours. Mama just had her super secret way of knowing which gift went to whom and in all of my life, we never opened a present belonging to someone else.
(She’s magic, that one. There were no assigned wrapping papers. There were no names written in secret on the packages. She just knew. I tried this and it drove Dan insane.)
When we woke up on Christmas morning our “big” presents (a.k.a. the Santa gifts) were unwrapped and waiting for us.
The year I got my Cabbage Patch doll, she was laying in a wooden cradle. (I named her Christy Lee.)
The year I got a Nintendo (old school, with the big square cartridges) it was hooked up and the demo screen was playing when I stumbled into the living room at an ungodly hour of the morning because Daddy was a bigger kid than we were and was always waking us up at something like 4 a.m. (Not joking.)
Dan’s family, on the other hand, has a tradition of receiving gifts from everyone, including but not limited to Ayatollah Khomeini, Boba Fett, Porky Linkster, various pets, reindeer, and Condoleeza Rice. None of which show up before Christmas morning.
(This tradition of labeling gifts as being from random people is hilarious and awesome to me and is one that I’ve adopted wholeheartedly.)
When Dan and his sister were little all of these gifts showed up underneath the tree after they’d gone to bed on Christmas Eve. Santa presents were wrapped. Gifts from his mom and dad were wrapped. Everything was wrapped. And nothing showed up before Christmas Eve (except gifts from out-of-town family and friends of the family, which had to go under the tree not to be opened until Christmas morning). Otherwise, Santa brought everything. Even presents from his parents.
For the past two years, Santa’s been kind of a moot point around here. We’ve each bought Joshua three things and we’ve kept those three things a secret from the other person because otherwise, Christmas was kind of pointless since Joshua was way more interested in the boxes than anything that was inside them. But this year is a little different. He sort of gets it. Or at least he gets the opening presents part of it. Sort of.
But this Santa background thing? Is proving quite difficult.
I like my way because 1) it’s what I know, 2) it takes a lot of the focus off of Santa and keeps it real that he’s not the only gift-giver in town, 3) it’s what I know.
Dan likes his way because 1) it’s what he knows, 2) it’s a surprise, 3) it’s what he knows. (Oh, and he thinks my way is weird.)
How do we blend these two traditions to make something new?
Interesting! We did a mix when I was little. There would be the occasional wrapped gift from my parents under the tree – mostly to torture us – but a majority of our gifts showed up on Christmas eve after I went to bed. The gifts from Santa (wrapped & unwrapped) & wrapped from the parents.
I never thought Santa brought ALL the gifts though! Huh.
Yeah, see, I’m a fan of their being presents scattered about under the tree prior to Christmas morning. I like to see the handiwork of wrapped presents before it’s all destroyed and thrown in the trash can.
Exactly!
We would have a few presents under our tree now – but I know a certain 2 year old would have them ripped open. So for now, we wait until Christmas eve.
Hmm. We have a Santa bag for each kid. IN the bag are wrapped. Outside the bag is their stocking against the bag. Everything in the stocking is unwrapped. We used to have in the bag unwrapped but once we had two kids it was two hard to keep track of them each ripping through their bags so the wrapping slows them down and they each unwrap one gift at the same time. Good luck with that.
I should say that we HAVE also put one unwrapped gift outside the bag too. Usually the thing they wanted the most.
I do like pacing the gifts. ::taps chin::
Oh my goodness. This is so similar to the situation in my house. Except for the fact that I would much rather avoid teaching my kid to believe in Santa at all…
I’ve given in on the Santa thing, but deciding HOW Santa deals with gifts is a tough one. My hubby believes that 1) Santa brings the BIG gifts and 2) the BIG gifts are unwrapped.
The unwrapped thing makes me feel really uncomfortable. I hate that idea. HATE IT!. Hopefully I can convince my husband that we won’t be doing this since I am giving him the whole Santa thing (seriously, what is wrong with wrapping something? Everyone loves to unwrap! It doesn’t ruin the gift at all!). On the second point, I would much rather big presents come from Mom and Dad while Santa stuffs the stockings and brings a few things for under the tree. But maybe this is just because I’m not a huge Santa fan in general! 🙂
I think that’s the good thing about the way Mama did it. Seeing the presents under the tree build gradually allowed for some of the emphasis to be taken off of Santa. Santa did always bring our big gifts, though.
Oh, boy. I’m not sure I have any good suggestions for bringing your traditions together. I’m kind of lucky; my hubby’s family didn’t really have any traditions. There is nothing from his Christmases past that he wanted to hold on to. Which I guess is kind of sad. But, it has meant I have been able to hold onto all my traditions without any issues. Reading this, I am grateful.
Santa brings one present – traditionally a big one – and it is unwrapped and left by the tree. He also stuffs the stockings with some little presents, unwrapped. Those are all found on Christmas morning. All other presents are wrapped and labeled with who they are from. Everyone in the family gives to everyone else. And those end up under the tree whenever they are wrapped. The closer to Christmas it becomes, the more there are.
See, we didn’t have a lot of traditions growing up either. And we didn’t really have huge Christmases because we couldn’t always afford a whole lot. I guess this is something I’m trying to hold onto because it was always kind of magical to me.
Stockings were always Mama’s handiwork, when we did stockings. And I like the building of presents over time instead of WHAM-O. Presents!
We had presents under the tree from Santa, but also from mom and dad and I think they all showed up Christmas morning. Santa also brought stockings and one unwrapped board game or puzzle between our stockings for my sister and I to share.
Gifts from random people is the most awesome thing I have ever heard. Spencer is totally getting a present from Buzz Lightyear.
I think you could compromise on wrapping everything unless it is obviously too large, like a trike or play kitchen or something.
I totally think that the inconvenience of trying to wrap something like a baby cradle (real wood, not from a box) is why our Santa presents were unwrapped. They had a bow or something on them, but there was no wrapping things like bicycles.
And the random people gifts? Spectacular. Truly.
When I was growing up, Santa brought one big present that was unwrapped and then filled out stockings with candy and small presents/toys. The other presents were from family and friends and put under the tree whenever they got wrapped (usually pretty close to Christmas Eve because that’s how we roll). My husband’s family was the same way except he usually got several Santa presents and they were always wrapped.
I liked the wrapped Santa presents so we do that, but she only gets one big present from him. Then her stocking is a few special candy treats and small toys that are unwrapped. The stocking is from Santa too. For the most part right now we don’t put the wrapped presents from us/family out until Christmas Eve simply because Darling Girl has ZERO patience and after the nine millionth “Is it time to open them yet?” I lose my marbles. I also have caught her trying to open a couple of them! In the future we will return to putting them out as they get wrapped, but not now. We do talk about it a lot, but she’s also three and just can’t do it yet!
I don’t have an answer for your dilemma, but I have to admit that I think it’s completely weird that your husband thought Santa brought everything. How did your parents get the presents to him? I can’t get past that part…
I know lots and lots of people who do the stocking from Santa and that makes sense because of the stories that say Santa filled the stockings. Ours usually only had candy in them, and batteries if there was a gift under the tree that needed batteries.
I’m slightly nervous about presents under the tree pre-Christmas with Joshua, but I think he’d be okay with them. He points at the ornaments now and says “Whas dat!?” instead of yanking them off the tree and running like a mad man through the living room.
And yeah, the Santa bringing presents from Mom and Dad thing is a head scratcher for me, too.
Let me just say that first and formost, Christmas is for the children! The excitement that the children have is for the parents. I wouldn’t give anything for the look on the faces of my children on Christmas morning. this is what I remember! It was always the best feeling when they were little to see the excitement on their faces when they rounded the corner and saw the things that Santa left for them, some of what they asked for and some of what they didn’t. We never wrapped the things from Santa, but always wrapped what we bought them. Children will soon enough learn the truth that there is no man in a red suit that comes through the chimney. why I don’t think we ever had a chimney for Santa to come through, but that never stopped the kids from believing. I tried to teach them that as long as you believed in your heart there would always be a Santa of sorts. As my children got older they knew what they were getting before they opened their presents and when they stopped believing in Santa Claus, well he stopped leaving the big things. Everyone has traditions. It’s all about the excitement on the face of the child…..something I will NEVER forget. Why even our dog got excited one year when Miranda got a Cricket doll….the dog went nuts!
See? That’s what I remember, too! Being excited as we were woken up so early and walking into the living room to see everything already laid out for us. I remember Kyle’s face once I was older when he’d light up at whatever had been bought for him.
I wrap all the presents, except ones that have to be assembled first. Then they just get a big bow. I have to buy wrapping paper in secret, because last year my oldest commented that it looked the paper I bought at Target. Ooops. I wrap each child’s presents all in the same paper, so I know where to put it. Each kid has a “side” of the tree with their stocking so they know which pile is for them. (I don’t wrap things in the stocking, unless I’m evil and hide the really good small gift in there, because we open stockings last…….muhahahaha) All the presents for the rest of the family are put under the tree as I wrap them, but Santa brings all of his presents on Christmas Eve. Our elf on the shelf (elves this year) gives them one special gift with a message inside, and they open that one together first. It’s how the elves say goodbye, because they stay to watch the presents being opened and then they go home when we go to Grandma’s.
If it has to be assembled, I’d rather assemble it the night before instead of spend all day on Christmas assembling gifts. And LOL about sneaking the paper!
We tried Elf on the Shelf this year and Joshua wanted to name him “No.” So we’ve just put him on a bookshelf and he’s been there ever since. We’ll try again next year.
I’d also like to add, that having Santa bring the smaller gifts/fill the stockings is probably the better route to go. When they get older, it’s hard to explain to them why Santa brought them X,Y, and Z, but their friend only got ______. They DO start to realize the concept of $$, and it’s really hard to come up with an explanation.
Very, very good point!
Our house was a little odd. Our gifts from parents, grandparents, etc, were put under the tree as they were wrapped prior to Christmas. Then, we opened our gifts on Christmas Eve. To make it last longer & to keep everything organized & orderly, we take turns unwrapping, youngest to oldest. Most people think “Yeah right, my family will never go for that” but we started it with our daughter at her first Christmas and she knows that’s just what you do. You take turns. Yeah, told you we were a little odd. Then on Christmas morning Santa brings a variety of wrapped and unwrapped gifts and filled stockings.
My husband’s family always opens all of their gifts in a giant Bacchanalian orgy on Christmas Day (the chaos makes me want to curl into the fetal position & rock until it’s over) so the two sort of blend well for us because we do Christmas Eve & Santa at my mother’s and then go over to his grandmother’s and do the craziness with them on Christmas Day.
Hope y’all figure something out!
I want to take a Xanax for you already. I much prefer the one-at-a-time method. Much.
This is a tough one…I get both sides of your argument. Santa always came to our house on Christmas eve while we were away and we opened our presents Christmas eve night..mainly because we had grandparents to visit Christmas day and this was easier on mom.. However, I would lose it if my presents weren’t all wrapped (even those from Santa) and labeled: To: Gina From: Santa. We had presents from mom and dad, but Santa always brought the big stuff and everything was wrapped unless it was a bicycle or something large. Since I may be one of your readers that has actually met your mom… I can totally see her knowin exactly which present belonged where without a label..I’m not that good at remembering what I bought..so I can’t do that..There are videos of Jeremy at Christmas when he was little telling his parents exactly what each present they bought him costs..he still does this at 30 to me when he opens his presents..he wants to know it was “on sale” before he can enjoy it…so we have our work cut out for us too!
Love the idea of gifts from random peoples. But seriously, my gifts and even later when I had step mom and sibs all our gifts were wrapped regardless who they were from. Except for the year I got a trampoline and it was hidden in my Daddy’s shop. I kinda like the idea of gifts from Santa being unwrapped and left under the tree, though I’d have to label em. 😉
This may be the funniest thing I’ve read in a while. I love that your husband’s family gives gifts from anyone in the world. Hilarious. Also? My husband and I have never really talked about the Santa situation in 7 years together.
Recently, though, I explained that there was no Santa as my mom told me when I was little that “no fat white man brought me presents, she worked hard for those” and I lived in an apartment building with chimney and burglar bars on the windows, so prior to her telling me this I always asked- well how does Santa get in here?!
My husband, though, bless his little corn-fed Nebraska behind is adamant that there is a Santa at least until she’s old enough (maybe 4th or 5th grade?) to stop thinking so. I’ve agreed to this just because I teach the 6 year olds and I see the twinkle in their eyes and everyone loves a little magic, right?
So, my point is. Lots of talks with the husband and coming to some sort of compromise is best.
Santa brought us our stockings and there was always one small, unwrapped thing on top. The presents under the tree were from all of us to each other, but they didn’t go under until after we went to bed. It was understood that mom and dad would set those out before Santa got there, but after we went to bed. They kept our presents to each other hidden with their presents to each of us too so we wouldn’t have to “worry”. None of us was sneaky or wanted to ruin surprises. And even though we KNEW mom and dad put the presents under the tree? It still felt all magical like Santa had done it ALL when we woke up and the previously bare living room was packed. (and by packed, it could just be a couple presents each, but after seeing it with NO presents for a month, it felt packed).
That is how we do it now too. Although I put the gifts for other people outside me, Cort, and Eddie under the tree because I literally have no where to put them otherwise. Eddie hasn’t touched; he just likes to point out that they are “not santa pessents”. 🙂
This post is hilarious! Santa brought our presents when we were kids. They showed up on Christmas morning, but like you, some of them were not wrapped so my brother and I could see them as soon as we came up the stairs! I’m interested to see how you two blend your traditions!
I know it may be hard for you to imagine, but I was a very cynical kid. I can honestly say that I never believed in Santa and didn’t understand how other kids could be duped, though I pretended for the longest time that I did because I didn’t want to ruin my mom’s Christmas. She loved thinking I believed in something. She needed me to believe in something.
That being said, “Santa” left our presents, big and small, unwrapped, and he also filled our stockings. Presents from our parents and from each other were wrapped and placed under the tree before Christmas. Presents from parents were usually the embarrassing things or the things that were no fun. And if we got underwear, it only came from the parent of the same gender. We always got underwear.
When I was a teenager and at an obvious non-believing age (poor mom), my mom would still leave some of the bigger surprise gifts unwrapped on Christmas Eve, I think just to hold on to that magic a little longer.
I’m lucky that Brandon and I had basically the same traditions, and they continue here…except that I’m behind on the wrapping and have one wrapped gift and four gift bags under there now. And those gift bags are from Julia to all of us. Need a Christmas miracle.
Why am I not receiving gifts from Boba Fett?
We placed presents given to us from friends & family under the tree — then the gifts from Santa would arrive, under the tree, sometime Christmas Eve (usually between my dad’s second and fifth glass of wine), all of them wrapped.
I have a feeling that Santa shows up, at our house, on Christmas eve with an armada of gift bags. Just a sneaking suspicion.
We had presents from Mommy & Daddy, wrapped, and out under the tree before Xmas. There were also presents, wrapped, from Santa, put under tree after I went to bed Xmas Eve. Course, I was the Unwrapper/Rewrapper No One None the Wiser kind of kid. I also caught on that all the handwriting was the same early on. Stocking stuff was just extra stuff and hung on bedroom doors. I don’t think I was ever told the stockings had anything to do with Santa.
Also, stuffed animals weren’t wrapped usually, because I was concerned about that not being a nice thing to do to them. I mean, what if they wanted to breathe? So any stuffed animals given to me were usually just sitting under tree by Xmas morning, unwrapped and freeeeee.
I couldn’t do it without those little nametag stickers. No way could I remember.
This is what we do: Presents get put under the tree throughout Christmas time with who they’re from/to. Then Christmas morning bigger presents or ones that aren’t as easy to wrap are put out in certain designated areas for each kid. Along with these presents (from Santa) were the stockings that Santa filled with candy and other little goodies. Each year the designated area for each kid changes, which is also pretty cool because you never know where your presents are going to be until you get into the family room. 🙂
The kids take turns opening the presents as well. It definitely makes the fun of Christmas last longer.