Should i compromise?

Spendless

Knelley wrote:

Yes, Santa doesn't wrap in our house. I think this ruins the fun:) AND I know others will disagree.

I think it is all down to what you associate as 'being Christmas' as a child and no way is right or wrong.

I will say one thing tho. Do NOT change how you do it for your children! I had this done to me when I was 12. My father got a new girlfriend and 'Santa' wrapped pressies that year for the first time ever. It was the worst Christmas ever and the end of my childhood. I always questioned why my christmas had to change....don't do that to your kids:)

Not disagreeing, just interested do you mean no presents are wrapped? How does that work, you come down to all the gifts in the boxes under the tree? I've always thought not knowing what it is is the fun part so I'm interested in hearing an opposite view of why it ruins the fun:) (convince me enough and I may consider it myself;) ).
Yes I agree it's what happens as a child is how you associate Christmas, not wrapping presents is to me unusual, so I wonder what your OH thought when you first got together?

This fetches me to another question I've been meaning to ask. As I've mentioned before as a child neither me or DH had a stocking. So I have no 'tradition' as such to fall back on, do people wrap up the items in these or not .

ftbworried

Knelley wrote:

ftb- when you are a child - it is the most important thing in the world!

...but why is it? or more importantly, why SHOULD it be!

imho changing the order in which presents are opened to intergrate into their new family should be not be made into a big deal. They have to learn a) to compromise with others and to b) respect others traditions - so I guess it's a good exercise!

ikkleosu

Spendless wrote:

Not disagreeing, just interested do you mean no presents are wrapped? How does that work, you come down to all the gifts in the boxes under the tree? I've always thought not knowing what it is is the fun part so I'm interested in hearing an opposite view of why it ruins the fun:) (convince me enough and I may consider it myself;) ).
Yes I agree it's what happens as a child is how you associate Christmas, not wrapping presents is to me unusual, so I wonder what your OH thought when you first got together?

I have to say I find this very unusual and intriguing too, i'm wondering how it works. I would have thought not having the presents wrapped would lead to visual overload - like walking into a toy shop and seeing ALL the toys at once.

I don't know how it works with children, but I know as an adult I wouldn't like it so much becuase you can see what everything is as soon as you enter the room. i like seeing the pile of mysteriously shaped items, of getting each individual thing and wondering what they are then revealing it under the wrapping paper.

But it may be totally different for kids, I dunno how their midns work! LOL

Tuttifruitty_Theresa

Spendless wrote:

Not disagreeing, just interested do you mean no presents are wrapped? How does that work, you come down to all the gifts in the boxes under the tree? I've always thought not knowing what it is is the fun part so I'm interested in hearing an opposite view of why it ruins the fun:) (convince me enough and I may consider it myself;) ).
Yes I agree it's what happens as a child is how you associate Christmas, not wrapping presents is to me unusual, so I wonder what your OH thought when you first got together?

This fetches me to another question I've been meaning to ask. As I've mentioned before as a child neither me or DH had a stocking. So I have no 'tradition' as such to fall back on, do people wrap up the items in these or not .

hi i always wrap stocking filler gifts up as it's more to open lol, i also put in silly daft gifts like whistles, little puzzles, nuts, polystyrine gliders etc, hope this helps.

xxxx

one-non-blonde

The way I do it might be a possible compromise for you. I wrap the presents so they're colour-coded, ie. one colour of wrapping paper for each person, or more usually I just use brown paper (more environmentally friendly and cheaper!) and use different coloured ribbons/bows. All the presents are under the tree (well in advance, we don't do santa!) but it's obvious at a glance whose are whose without faffing around with gift tags, reducing the need to rummage. You could always arrange all the presents under the tree in piles perhaps, the girls either side and the wee one's in front?

culpepper

Maybe he sees the 2 piles as being a bit mercenary looking while a pile of all the presents seems more as though the whole family is included.
We do everyones under the tree.
When i was small my dad put it all on the foot of our beds and everything was opened by we chidren without my parents having to get out of bed.
We never thought of giving anything to my parents but then we never had pocket money to buy things for anyone so they were lucky to get a painted christmas card.

Ally

Kids write out a list for Santa and post the letter ..... I get a copy too, 'cos when Santa comes to ask if they have been good or bad .... I can tell him they were "super good" and "remind him of what is on the list" :rolleyes:

We do the different wrapping paper for each person too :rotfl: It is sooooo much easier .... by the time we are done wrapping ... it is a chore to write out all the gift tags! The kids also love to protect their "wrapped up boxes" .... we tell them that they are not real toys until Santa comes and sprinkles them with magic dust on Xmas eve;) (we just sprinkle some glitter on them very late Xmas eve:D ) They get so excited when they see the "magic dust" Xmas morning

We use a different wrap for others and do make the effort to put their names on tags it's easier to do it for them ... 'cos they get less gifts ... so not such a chore when doing them all at once

Gifts that are given to us have tags on them anyway.

Hopefully we will be wrapping our gifts this weekend as have got almost everything now:j

arnie&caseysma!

We used to write out our list for santa in October and it got posted so that we received replies in December!
I always remember getting up in the morning and having my stocking on a chair or part of the sofa so that was where all my presents when opened. They stocking had to be opened while we were eating the teensiest amount of breakfast before Dad sat down infront of the tree and handed out the presents to everyone as they were all in one big pile.
When we moved house our stockings were always put at the bottom of the stairs infront of the porch door and Santa had tied the door handle of the living room to the porch so we couldnt get in before brekkie! Helped keep the excitement for the younger ones.

Now theres no kids in my house we have opened them the last two years before we have even gone to bed!!

OP- The choice is yours, I personally wouldnt change things for your DDs as they way you do it is what they are used to whereas DS doesn't know the difference as yet. DH will understand the change a lot more than kids....

Knelley

Wow.......didn't realise that there were SOOOOO many different ways:O:O

Right, to answer a few questions:)

I and many people I know in this area never came down to pressies 'under' the tree! My brother had one side of the room, one couch and I had the other.

No presents from Santa were wrapped:) So yes, when you walk into the living room and all you see is the glow of the Christmas tree lights and all these bright pressies all sitting there in one big bundle was overwhelming......it is that sight that has and will always stay in my mind:)

The lights would stay down low and we would walk in and then start slowly form the top of the bundle taking off each thing and looking at it to ohhh and aaahhh over it:) whilst going over to each others bundles to see what they had. This would take us a couple of hours as things got opened from their packaging in the excitement and then we would see something else and so on.

We would then have breakfast and then go to the tree. This is where we would all sit around as a family and unwrap all the pressies from there. We knew that the 'unwrapped' pressies, were the one Santa brought and everything from under the tree was from friends or family.

Ftb = the question wasn't about changing how the presents were arranged but about changing how the children have had Christmas. Kids need routine. And if you change something that they have been used to, especially something that is as magical as Christmas it can change their whole perception of a situation. I can only comment on this from a personal front but I certainly would not want my children to link a new partner being in the household to a change in how THEIR christmas is:( Yes, I agree there should be changes and that they need to respect others and how they do it BUT why can't he fit into an already established routine? Yes, make a few slight changes but just on the fact whether a present is wrapped or unwrapped can cause people on here to comment on how weird it would be to have the opposite of what they are used to I think, speaks for itself:)

Spendless

Knelley wrote:

No presents from Santa were wrapped:) So yes, when you walk into the living room and all you see is the glow of the Christmas tree lights and all these bright pressies all sitting there in one big bundle was overwhelming......it is that sight that has and will always stay in my mind:)

This is where we would all sit around as a family and unwrap all the pressies from there. We knew that the 'unwrapped' pressies, were the one Santa brought and everything from under the tree was from friends or family.

So what sort of things were from Santa rather than what your family bought? I can see how looking thru unwrapped pressies you take more time, and look into it, whereas a wrapped parcel you unwrap and then go onto the other, or you want to play with that item you've just unwrapped whilst parents want you to move onto next. I've seen both these things happen in my own children.

We are bought a family bag from an aunt just loads of suitable bits and pieces unwrapped in one bag, so it's like a lucky dip delving in, and it's one of my fav things at Christmas. I've introduced idea from me to a friend and the first Christmas I did it she loved the idea.

As I mentioned earlier I have 'no tradition' to fall back on for a Christmas stocking and don't know what most people do, but I can see the attraction of unwrapped stuff definately:)