So! Let's talk about presents.
If your children are anything like mine, they are the recipients of many gifts from generous family members. The packages pile up in the weeks before Christmas and when you sort through them, you realize there are a LOT of presents for each child.
This is a good problem to have, but I do consider it a problem. And the reason I consider it a problem is because the more presents kids have, the more they want. Christmas morning becomes a sprint to see who can open their gifts the fastest, with a constant stream of "Are there any more for me?" while the presents they've already opened get tossed aside with hardly a glance in their quest for moremoremore.
The beginnings of Christmas madness.
It's highly unappealing, and not really the Christmas atmosphere I'm going for.
So, my solution to this is to not give them all their gifts on Christmas.
One year in northern New York we did a New Year's Day Christmas at home after spending Christmas Day with the MiL and her family. That was great, because by the time New Year's came around, the kids were ready to appreciate new things.
This year, I saw someone mention online that their children actually open the majority of their gifts on Epiphany, and I was like, "Dingdingding! We have a winner!"
Epiphany is also known as Three Kings Day. It's the Twelfth Day of Christmas (as in the famous song of the twelve days), and it is a celebration of both Jesus' baptism and the Magi's visit to the newborn Jesus in Bethlehem with their well-known gifts.
I mean, it's the day that Jesus got his gifts! How appropriate.
So I set aside a couple of presents for each kid for Epiphany. They know they will get something on Epiphany, which makes them excited all over again, rather than let down that all the excitement is over.
You could also do some gifts on Christmas Eve and the rest on Christmas Day, but I think a longer period in between is better.
However you split it up, it will lessen the chaos on the actual day of Christmas and hopefully result in kids that appreciate what they get a little more.
One caveat here: This should not become an expectation that you or family members will buy more gifts for the additional gift-opening day. That kind of defeats the point. It's just an opportunity to split up what you already have and spread out the fun.
We've been doing something similar to this since our oldest was born 20 years ago. The kids get three gifts on St Nicholas Day (to recall the three bags of gold he gave to the three daughters), and we put up the tree and decorate on that day as well. Christmas Day is stockings--and we wrap just about everything in those stockings and the kids stretch out the unwrapping over the course of the day. Epiphany is three presents and a big dinner.
ReplyDeleteThis year when I was picking up chocolate coins for St Nicholas Day, the checker asked me what I DO with those, and I ended up telling her how we celebrate. She seemed concerned that our kids would be jealous of the kids who get to open tons of presents ON Christmas, and I pointed out that they actually do get six presents plus a stocking--and because the giving is spread out across a month (one child has a birthday in there as well), they don't have the "one day glut" that both my husband and I remember from our childhood. You know the feeling of anticipating this wonderful day of presents, and you open them all by 10 am and it's over? By the time Epiphany rolls around, they're excited and pleased, but also ready for the season to wind down. It works out pretty well.
samcarter: Yes! That sounds perfect. Any method of spreading it out is great. St. Nicolas Day is a good way to do it, too, although I find it easier to do the other gift-giving day after Christmas Day because then I have all the gifts family members send. For our children, that's the majority of their gifts.
ReplyDeleteYes to all of these. We've done different things over the years. We always unwrap presents Christmas Eve morning so we can have a "morning in pjs" unwrapping event; we only unwrap one gift at a time so everybody can see everybody else's gifts. Then after church on Christmas day, we unwrap Stocking presents; this what I would call our frenzied free-for-all unwrapping time. In the past, we've opened one family gift on each day of Christmas (usually a move or book or unusual food treat). This year we are saving one gift to open until the USPS delivers the final gifts (which have been stuck in the postal service's black hole since December 12 with no further tracking).
ReplyDeleteOne year when I asked my kids what they wanted for Christmas they had no good answer. They had outgrown the want of new toys but hadn't hit expensive teen years. I refuse to buy things they do not want or need just to have something under the tree, and we do not have extended family sending gifts. It was decided that we would give them money to spend how they wished (I promised not to judge the choices), but that left the potential of a very dull Christmas morning.
ReplyDeleteI decided to wrap everything I bought that month and put it under the tree: toothpaste, dish sour, new broom, garbage bags, ketchup etc.,. There was a pile of presents taller than my kids (it help to put dish soap in a shoe box and stand it on end). I made sure everyone had at least one favorite treat in there and we took turns picking out something to open. It was surprisingly fun, everyone was able to open many gifts, and we used everything that was under the tree.
There were stockings that were tailored to preferences for each person. My son got a can of black olives just for him and was filled with joy.
We still do this now that they are young adults on their own, however the dish soap and laundry detergent are more likely to go home with them :)
We did that this year only we started a week or two before Christmas. Our son has autism and the anticipation, excitement, and anxiety of waiting for Christmas triggers major meltdowns in the weeks leading up to Christmas Day. So we and extended family spread out the gift giving. It worked well, still a few meltdowns but not nearly as bad.
ReplyDeleteJulia: Perfect. So glad that worked for you.
ReplyDeleteWe do "12 days of Christmas" when it comes to presents. Sometimes there are more than 12 a person (we have very generous family and friends), sometimes less. Everyone opens one present a day (starting with Christmas day) and stockings count as 1 present as well and we usually pick a day to open them all together. On other days everyone picks their present to open and there is lot of fun in picking which one as well as being able to play with whatever is inside immediately.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous: That's an interesting tradition. Definitely spreads it out quite a bit.
ReplyDelete