Did you open your gifts of Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning? Mine Christmas morning.

[debm55]

[Ocelot II]

1. Christmas morning, of course.

Otherwise, when would Santa Claus have a chance to deliver the presents?

[debm55]

2. HAHHAHHAHH. thank you Ocelot II

[woodsprite]

3. We were allowed to open one present Christmas Eve.

The rest, plus “Santa’s” gifts, were opened Christmas morning. The rule was we had to wait on the stairs until everyone was ready to go into the living room. Later we went to kids could go down but only open their stockings until the adults got downstairs.

And did you all take turns opening, go round robin, or everyone opens them all at once?

[debm55]

5. thank you woodsprite. Everyone opened at once.

[Aristus]

43. We had the one present on Christmas Eve tradition, too.

When we were little kids, we just jumped in and ripped open our gifts. But as we got older, we all took turns opening our gifts, so we could share the enjoyment of finding out what everyone got.

[debm55]

44. Thank you Aristus. That is a very good tradition.

[chowder66]

55. Did we grow up in the same house?

[EYESORE 9001]

4. Christmas Eve

My parents reasoned that we would play with new toys until bedtime, then sleep until a reasonable hour on Christmas morning.

[debm55]

6. Thank you EYESORE 9001 , Thank makes sense.

[FakeNoose]

7. We usually had our family get-togethers on Christmas Eve

... and that's when we exchanged gifts with relatives. I'm from a large family and now my siblings are spread out all over the country. so it's hard to do the Christmas Eve family parties anymore. But back when we were kids (in the 50's, 60's and early 70's), that's what we did.

On Christmas morning we kiddies got up early to see what Santa left us under the Christmas tree. Those were our gifts from our parents.

[debm55]

8. Thank you very much, FakeNoose.

[wcmagumba]

9. Christmas Eve with a catch, we had to go to bed for a few hours (couldn't sleep a wink) and parents "woke" us...

in the middle of the night after Santa had visited...so we got our gifts from family and from Santa at the same time, maybe 3 AM or so...weird but that's how it was at our place...Cheers

[debm55]

10. Thank you very much wcmagumba. That is a neat idea.

[wcmagumba]

66. I remember at least one year, dad climbed on the roof and made a bunch of racket like Santa and reindeer...

funny, but scary for us kiddies at the time, pretending to sleep...

[redstatebluegirl]

11. Christmas Morning!

It has been an item of contention for over thirty years with my spouse. Bless his heart he wants to open presents Christmas Eve, never happened. Happy wife, happy life!

[debm55]

15. Thank you very much. redstatebluegirl

[TexasBushwhacker]

12. From Santa - Christmas morning

Christmas Eve we went to my aunt & uncle on my mother's side of the family.

[debm55]

16. Thank you very much TexasBushwhacker.

[House of Roberts]

13. Christmas morning, regardless of how early that was (3,4am).

Mom didn't wrap our 'Santa' gifts, just set them out in front of the tree, after we were asleep for sure.
One year, when I was seven or younger, my mom got me this three level parking garage/gas station thing which was made with painted sheet metal. It had a number of small cars with it, as well as little gas pumps and other accessories. She started trying to assemble the blasted thing after I went to bed, and couldn't do it. She had to call my Uncle Ivan, her brother, who was a car mechanic, to come over and help her get it together. Together, they were able to line up all the little metal tabs into the slots and bend them so it held together like it was meant to. Nowadays that kind of toy wouldn't be sold because some of the edges were sharp and most of the small items would be swallowable. I don't recall having any trouble playing with it though.

[debm55]

18. Thank you House of Roberts. I had a metal gas station where the cars went down a curved slide from the upper floor

[malthaussen]

23. I had that one, too! A Texaco station, IIRC. n/t

[debm55]

24. Thanks malthaussen. I don't remember the name of the station , but it did have this thing where the car would be pulled

up to the top floor, "fixed" and came down the slide.

[Diamond_Dog]

27. I had one of those,too! It was a Texaco station.

My father thought it was weird for a girl to want a toy gas station.

[debm55]

32. I am a girl and I loved playing with it, Thank you Diamond_Dog

[electric_blue68]

47. Those were those days back then. My "boy" toys were....

Lincoln logs, Tinker toys, legos, wooden toy trains. Waaay back in the late '50s, early '60s these were boys' toys as far I could tell . Later years you'd see some ads w girls playing, too.

Luckily my parents had no problems w this! 🩷👍

My girlie things were some fashion trending clothes I wanted, and jewelry!

[debm55]

52. Agree. I am from the same time period. I did have Barbie and Baby dolls too.

[electric_blue68]

53. I had no interest in baby dolls, or much in Barbie. My sis had a Barbie.

[XanaDUer2]

14. Morning as a kid

Midnight as an adult

[debm55]

19. Thank you XanaDUer2, We have always done in the morning even as adults. I was always PO as a kid as we had to go to

Mass. then to my Grandmothers house, Hard for a little kid to wait.

[XanaDUer2]

21. Wed go to Mass, too

Always nice to see the decorated church

[debm55]

25. In 8th grade I sand in the midnight mass choir. The church was beautiful and they had the part where the lights were

turned off and candles were light and held by the folks.

[pandr32]

17. Xmas morning!

The night before was spent excitedly and ended with a reading of the Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

[debm55]

20. Thank you very much pandr32. Sounds like a good time.

[malthaussen]

22. My brother's birthday was Christmas Eve.

Because he got to open his birthday presents on Christmas Eve, a whiny little brat who shall go unnamed insisted he should get to open his then, too. So the family adopted the practice of opening one gift on Christmas Eve and the rest Christmas Day.

-- Mal

[debm55]

26. HAHAHAHAH, thank you Mal

[Kaleva]

28. Xmas morning. Long johns, socks and mitts were the usual presents

With one or two cheap toys

[debm55]

30. Thank you, Kaleva

[lkinwi]

29. Growing up, we opened gifts from relatives on Christmas Eve.

Gifts from Santa were Christmas morning.

[debm55]

31. Thank you ikinwi That sounds great,

[Different Drummer]

33. Christmas morning. (nt)

[rsdsharp]

34. Always, and only, Christmas morning. It was early in the morning, usually 5:30-6:00,

and we always had to eat a banana and drink a glass of milk. That started when my older brother — who passed away a week ago today 🥲 — was about 2. Mom was afraid he’d be too exited later to eat breakfast. That became a tradition I followed into adulthood. Sadly, I can no longer eat bananas.

[debm55]

35. rsdsharp, May the memories of your brother be a blessing to you. I like the tradition of eating a lite breakfast before

the gifts.

[rsdsharp]

36. Thank you Deb.

[electric_blue68]

48. So sorry.

[rsdsharp]

50. Thank you.

[justaprogressive]

37. We got to open 1 present

Christmas Eve...Mom would Santa our stockings on the foot of our beds at 4AM...thanks mom!

[debm55]

38. Thank you justaprogressive. That was so nice of your mom.

[catbyte]

39. Christmas morning with my mom's folks, Christmas afternoon with my dad's family, then

one final gift Christmas night when we got home from a long day.

[debm55]

41. We had a long day like that too.Were you able to take one toy with you when you visited?

[rurallib]

40. Christmas Eve and then we after we were all in school

we had to stay up to go to midnight mass

[debm55]

42. Same here. My school had a choir in 8th grade where we sang at Mass

[rurallib]

58. I've got a story from 7th grade midnight mass that is pretty bad

[marked50]

45. Does earlier than Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning count?

Once I discovered where the presents were hidden before they were wrapped then Christmas Surprise was never the same.

[debm55]

46. That's sad.My cousin told me where they were hidden, But I thought that was where Santa put them before he took them

into the living room.

[electric_blue68]

49. Always the morning. I don't think we ever opened 1 present Christmas Eve. All at once....

We'd hold up what we opened.

We often then went to one of several Aunt's, Uncle's & cousins houses; usually
one of the two that lived in Northern NJ. Our 1 set of relatives in NYC rarely held extended family Xmas.

Had a lot of fun!

[debm55]

59. Thank you electric_blue68

[liberal N proud]

51. Gift exchange was always Christmas Eve

Kids gifts were always Christmas Morning
Santa on Christmas morning

[debm55]

60. Thank you very much liberal N proud

[Mark.b2]

54. We'd go to Christmas Eve service...

then come home to my mom’s Minnesota wild rice cream soup and open gifts. We’d stay up until the wee hours of the morning. Christmas Day was sleeping in late and pretty much staying in pjs all day playing with our toys while my mom was taking down the tree. Such great memories!

I’ve kept the same traditions with my family to this day.

[debm55]

61. It sounds wounderful. Thank you very much Mark.b2

[patphil]

56. Both.

We traditionally have a gathering of the extended family on Christmas Eve, and gifts are exchanged among us. This is done to allow families with small children to have Christmas morning after Santa has brought presents for the kids in their own homes.
And, on Christmas morning we exchange gifts among immediate family members.

[debm55]

64. Thank you very much patphil . That sounds like a very good set up for all

[lark]

57. Christmas morning. The whole family comes over and we distribute presents & unwrap.

We have lots of treats that we snack on and have some "elevated" coffee as well. The house is all decorated, all the candles lit, and Christmas songs are playing. It's a good time for all, usually.

[debm55]

62. Thank you very much lark and enjoy.

[Emile]

63. We open our gifts with our grandchildren on Christmas Eve.

The grandkids open their presents (from Mom and Dad) on Christmas morning.

[debm55]

65. Thank you very much Emile

[Luciferous]

67. We had to wait until Christmas morning.

I let my kids pick one they could open on Christmas Eve.

[Rebl2]

68. As a child

we got to open one on Christmas Eve and the rest on Christmas Day.

[sakabatou]

69. If I were Christian, it would be Christmas morning (12/25).