Santa poll

squirrly

When you were little (or still now, depending on your family dynamics), did Santa wrap your gifts?  Were they under the tree?  Please share the Santa dynamic in your home.

L-Bride

No, the elves wrapped my gifts at the North Pole and I would see them under the tree Christmas morning!

I was very "into" Santa and pretty much had a nervous breakdown when I found out he wasn't real.

Beachy730

Santa always wrapped our gifts, and would put gift tags on them that either said my brother or I's names, and in the from: it just said Santa.  I remember coming home from college to see gifts under our tree from "Santa," and it wasn't for kids in our family since my brother is older than me.  When we laughed at my mom for it she said "if there's no Santa gifts then there are less gifts."  Haha, so we dealt with Santa.  She stopped doing it a while ago, but she recently started again on a few gifts since we have my little cousins next door who are 3 and 5 and are over constantly, so she wants them to think Santa comes to our house too.

sarah0725

Santa wasn't really that big of an issue in our house. All of our presents had the "To:" filled in but not the "From:" and I think I remember leaving out milk and cookies and carrots for the reindeer once, but I don't really ever remember fervently believing in Santa Claus, and I don't really remember a catastrophic moment when I stopped believing either.

I asked my parents about this, and they said they didn't want to lie to us, so they just sort of omitted it and let us draw our own conclusions.

I'm kind of torn about what to do with future kids. I don't really care about making them believe in Santa, and I don't want them to have a crisis of faith about it, but I also don't want them to be the kind of asshole kids who go around telling other kids that Santa doesn't exist. So I dunno.

Loopyseven

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_santa-poll?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:e95d1635-417c-4d01-97d1-40b9feb33197Post:11da3870-c371-4755-a45e-470f56526999">Santa poll</a>:
[QUOTE]When you were little (or still now, depending on your family dynamics), did Santa wrap your gifts?  Were they under the tree?  Please share the Santa dynamic in your home.
Posted by squirrly[/QUOTE]

<div>Santa gifts in our house were not usually wrapped, they were usually just 1 bigger item that was left unwrapped under the tree. I got a 19" TV one year when I was in college, a barbie play house (the cardboard'ish one with 3 stories and the plastic elevator :)) all set up under the tree when I was a kid, etc.   Nowadays, "Santa" stuffs a stocking for me at my parents house,  but my dad wraps up a bunch of stuff from 'John' for my mom, and a bunch of stuff from 'Santa' for my mom.  It's kind of cute, and kind of rediculous LOL.</div>

baystateapple

Santa wrapped the gifts and wrote out the tags, until I noticed that "Santa" and Mom had the same handwriting.  The following year, my mom brought the tags to work and had a coworker sign them all, to throw me off.  She still laughs about it.

Mrs.B6302007

mom and dad would wrap some ahead of time and then Santa always left a few unwrapped on Christmas morning

kcscejal

Santa did not wrap our gifts or put them under the tree.  There were three of us, and we each had a couch cushion where all of our stuff would be piled with our stocking.  The tree was full of all the other wrapped presents.  In the center of the living room we'd usually have some sort of family present like a board game or a trampoline.  We'd get to use the stuff from Santa right away, but we had to wait until after breakfast to open up the other presents.  My parents still do santa, but now it's just filling our stocking and then a couple little things around it.

mica178

I think Santa gifts were wrapped.  Except for bicycles, which just would have a bow.  And Santa gifts were not put under the tree until Christmas, that much I do remember.

Loopyseven

We did the milk and cookies thing too for a long time.  One year when I was about 6 or 7, my dad's whole side of the family came and my fun uncle (the bachelor one who had no idea what was and wasn't appropriate for kids ages 4 to 8) climbed on the roof and made reindeer prints in the snow and scattered carrot bits around from where the reindeer waited while Santa was in the house.  We were all young enough yet to be like "OMG - he's real".

FutureMrsFezz

Santa wrapped gifts and made tags.  Santas gifts were always just wrapped in plan red wrapping paper (I have no clue why.)  My moms were always wrapped in a different Christmas-y type paper. 

My mom STILL wraps presents for me and writes from: Santa.  She doesn't do the whole different paper anymore though.  She's funny.

ETA- My sister and I also left cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.  I played along for a few years after I figured it out because my sister is 4 years younger than me.

arbolita

Gifts from Santa were always wrapped. 

My parents still toss in a gift or two from "Santa" under the tree.  We also get them from the pets and various tv/movie/book characters.  My parents, specifically my mom, really gets into gift-giving on Christmas.

emilyinchile

Santa wrapped the gifts and put his name on the gift tag, and they were mixed in under the tree with presents from my parents and the dog. Yes, my dog got me Christmas presents.

louisvillebride21

It blows my mind that some of you didn't have gifts wrapped by santa (or elves). I don't know why it does, but yeah. I thought he wrapped everyone's gifts. Lazy bastardd!

mica178

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_santa-poll?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:e95d1635-417c-4d01-97d1-40b9feb33197Post:50e225fd-5009-420a-ad5f-13a90a21c89b">Re: Santa poll</a>:
[QUOTE]We did the milk and cookies thing too for a long time.  One year when I was about 6 or 7, my dad's whole side of the family came and my fun uncle (the bachelor one who had no idea what was and wasn't appropriate for kids ages 4 to 8) climbed on the roof and made reindeer prints in the snow and scattered carrot bits around from where the reindeer waited while Santa was in the house.  We were all young enough yet to be like "OMG - he's real".
Posted by Loopyseven[/QUOTE]<div>
</div><div>That is so cute.</div>

kcscejal

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_santa-poll?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:e95d1635-417c-4d01-97d1-40b9feb33197Post:50e225fd-5009-420a-ad5f-13a90a21c89b">Re: Santa poll</a>:
[QUOTE]We did the milk and cookies thing too for a long time.  One year when I was about 6 or 7, my dad's whole side of the family came and my fun uncle (the bachelor one who had no idea what was and wasn't appropriate for kids ages 4 to 8) climbed on the roof and made reindeer prints in the snow and scattered carrot bits around from where the reindeer waited while Santa was in the house.  We were all young enough yet to be like "OMG - he's real".
Posted by Loopyseven[/QUOTE]
My parents had us do cookies and Diet Coke because they don't like milk.  We didn't have a fireplace, so they put sleigh marks and reindeer prints in the snow outside of our house.

strlzfan11

Everything was from Santa in our house.  A friend of mine & her husband give their daughter presents that are specifically from mom & dad that are wrapped and placed under the tree once purchased.  Her Santa gift (which is usually something big & expensive) is left unwrapped in the middle of the room on Christmas morning.  I like the idea of having the big gift being from Santa with a variety of other gifts from mom & dad.

squirrly

We each get a stocking full of assorted stuff.  Toiletries, candy, ink pens, spices. . . mostly things you can get at the grocery. 

Then, we used to get a big SANTA gift beside our stocking, unwrapped.  The presents under the tree were from people, although now sometimes they're from the dogs. 

salt78

The elves wrap the gifts, but Santa signs the tag.

I still sign the tag "Santa" for gifts for H because I am a big dork.

L-Bride

This thread makes me want to have kids so I can play Santa. Love that guy.

Beachy730

Yeah when we were young my parents used to leave "reindoor poop" on the porch, and fake snow footprints on the floor.  They were pretty awesome about making it real for us. 

opalsky007

Gifts from family were under the tree as soon as they were wrapped. Then on Christmas, Santa came and filled our stockings and left gifts wrapped in special Santa paper under the tree.

We were allowed to open gifts from Santa as soon as everyone was awake. Gifts from family had to wait until we'd eaten Mom's coffee cake for breakfast.

crfische

I am 30 years old, my older brother is 32, and always, ALWAYS has santa come to our house. Still does.

We always got special christmas eve pajamas and read Silver Spurs and the Night Before Christmas.

We put out milk and cookies the night before and also carrots for the reindeer. Then, and now, Santa writes us a letter every year. We have always and still get Santa presents. We have a Santa train that has come every year as long as I can remember and it always has little bottle of coke, envelopes for each kid (couple now), and directions about what Santa presents belong to who.

The santa gifts are wrapped in different paper than the rest of the presents and are always covered in white lights.

Our stockings always get filled with awesome stuff. Whenever a new family member or animals comes into the picture, Santa will give them a special delivery gift that is a stocking with their name on it and filled with good stuff with specific instructions to leave it out at my mom's house every Christmas Eve.

When we were kids, they would go out and make sleigh tracks and put the half eaten carrots in the yard.

We used to get hot apple cider christmas morning, now it's mimosas.

Then we go one by one youngest to oldest to open gifts. It takes hours. Hours.

Christmas rocks.

danieliza1127

Our gifts were always wrapped.  It's a tradition that I help my Mom wrap all of the gifts, and I remember that from even when I was a little girl.  One time she left me alone with the gifts and I peeked and saw a little pink purse that I was getting.  I think I was 7 or 8. 

I don't remember ever believing in Santa Claus.  I have 3 older brothers and my Mom said maybe that's why.  I don't know, I have early memories of my parents buying our gifts and they all tell stories of me being a tattle and telling the boys what they were getting, so I don't know if I ever really believed in Santa or not.

squirrly

Everybody opens all their gifts one person at a time, Christy?  Or in rounds?  Is the littlest kid out of presents to open for the remaining 6 hours and just playing with their new stuff?

crfische

Oh no, rotating. Youngest opens one, then next opens one, then so on and so forth.
Family presents!


Stockings:


Santa Train! The bags with candy canes and presents in the back covered with lights are from santa, too.

[Deleted User]

Santa still wraps presents, and they are always waiting for us by our stockings Christmas morning at my parents house :-)  It's the best.  I'll be 25 by Christmas.  Hehe.  (Granted, I am the oldest of my siblings, and my brother is still in grade 12.  But I have a feeling my parents will keep doing this for awhile)

Our little gifts are stuffed in our stockings, and we usually get one bigger gift wrapped sitting beside the stocking.  Then our parents also have the biggest gift waiting for us under the tree in the weeks before from them, not Santa ;-)

L-Bride

Holy sheet Fish.

Beachy730

Fish I think you just put all of our Christmases to shame!

[Deleted User]

We also go one by one opening our gifts   We sit in the same place in the living room every year and decide who's present we should open first and, one at a time, each open the present from that person.

[Deleted User]

Fish that is an AWESOME stack of presents!!!