Who Did Your Christmas Presents Come From?

[nolechica]

I got gifts from both, but parents did stockings, as little gifts from family were sometimes included.  Santa seemed to bring stuff my parents didn't want to wrap (bike, scooter, beanbag chair, tennis racket, etc.).

[wrenskibaby]

We had wrapped gifts from parents, siblings, aunts and uncles and grandparents under the tree.  Santa came on Christmas Eve night and left unwrapped gifts and filled our stockings.  On Christmas morning came the opening of gifts!

OP, would you two be able to compromise by having some wrapped gifts ahead of time under the tree, and some left under the tree by Santa on Christmas Eve, and perhaps stockings too?

I've never heard of anyone having gifts from Santa only.  It's a new one for me and one of the reasons I enjoy this forum, because I get to learn so much about other families.

[alohomora]

My parents did some gifts from them and some from Santa.  I think they used to try to have the big gifts, like bikes and whatnot, be from Santa, until my brothers started expecting new bikes every year.  Then they explained that they were actually buying the bikes and large gifts because Santa couldn't carry those.     So they let my brothers know that they couldn't afford to buy them new bikes every year. 

Slightly OT, the year when I was about 15 and my brothers were about 11 and 12 (well past the Santa years), my mom decided to take us Christmas shopping for our gifts.  She had us pick out what we wanted (within certain price limits) and then we went home and wrapped them.   It made for a very anticlimactic and subdued Christmas because we already knew what we had... we just had to open it.   

[TychaBrahe]

Well, we had Hanukkah presents.  But they came from George Washington.

On my parents' first holiday, my father gave my mother presents and signed them G.W., short for "Guess Who."  "Oh," my mother supposedly said, "George Washington sent me a present!" 

And forever after, presents came from George Washington.

As an aside, our conservative congregation purchased a synagogue from a reformed congregation.  Set in the ceiling are stained glass windows of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  My mother hates them, but I love them. 

[SweetTinkerbelle]

Santa gave toys, parents gave clothes...as we got older, the toys became less and the clothes became more so Santa was "phased out" the older we got

[tbroom]

We always got presents from both, and thats what we did with our kids until a few years ago. Now they are from random people. Sometimes who they are from are tied in with what the presents are, sometimes not. We started doing it so they would take the time to see who it was from, and now they look forward to seeing who brought them presents.

[CG]

Slightly OT, the year when I was about 15 and my brothers were about 11 and 12 (well past the Santa years), my mom decided to take us Christmas shopping for our gifts.  She had us pick out what we wanted (within certain price limits) and then we went home and wrapped them.   It made for a very anticlimactic and subdued Christmas because we already knew what we had... we just had to open it.   

Hehehehe. This happens in our family. Mom calls me, normally Thanksgiving evening, occasionally the morning of Black Friday, and says "Go get your Christmas present."

This year, she asked me if I was going to wrap it and bring it down with me to my grandparents' house even though I've already opened it (yay powertools!).

[Joannie81]

When SIL and I were pregnant at the same time, she bought 2 nice maternity sweaters.  One in a pink print and one in a blue print.  She hated wrapping and gave me the pink one to wrap for SIL and the blue one to SIL to wrap for me.  We kind of figured out that we each got the same thing, but didn't say anything to her.  We loved the sweaters and the expression on her face when she saw that we did, so it was still a fun experience.

[KenveeB]

Slightly OT, the year when I was about 15 and my brothers were about 11 and 12 (well past the Santa years), my mom decided to take us Christmas shopping for our gifts.  She had us pick out what we wanted (within certain price limits) and then we went home and wrapped them.   It made for a very anticlimactic and subdued Christmas because we already knew what we had... we just had to open it.   

Hehehehe. This happens in our family. Mom calls me, normally Thanksgiving evening, occasionally the morning of Black Friday, and says "Go get your Christmas present."

This year, she asked me if I was going to wrap it and bring it down with me to my grandparents' house even though I've already opened it (yay powertools!).

Mom and I always go to Hobby Lobby on Black Friday.  While we were there this year, she had me pick out a few little things in the scrapbook aisles for my stocking.

[alohomora]

Slightly OT, the year when I was about 15 and my brothers were about 11 and 12 (well past the Santa years), my mom decided to take us Christmas shopping for our gifts.  She had us pick out what we wanted (within certain price limits) and then we went home and wrapped them.   It made for a very anticlimactic and subdued Christmas because we already knew what we had... we just had to open it.   

Hehehehe. This happens in our family. Mom calls me, normally Thanksgiving evening, occasionally the morning of Black Friday, and says "Go get your Christmas present."

This year, she asked me if I was going to wrap it and bring it down with me to my grandparents' house even though I've already opened it (yay powertools!).

Yeah, my mom still does this now, but I guess it feels a little different now that I'm an adult.     When she did it all those years ago when we were still young it just felt too... practical, you know.      My brothers and I had a conversation about it a few days after the shopping trip and we all agreed that we were grateful that mom was able to get us gifts, but we felt like she had kind of taken the "magic" out of the gift giving.  No excited guesses about what's under the tree... no shaking the box to figure out what might be in there... just waiting till Christmas day so we can claim our stuff. 

We knew we sounded ungrateful and felt bad about that.  We never told our mom about how we felt, though.  It was one of those "purely between the kids" type of conversations.   

[kymom3]

I will admit right away that my bro, sis, and I are very spoiled.  Even now, my sis and I in our forties, and our bro older, we still get presents from mom, presents from dad, presents from Santa and presents from Mrs. Claus.  Yes, our parents are married to each other, but they have always done this.  My dad does his own shopping, and is able to pick out clothes I like better than mom can.

My children get presents from Santa, presents from their dad and I and presents from our dogs and cat.

[NOVA Lady]

Well, I was little in Russia, so we celebrated New Years like Christmas is celebrated here (expect it was completely secular). We had a tree and Santa was called "Grandpa Frost".

But all my gifts came from real people, my parnts never lied to me about fictional creatures (the tooth fairy, santa, and so on). I think that is what I would do if I were going to have children. I'm glad they didn't lie to me.

[Evil Duckie]

I guess other would be the best for us.

As parents we give presents and used to have a few from Santa. We also buy or make presents for each other.

For a young child this teaches them how to give to others in a controlled situation. I remember taking the boys when they were little shopping for each other. While I did pay for them they had to pick out the gift with in the price limit they had. Sometimes they actually made their gifts instead.

Now that they are almost grown Santa doesn't come here. They still look forward making or buying their gifts for everyone.

They also do things for others as well.

[Wonderflonium]

OP, would you two be able to compromise by having some wrapped gifts ahead of time under the tree, and some left under the tree by Santa on Christmas Eve, and perhaps stockings too?

I'm afraid he wouldn't see that as a compromise, because that's what I want (because it's what I had growing up).  Luckily, we have plenty of time.

I'd also never heard of presents from Santa only. He swears he never talked about who gave what to him with his friends, but I'd be scared that if all our daughter's (we both want a girl *LOL*) presents came from Santa and her friends had presents from Santa AND their parents that she would wonder why we didn't bother to get her anything.

[HushHush]

We got presents from Santa, Mrs. Claus and the elves in addition to our parents, maternal grandparents and siblings.  It wasn't until I was a teenager that I figured out that the presents marked as from Mrs. Claus and the elves were wrapped and labelled by my grandmother and she mailed them down with their Christmas gifts. Not everthing was wrapped.  Our stocking was usually sitting on a chair/couch with presents next to it and about half were wrapped and half weren't.