Santa "Poll" How Do You "Incorporate" Santa in Your House??

I like having presents under the tree as well. I wrap everything from mom and dad except one present from Santa that doesn't show up until the morning of Christmas plus the stockings stay empty until then. I always thought Santa only had enough elves to make one present for each kid in the world...... although he seems to stop by my grandma's and leave presents there as well =)

Like my parents, we original labeled all presents "from Santa" and they all magically appeared Christmas morning. Well, when my son was 4 or 5, he asked why WE didn't get him ANYTHING! So, now we get him most of his gifts. They say they are from Mom and Dad, and we put them out (unless they are fragile) as they are wrapped.

Santa's gifts (and they usually include the boring stuff like pajamas) still magically appear Christmas morning.

Have a great Christmas!

Wrapped gifts under the tree are from us, and what the kids pick out for each other. Kids need to know it's a season when we get each other presents too, and they love picking out things for mom or dad or each other... it can't all be just about what Santa brings, otherwise you are only teaching them about receiving, and not the joy of giving.

On Christmas Eve, we sneak and add in Santa's gifts, mostly unwrapped and displayed in fun ways. Santa also fills the stockings.

I find that, if gifts are labeled as "From Santa" throughout the month of December, then that defeats the purpose of him coming down the chimney and eating cookies we leave out of Christmas Eve!

Also, we put gifts under the tree during December too (so do most people I know), but it's hard with young kids who want to open them, so maybe your friends are waiting till the kids are older.

We put presents under the tree as soon as it is up and decorated and we have presents to wrap- the presents for other people. I have always wrapped "Santa's" presents in different wrapping paper but I have never specifically put "from Santa" on it, I just put my daughters name in pretty handwritting with a marker on the wrapping paper- one year I used cute reindeer paper and I made it look like they were pulling her name on a banner. I also hold some of her gifts back from us and wait to put them out on Christmas Eve and those I mark "from Mom and Dad" or "love (heart) Mom and Dad". Just a couple of days ago she realized Santa, the Easter Bunny and the tooth fairy are not real, it's just us buying the presents and I take her teeth, etc. She was very upset but she still wrote and mailed a letter to santa so I'm not sure if we are going to have any santa presents this year or not. She is 7 and in 2nd grade.

I wrap presents from us to other family members (those outside of our home) and place under the tree until we deliver them (or the family members visit and we give them here).

For our immediate family (me, hubby, and kids), we wrap some from us and some from Santa...all which get put out after kids are asleep on Christmas Eve. I always wrap at least one gift from my son to my daughter and vice versa. At least one from the kids to my hubby, as well as one from me to hubby.

After my son first asked if Santa was real, I was also careful to have some "Santa" paper that he had not seen and used it to wrap anything that was labeled from Santa.

That incorporates both from us and from Santa as well as allowing some to be placed under the tree for a while before Christmas Eve & Christmas Day.

My husband grew up like yours ~ every gift was from Santa. I grew up that the gifts were from my parents & were under the tree for a while. We decided that the gifts would be from us & be put out whenever I had the time to buy them & finish wrapping them! A "big" gift & the stocking are there on Christmas a.m. Our girls ask Santa for 3 things knowing they'll get 1 (sometimes the items are so big they won't fit in his sleigh or fit down the chimney ~ i.e. 1 item our daughter asked for a few years ago was a horse!). Good luck & have fun making memories for your children. (o:

We usually wait until maybe the week of to put out gifts from us and to others - just to avoid them being picked up, shaken and otherwise handled so that the wrapping begins to tear. If I didn't have that worry then I would put them out sooner - I enjoy seeing them under the tree! Santa's gifts are wrapped in different paper, labled from Santa and placed out Christmas Eve after the kiddos have fallen asleep; stockings for them and mommy and daddy are filled then, too. After reading some of the other posts though, I may stop doing the labels from Santa (I print them on the computer just in case my handwriting would be recognized!) This year I may just let the different paper and placement be what shows they're from Santa.

I can't wait to see my kids faces Christmas morning!!! DD will be 3 in Jan and I think she's going to get a much bigger kick out of it this year. And DS, age 7, gets so excited - I don't know how much longer that will last...

Also, there's only 1 present from Santa for each (not incl stocking). Though it may be a couple of related items in the one package - for example there might be a zhu zhu pet playset and extra pets in that one package.

I love Christmas - it's such a wonderful time and getting to spend the extra time with my family is priceless! Happy Holidays!!!

Gifts under Nana's tree are there Xmas eve and those are from aunts and uncles and are for everyone (and, given that nana had 6 sons, 4 of whom have gotten married and each had two kids, there are a heck of a lot of presents under that tree!)

We are raising our kids Jewish, but Santa comes to our house because Daddy grew up with Santa and we celebrate a different holiday with Daddy and his family. So we set up an Xmas tree _just_ for Santa. It goes up on the 24th, and we decorate, then some presents under the tree are from us and some are from Santa (with different paper of course). Honestly, even though we do it for different reasons, I really like the "short lived" tree. It seems really magical when it's only around for a little while.

I know you probably won't do it that way, just wanted to toss a whole other idea out there! Have good holidays!

We would put the gifts us as a family were going to give to people under the tree, its NICE seeing presents under here Before the 'big day' lol Then X-mas eve after we went to bed my mom would remove All those gifts and replace them with ours :-) She would Always wrap Santas gifts in different wrapping paper from the gifts from her and my dad. Our stocking were always from santa and everything in there was wrapped as well.

Merry Christmas :-) lol

Though my husband and I both grew up with "Santa," we've chosen not to incorporate that with our kids. We do celebrate St. Nicholas day on Dec.6, when everyone finds something *small* and unexpected hidden in/on our still relatively bare tree (it doesn't get ornaments until 3rd Sunday in Advent). We've also talked a lot about who the real St. Nicholas was and what he did.

We used to put gifts under the tree ahead of time, but with an inside dog, and now 3 cats, too, that is out. We usually wrap and put them out on Christmas Eve after midnight worship. If there is a bulky gift, that usually gets left unwrapped (i.e. last year's dollhouse). We also only get the kids 2-3 gifts - an outfit and/or socks/undies, book(s) and/or a toy (preferably one without batteries or plug-ins). Our parents and my grandmother are another story - they all go way overboard with gifts and "stuff" and talk *a lot* about Santa - and our kids just stare at them.

Santa only comes into play in that it's talked about at school, in cartoons, or on Christmas "stuff." There's never really been any idea of him being a real person, making and sending Christmas lists, etc. It's sort of like the Easter bunny at Easter - just an imaginary someone completely removed from our Christian understanding and celebration of the season. (BTW, my family is not religious at all, thus their pushing of Santa over Christ.) Hope this helps.

Growing up gifts were placed under the tree throughout the season. Santa gifts were placed by my mom after everyone went to bed. There were only one two of these after all sant can not fill his sleigh with gift for just one family. They were wrapped in different paper and said from santa. Our stockings were filled and hung or sat on the couch (if the hanger would not hold them).
In my husbands house it was similar except that santa brought more.
While we do not really do or not do santa (a whole different conversation) stockings are filled after our littles go to bed and if there is a santa gift it is placed under the tree that night. We have incorperated our traditions into this but it deals more with the type of things in the stocking and how things are done.
One other tidbit is I dont think that santa shold get the credit for the really cool gift after all he only comes once a year and you are around a whole lot more. Why not get the credit.

Non santa gifts are put out whenever they are done being wrapped. Santa gifts are put out when the kids are asleep on Christmas Eve. Growing up, we would open our gift from mom and dad and siblings on Christmas Eve, so they wouldn't get "lost" with everything santa brought on Christmas. Everything is wrapped unless it is a big item.

We have also started to think about what we want to tell our son. My sister celebrates St. Nick, they still do presents but they don't do the whole Santa, North Pole thing. I kinda like that idea. Not sure what my hubby thinks yet. He's really too young to understand one way or another, but we need to figure it out by next year for sure, he'll be three.

Good luck!

Growing up, there was nothing under the tree until Christmas morning. All the gifts were wrapped, with some labeled from Santa and the rest from Mom & Dad. Now with our son, any gifts for other family and friends get wrapped and put under the tree (making sure that our son knows that they are not for him.) I like to have something under the tree. As for our gifts, they go out Christmas Eve so that they are there when he wakes up. We have been following my husband's family tradition of not wrapping the gifts from Santa, while wrapping the rest.

When I was a kid all presents were wrapped, the ones from Santa, said "From Santa". My husband's santa gifts were the unwrapped gifts. So in our house we combined our childhood and wrap some in "Santa" paper and some santa gifts are left unwrapped. The ones from mom and dad are wrapped in the same paper that everyones else's gifts are wrapped in and tagged.

Ah, my son is a mere three and a half, and this is going to be his second Christmas that he kind of understands.

I introduced Santa last year under a sort of duress, and it's kind of humorous. I had a collection of dried poppy seed pods my son was systematically asking to play with, and then destroying. Because they were meant to be a decoration, I decided that while I still had a few left, that he shouldn't have any more from me, but could 'ask Santa' for one.

So we wrote a letter to Santa, made a big deal out of mailing it from the big mailbox down the street, then celebrated it by going to the local pizza place. Husband and I agree that this is a great idea for a tradition.

Sure enough, Christmas morning, Santa had left a seedpod in his stocking. It was promptly destroyed, but it wasn't mine, so we didn't ask for more. :)
My husband and I keep Christmas simple: stockings for each other are usually chocolates and a bottle of favorite import beer. Kiddo got the seedpod and some fortune cookies, which are a big deal for him. Then we had the rest of the gifts. We do people gifts under the tree in the days before, and Santa does stockings. Even the cat gets one!