how are we all going to open gifts xmas eve?

the girls are 10 months now and go to bed b/w 7 and 730..we go to my moms xmas eve..tradition being that we open the gifts at midnight.. how are the girls going to open their presents if they go to sleep...do u wake them up? some people say wake them up at midnight..what are u all doing about this?

 

the girls are 10 months now and go to bed b/w 7 and 730..we go to my moms xmas eve..tradition being that we open the gifts at midnight.. how are the girls going to open their presents if they go to sleep...do u wake them up? some people say wake them up at midnight..what are u all doing about this?

 

We stopped opening presents on Christmas Eve with my inlaws because of the kids being too young. Maybe we will start it again when they are older. Personally I think your mom could maybe change this tradition for a few years until the little kids and babies are older and can really enjoy this traditon. We usually do it early on Christmas Eve or a day before or on Jan. 1st.

 

We always open ours Christmas Eve at my parents house- but we do it right before dinner. I'd never wake a sleeping baby personally for gifts- and it is midnight somewhere in the world whenever you choose to open them!
Have a wonderful Christmas whatever you decide...
Lanie

 

At 10 1/2 mo old, the babies will hardly even notice the presents. And they certainly won't care about anyone else opening them. So personally, I'd go ahead with the tradition but let the babies sleep and have them open theirs either before bed, or Christmas morning. They'll probably have more fun w/ the wrapping paper than the gifts, anyway.

 

Definately let them sleep or change opening the gifts to after dinnertime. I agree, they will not know the difference at 10 months and would be more likely to play with the tissue paper then anything else.

 

I just let my ds open all theri gifts at the two early Christmas's we just went to. Manda slept through the entire thing, and Sydney helped rip one by just holding on the the paper and trying to shove it in her mouth, but I was worried about her getting a paper cut, so I didn't push the issue at all. Let them sleep or you may regret it schedule wise.

 

I agree w/Sarah! Do it in the a.m. ......ridiculous to wake a 10 mo. old for something they can't even grasp!

 

It's up to you. At that age, the babies aren't really going to be opening many presents so you can leave them sleeping and open presents yourself. Alternatively, you can wake them up for an hour and then use a bottle, paci, or rocking to try to calm them back to sleep after the festivities. In a couple of years the babies will love waking up to open presents so I don't suggest getting rid of the tradition altogether but you just need to make a judgement call about what's going to work best for everyone at this point.

 

You are even considering waking them up at midnight to open presents? Crazy! They don't even know what a present is and they could care less about opening them. If you want to stick with tradition...open a present for them and put it in their crib. When they wake in the am it will be there to play with!

 

I'd vote for let them sleep and open their gifts in the morning. There will be plenty of years to come where they will be able to stay up til midnight to open gifts. Babies need their sleep. plus you probably don't want to derail their schedule. My girls haven't really developed a schedule yet but my ds put himself on one really early but I screwed it up by trying to push back bedtime so I could participate in a singing group. Took him a looong time to get back to a regular schedule...