I'm with Bethy and Karen. Our family tradition has always been that the kids get to open their stockings as soon as they wake up, but the big presents have to wait until after breakfast. In the old days, Mum and Dad would carefully prepare the room before we were allowed in, organising the presents into a pile per person. Now, everyone brings their presents down during the evening of Christmas Eve and places them under the tree. Then on Christmas morning, someone sits and hands them out. When we've all got all our presents, the grand opening frenzy starts.
After presents, Dad goes off to church and Mum stays at home to tend the turkey and Christmas pud. The rest of us play with our presents <g>.
Then Christmas dinner at around 1pm and then the traditional walk. Traditionally, anyone under 20 and over about 10 stays at home (walking is for old fogies), and the oldies go out because they're desperate to shake all that food down somehow <g>.
Oh, forgot to say - usually, I'll open any presents from friends just before I leave to travel wherever Christmas is. Small or light-weight things I might take with me to open on the day.
Yvonne
