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I tend to do a lot of little things. I like streaching it out. When the my oldest had his first christmas I noticed how fast it was over. We were at my mils and there were millions of gifts and it was over in five minutes and I could not tell who gave what.
So now we do a big Christmas eve thing. We have an international dinner and then we have the kids each give thier gifts. First the youngest one will bring out his gifts and one at a time hand them out. (we make a big, big deal about each and every gift) Then dh reads the kids a book (we have a stack of Christmas books) Then the next child gets to give out his or her gifts. ETC, we always give each child new pajamas for thier Christmas eve gift from us. We also serve hot chocolate with candy canes and I make cookies.
In the morning we hide the stockings. They have to follow clues. Lately the older kids last clues say to help the younger ones and they find all the stockings in one place. The more abled bodied kids have clues upstairs and then downstairs so they can run off some of that Christmas morning energy. The stockings contain cheap stuff, candy, maybe cheap jewlery or something and sometimes fancy instant oatmeal or fruit and those little cheeses that are in wax.
Anyway, after breakfast we do the gifts. The gifts are numbered. There are some socks and silly things, new toothbrushes and toothpaste, sometimes some clothes or shoes if they are needed, cool water bottles, videos or board games for everyone etc. The "big" gifts are the last ones. If it can come in parts, I wrap all the parts separately. The reason they are numbered is to ensure that we only open one gift at a time. I have the secret chart (I create it while wrapping) Anyway, becasue we take our time and watch each gift being opened, the smaller gifts are enjoyed and looked at. A new pencil or coloring book or something is actually appreciated since they have to wait awhile before thier next gift. The pattern is usually youngest to oldest, but we randomly add gifts for mom or dad and gifts for all to keep the older ones from being able to guesse which are thiers.
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