"Few moments from childhood are as seared into my memory as the anticipation of Christmas morning. One year, I snuck down the stairs before my family was awake to peek under the tree. I remember the silhouette of my younger brother’s Little Tikes basketball hoop and thought I spied a pink Barbie house for me. I ran back upstairs to wake up my siblings to let them know Santa had indeed arrived.
Clad in pajamas, my three brothers and I opened wrapped gifts from Santa while my dad used the camcorder to capture our reactions. We always visited our extended family in the evening, but Christmas morning was spent with just our immediate family.
I also remember the last Christmas morning I spent in my parents’ house. I was 26 and getting married later that year. It was the last time my siblings and I woke up together and walked down the stairs under our parents’ roof. No significant others. No extended family. Just the six of us surrounding the tree for another year. I wonder if my mom—the original maker of my childhood holiday magic—was searing that moment into her memory, too.
When I became a mom, I knew I’d also want to preserve the magic of Christmas morning for my family. I love my parents and siblings, but they’re not invited to my home before noon on December 25. They can come over Christmas Eve or arrive for Christmas dinner, but Christmas morning is just for our little group. And now that I’m the holiday magic maker for my kids, a Christmas morning spent together at home is the one gift I want every year. Here’s why I won’t budge on our Christmas morning tradition.
The Kids Get Up Early on Christmas Morning
Practically, toddlers and young children want to open their Christmas gifts from Santa right away. And my kids always wake up extra early on Christmas morning. So keeping the Christmas morning tradition with our family means my kids can dig in with the excitement I remember from childhood. They don’t have to worry about waking up the grandparents or, worse for impatient little ones, waiting for house guests to wake up so the adults don’t “miss” the grand opening.
Christmas Traditions Take Time to Build
By definition, a tradition is “long-established” and often passed down from generation to generation. Because my parents preserved our Christmas morning, and I have such fond memories from it, I want to do the same for my kids. But a tradition takes time to build. It takes doing the same thing year after year.
That’s not to say I’ve never bent the rules for Christmas morning. One year, we had my youngest brother staying with us. But he slept in well past the Santa excitement, so it all worked out.
The Christmas Magic Years Are Fleeting
Even though I remember Christmas morning as an adult in my parents’ house, the real magic is in those first childhood Christmases. The walking down the stairs in anticipation, peeking under the tree for a pile of gifts, and unwrapping the toy from the top of the Christmas wish list.
On average, kids stop believing in Santa when they’re around 8 years old and don’t really remember their first few Christmases. So those prime magic years are few and fleeting. Plus, I not only hope to create Christmas memories for my kids. I want to preserve my Christmas memories as a mom. Christmas morning is the culmination of all my holiday magic-making—I want to sit back and enjoy it.
“Christmas morning is the culmination of all my holiday magic making—I want to sit back and enjoy it.”
Setting Boundaries for Christmas Morning
Because my mom valued our Christmas mornings together, she respects that I want the same for my kids. My parents have never pushed to be at our house. I’m not sure if my mother-in-law feels the same way—or if she would tell me if she didn’t. Either way, she always respected our Christmas morning tradition, too. Both grandmothers have made some of their own Christmas traditions with their grandchildren. My mom hosts a Christmas cookie-making day with the kids. And my mother-in-law hosts a gingerbread house weekend. Both are new traditions my kids will remember when they’re grown.
That’s the beauty of Christmas traditions—some are passed down, and some are just beginning.
Kathy Sisson, Senior Editor
A mom of two, Kathy is passionately committed to sharing the honest, helpful—and often humorous—stories of motherhood, as she navigates her own everyday adventures of work, marriage, and parenting. She honed her creative and strategic skills at advertising agencies in Detroit and Chicago, before pivoting from marketing to editorial. Now instead of telling brand stories, she’s sharing her own, with articles published across popular parenting sites—including hundreds of stories on The Everymom.