For most children in the United States of America, Australia and the United Kingdom, gifts are opened on Christmas Day. Elsewhere in the world, children can open presents at the end of the Epiphany. Whether you open your gift on Christmas morning with a sigh of amazement, an internal “oh my gosh”, or something in between, here's your guide to what to say and what to do. The early risers lived in European and South American countries, where Christmas festivities are traditionally celebrated on Christmas Eve.
Families with young children celebrating the religious aspect of the Christmas holiday had some ideas on how to balance the extravagance of gifts. While many Christmas traditions (the trees, the ornaments, Santa Claus) are essentially the same, at least in the United States, every family seems to have their own rituals or traditions about when to open their gifts. The rest said that they either distributed the gifts between the two days or opened them on Christmas Eve. Before you know it, they'll give you Christmas presents with love, while the anxious eyes of those who give them, crossed your fingers, will see if you like what you'll find.
However, I also open some presents on Christmas Eve, since that night we had dinner with my father's family. They would turn on the tree lights, put on Christmas music, set up the video camera and pour themselves a cup of coffee before it was time to open the presents. Others divided the gifts, opening some on Christmas Eve and the rest on Christmas Day or even New Year's Eve.
