We do a very light breakfast (a little cut up fruit and toast, or biscuits with jam if DH or I gets up early enough to make them) and make tea/coffee for the grownups, then do gifts, then put on an old musical and make a big proper brunch while the kid plays with new gifts. The mini breakfast only takes a few minutes.

We did the mad dash to presents in my family when I was a kid and I would not describe it as magical. Christmas in my home growing up with extremely gift focused and felt kind of manic, to be honest. We've worked hard to make our Christmases now about more than gifts. Our kid is 5 this year, so fully aware that Christmas=gifts and makes a list and the whole thing. But I think we have successfully toned Christmas down enough where it's about the whole experience and being cozy and together and enjoying ourselves with good food and music and decorations, not just getting stuff.

Anonymous wrote:Santa doesn't wrap in our house, so we come downstairs together and our toddler (this year pre-schooler) gets to look at what Santa brought and play with that. After that we work on breakfast and take care of the dog and then we start opening wrapped presents after that.

That's what we did a children!!

I had four under 5 last Christmas. I brought the youngest two downstairs first away from the tree and did their normal milk/breakfast first. I then brought up breakfast for the oldest two. I then had all of them storm the living room together. Plan on doing something similar this year.

Anonymous wrote:We storm the living room like it’s D-Day and tear through some packages for a little while. When the dust settles, we move on to a special breakfast - usually a breakfast casserole or something like that that can be prepared in advance and popped in the oven.

YESSSSS! But now that my oldest is 4, we are going to tell her she can't come downstairs until we get brother out of bed. And she has to wake us first too.

We definitely storm it like it's D Day. The "aftermath" pictures are some of my favorites!

OP if your son is hungry, can you have sippy cups of milk ready? That's what we do for our kids when they have to wait on breakfast.

Anonymous wrote:We come downstairs to stocking and something bigger unwrapped "from Santa." This is usually her biggest present of the day (this year it's a dollhouse for example). We don't do other presents then, but she can play with it while we get breakfast together. The rest of her stuff comes with the rest of the family presents after a break for breakfast.

We do this too. Santa leaves presents unwrapped. They eat a little snack and then can play with their new toys, then grown ups make brunch and drink coffee. After they play a while we eat a bigger breakfast and then sit down to open presents one at a time. Then we go outside and burn off energy at the park.

We come down the stairs and the kids see the tree. I do agree with your husband that's part of the magic of Christmas. I have little things that they can nibble on while opening/playing with gifts (fruit, cereal, cheese) and then we have a big breakfast once the initial rush is over.

We do stockings before coffee. (I wrap the little gifts in the stockings, so they are more exciting and take longer.) Then a couple of presents, then breakfast, and then the rest of the presents.

Santa doesn't wrap in our house, so we come downstairs together and our toddler (this year pre-schooler) gets to look at what Santa brought and play with that. After that we work on breakfast and take care of the dog and then we start opening wrapped presents after that.

We come downstairs to stocking and something bigger unwrapped "from Santa." This is usually her biggest present of the day (this year it's a dollhouse for example). We don't do other presents then, but she can play with it while we get breakfast together. The rest of her stuff comes with the rest of the family presents after a break for breakfast.

Could you start the magic with a special "breakfast in bed?" Something easy like a little egg cup or a bar or a banana? That way you can go straight to presents downstairs and take your time making the special breakfast. You could even make it something Santa left in his room, although fwiw we do not do Santa because I find him creepy AF and that would really up the creep factor.

Anonymous wrote:We storm the living room like it’s D-Day and tear through some packages for a little while. When the dust settles, we move on to a special breakfast - usually a breakfast casserole or something like that that can be prepared in advance and popped in the oven.

Same thing at our house. We always put goldfish in their stockings and they eat that while opening presents,

With toddlers, we would come down and open the stockings first. Normally, that's almost enough excitement for the whole day haha. But it really checks the "magic of santa" box while not taking too long. I may bring out a bowl of dry cereal or a granola bar or sippy of milk during that if I had a particularly hangry little one.

Then, like others, we have a more filling protein based breakfast a little later when there is a good point to pause.

I think with toddlers, the gifts can actually be pretty overwhelming. They want to play with things right away, so sometimes it's very slow! Which is great!

Anonymous wrote:We storm the living room like it’s D-Day and tear through some packages for a little while. When the dust settles, we move on to a special breakfast - usually a breakfast casserole or something like that that can be prepared in advance and popped in the oven.

Same..kids are up by 7, chaos begins before I am fully with it and then we make a big breakfast after while they play with their new gadgets. Usually DH whips up pancakes, eggs, hash brown casserole.

We storm the living room like it’s D-Day and tear through some packages for a little while. When the dust settles, we move on to a special breakfast - usually a breakfast casserole or something like that that can be prepared in advance and popped in the oven.

Do you do presents first thing on Christmas Day or breakfast first? We don’t have a tradition yet but I want to sort out what makes sense for our newly turned 3yo. He does best eating first thing in the morning and I think it would be miserable for all of we will be pulling him away from new toys to eat. My husband argues it takes away the Christmas magic to eat first. For what it’s worth, I think I can get him downstairs and into his chair at the table without seeing the tree and presents. What do you all do?