Getting up at the crack of dawn?

corblimey

When I were a lad, we would get up around 6am, or earlier, play with our stocking contents for a little while and then, fi-i-i-i-nally at around 10 past, our parents would come in to the room and lead us downstairs to the tree and the presents from Santa. All well and good, I'm sure most people here did the same.

Last Christmas, I stayed with my sister and husband, and 4 kids, ranging in age from 12 down to 4. Not only was the I first up (and I didn't even get a present!) but the kids had to be roused at around 8am to go down to the sitting room to open gifts.

8am!!! :eek: On Christmas morning!!! :rolleyes:

Is it just that my nieces and nephews are weird , or does anyone else have kids who just aren't that bothered? They do get excited and love leaving out the milk and cookies for Santa and the reindeer and all that - they just don't seem too excited about Christmas morning itself.

That_Guy

Earliest for me was 4am. Shattered by 12pm but was well worth it.

omb0wyn5ehpij9

The earliest I woke up on Christmas morning was 3am :eek:
I was always one for getting up early on Christmas morning. Even now, I still seem to be up early on Christmas mornings.....with a hangover these days :rolleyes:

D4RK ONION

I think 7 or 8 is the norm in this house. There's still two believers here, which makes Christmas morning so much better. I'm often awoken by them jumping on me/my bed

8am is before dawn this time of the year.

benj

unfortunately kids seem to have presents everyday so Christmas seems to be just another day another present....such a pity!

duckysauce

spoilt kids

Cormac2791

i could never get to sleep on christmas eve, this happens whenever something good is happening the next day. its fair to say i still cant get to sleep early on the 24th.

anyway, i used to sneak down the stairs at about 6, look at what everyone got, grabbed a new football annual i got every year and went to bed until about 7.30

Kynareth

Earliest I ever got up was 5am, Probably be up at 6/7 now though, I guess people are getting lazier and your right, a lot of children and teens (cough) these days are just getting spoiled. they break a phone they get a new one rather than getting it repaired. Some parents need some cop on even I know that >.>

But yeah, I still love getting up early on christmas morning, there's something about going to the tree when it's cold and your all wrapped up with only the christmas lights to guide you that's just unexplainable joy :]

And yeah to answer the other question, all my little cousins around 4-10 all leave out cookies and Milk for Santa still. So there are still a good few celebrators :]

D4RK ONION

My little brother and sister leave Santa out a Guinness, never gets old to see them outraged on Christmas morning to find Santa went into the kitchen and "borrowed" another one from the fridge!

Misty Chaos

When I was young, I never got a full nights sleep on Christmas Eve, there were times where I pulled an all nighter as well ( unlike today, it didn't seem to effect my alertness the following day, I miss childhood energy levels. ) Either that or my older brother woke me.

Granted, the Christmas morning when my sister was born ( also the last year I believed in Santa ) , we were all awake by 4am ( me and the brother were already awake ) my grandmother was awoken and came in to look after us while the parents went to the hospital. She was born a few minutes shy of 6am.

And to answer the other question, when she believed, my sister did indeed leave out Milk and Cookies for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph and she used to wake up early Christmas morning as well. And she was spoiled with presents, its her Birthday too, after all!

almostnever

I'm 17,and the latest I've slept 'til on Christmas morning was 6am last year
I used to be up at 4.30 or and my sister and I would talk in our room for a while (trying to get back to sleep was pointless) and then go and sit in the back living room waiting for a more decent hour,before calling our parents and opening our presents while dad made Christmas breakfast (a big dirty fry:D) Some really clear memories of earlier Christmases involve us planning what we'd do that morning before we could open our presents. I miss that
But even in primary school,my friends didn't get up until 10 or 11. They thought I was weird for getting up so early,but sleeping was just impossible

Pigwidgeon

I was never allowed get up before 6. Now though seeing as I'm the youngest, we usually get up about 10 or 11.

KnifeWRENCH

We never got up until 9am AT THE EARLIEST. Now that we're all grown up, it's closer to 10.30 am when we all drag ourselves out of bed.

We love Christmas but not as much as we love sleep.

oh well

as kids we always were up by about 5/6am - as parents ours are usuallly up now by 7am - our eldest is the worst (16yr old) she'd be hopping up and down getting the others out of bed. Sometimes myself or other half might head back to bed for a quick hour snooze and resurface again about 9am. Then its time for a great big grilled breakfast and open presents to/from each other. One year we did have to wake the kids up at 8am they were still dead to the world.

Ginny

We weren't allowed up till about 7am, but we were usually awake well before then.
This only my second Christmas in my own place, but up untIl I moved out my Dad made us still Get up at 7am to see if Santa came..:d

Columbia

I think my parents refused to get up before 7am, and refused to let us open presents without them there. Made for a lot of anxious waiting on Christmas mornings

TheCandystripes

not anymore(not since about 13) im excited by christmas but no longer bothered about getting up too early, 7.00 to 7.30 is fine.

Sophsxxx

9 is the earliest we get up. My parents are the children on xmas morning. My mam is usually the one who's pulling us out of bed and seeing if Santa has come.
Yeah, the best thing is I'm 17, the brother is 13 and my mother still won't acknowledge that we have no one to pretend for. She's like a 5 year old again.

That_Guy

That_Guy wrote: »

Earliest for me was 4am. Shattered by 12pm but was well worth it.

Same here. My brother (who was 25 at the time) was insistent that we did the same in 2006 which we did. I was wrecked by about 3pm - just don't have it in me anymore and I was only 22!

Our Christmas in 1997, 1998 and 1999 were all ruined by power cuts, well that's what living in the middle of nowhere did for us. In 1997 the power failed around 7am and didn't come back on until 11am on St. Stephen's Day! :eek:

3hn2givr7mx1sc

When I believed in 'him' I wouldn't go asleep until about 2 on Christmas Eve and then I'd wake up around 6 or 7. Now that I'm older and wiser(:p) I go to sleep around 3(I got to lay out the presents last Christmas Eve:D) and then wake up around 9 with a bollix of a hangover. Still have one believer in the house which is cool.:)

echter

In our house the usual time to get up is around 7.30 - 8.00.

We do this family thing where no-one is allowed downstairs alone, we ALL have to wake up before going to see what Santy brought.
Despite being the youngest of five I never really woke up first, usually it was my sisters who shared a room with me.

Then we'd wake up my two older brothers and mam & dad, wait for everyone to go to the toilet and for mam to have a fag. Then we go down the stairs youngest first (me! yay). After checking out Santy the rents put on a huge fry with everything you could want.

Alicat

Usually would wake up somewhere between 6 and 7...I was always first, so I'd sneak into my bro's room, wake him up, and then we'd sneak to my parent's room and one the count of three.....leg it into their room and leap on the bed screaming "It's Christmas! It's Christmas! Get up! GET UP!"

H1tmonlii

Earliest I got up at was half eight.
I usually get up at around 9 - 9:30 now though.
When I got up, I'd wake my brother up and we'd wake our parents and then wait until a certain time before going up to the tree.

Was nerve wracking because I always opened the door!

_Whimsical_

I used to wake between 5am and 6am on Christmas morning. Unfortunately my mum didn't share my enthusiasm and would not let me downstairs before 7.30. Any move I made to escape the bedroom was registered on her radar and I was always stuck in my room until she gave the go ahead.

One such Xmas morning I looked out the window by chance at around 6am and realised I could see straight into the sitting room of the house across the road.They had their blinds pulled up and lights on and I got to watch them come down and see everything Santa brought them and their reactions. I was an only child so I never got to see anyone else's Christmas morning before. It was completely riveting.They were a very sedate well mannered family and it was such a shock to see them in PJs whooping and leaping about the place in a flurry of torn wrapping paper. Watching their house in the dark for early confirmation that Santa had reached my estate became a bit of a Christmas tradition between the ages of 5 and 8. Then l wised up enough to sleep late and left voyeurism behind me.:)

Curiously Santa had always wrapped their presents in lovely shiny paper with nice bows stuck on the side. He never wrapped mine!:o