Does Northern Colorado Open Presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?

I got into a conversation the other day that led me to do a little research, because the crazy people I was talking to were insistent that Christmas Eve was the appropriate time to open gifts with your family. To me, for my entire life, it's always been Christmas Morning. I mean, Santa doesn't come until after you go to sleep on Christmas Eve, right?

So once again, I've taken to the all-knowing internet to determine which day is the official day, or at least the unofficial day, to open presents.

Christmas Day narrowly edges out Christmas Eve in an informal poll or two online.

Apparently, while I'm in the majority by saying "Christmas morning is when you're supposed to open presents," it's not a clear majority. One of the polls I found shows a very narrow edge, in fact, only 42% to 39% of those people said they open presents on Christmas morning versus those who said they open their gifts on Christmas Eve. That's shockingly close, in my opinion.

Get our free mobile app

Ah, but there does appear to be a better solution!

Quite a few people also do Christmas with sort of a hybrid approach, opening a few presents on Christmas Eve, then the rest of them on Christmas morning. For example, in our house, my wife has jumped on the "Christmas Box" trend, where we each have a cool, engraved wooden box with our names on them that she I stuff some fun, little Christmas Eve gifts into. Things like candy, hot chocolate, fun new magazines or books, games, etc. go great in the Christmas Eve box, for us and the kids to play with before we send them off to bed, clearing the way for Santa to drop in and put their presents under the tree.

Apparently it depends on what country your ancestors come from.

This doesn't surprise me actually. Many countries without a "Santa Claus" figure in their culture actually do open presents on Christmas Eve, rather than Christmas Day. Countries like Argentina, France, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and a ton more do their Christmas giving the night before Christmas. So if your ancestors came from one of these countries, you might also open presents on Christmas Eve, and now you know why.

Fun fact: the British Royal Family has always exchanged gifts on Christmas Eve, going way, way back. This makes sense because, ironically, the distant ancestors of the Royal Family actually came from Germany. Who knew?

What say you, Northern Colorado? When do you open your presents and why? Feel free to drop me a note anytime - chris.kelly@townsquaremedia.com.

No matter which day you do your presents, a very Merry Christmas to you and yours!