Christmas Help with Children from Spilt Families

Let the little one open 1/2 on christmas then the other half when the older one is home, best of both worlds.

Good Luck!

Let 4 year old have Santa come with toys presents for both children.. Let 4 year old open his gifts from Santa and you. Let him know older brother will open his when he next visits.

Then when the 8 year old comes over, you can say Santa left some presents so he can then open them.. Your youngest can then open the gifts from the 8 year old. and maybe a few more form you. (do not pull these out till 8yr old gets there).. . .

This is essentially how we did it when I was growing up.. 2 Christmas's. 1 with my dad and his wife and 1 with my mom..My sister and I liked having it this way..

Won't the older child be celebrating at his dad's house? Regardless, have Santa visit as normal and let your 4 year old enjoy it. When the 8 year old returns to your house, he can see what Santa brought him there. I doubt the excitement will be diminished much! In no way would I deprive my 4 year old or myself the enjoyment of a traditional Christmas morning! Your 4 year old is definitely old enough to understand that on the Christmases the older sibling is away, the older kid will get to see what Santa brought when he returns.

I think when the youngest is little you can get away with waiting/postponing Christmas morning until older sibling gets back but as the youngest gets older you should have Christmas morning like regular and then just watch oldest open presents when he/she gets home.

I am in a similar situation. Mine are a little older, but it's been this way for years. My Christmas doesn't change - Santa still comes when Santa comes. My family is 5 hours away, so I just bring the presents back with me for her. I do my Christmas with her before she goes, but not for the little one if that makes sense. I usually have a small thing for the little one to open, and whatever my older got for her. Then we do our Christmas eve and morning like normal. I will say this is hard for my older one as she likes to think we don't do anything but sit and pine over her being gone and wait for her to come back to have Christmas - haha. My ex has a hard time with her having "two" christmas' and doesn't get her much, so she comes back with one present (and not a big one) so my younger doesn't feel she doesn't have the presents.

Santa visits once in our house... Christmas Eve. My older child got to open what Santa brought when she got to my house. My son got to open many, but not all of his presents from Santa, but he didn't know he didn't get to open all of them. Some of his presents from Santa were 'hidden' for he and his sister to find later along with her presents. So, he wasn't left out while she was opening, but she didn't miss her little brother having fun too. Our entire family is extremely close and my kids have learned that Christmas is about spending it with family. My daughter (now 7) asked about breakfast with the family last year before running into the livingroom to see what Santa brought.

What a tough situation. I would celebrate Christmas when both kids are together. Waiting an extra day every other year isn't really that big of a sacrifice. Maybe you can spend those Christmas mornings baking or doing crafts... some new tradition to make the day special for the young one. It's much more fun to open presents together anyway. Plus, a lot of families "arrange" for Santa to come a different day. He comes to my parents' house after we get home from the in-laws' in another state. Kids are adaptable, and the most important thing is to celebrate together.

Like the other's said. Santa comes once.

The 4 yr old should have a regular Christmas. 1 or 2 presents from you, and a present from your 8y should wait to be opened when the 8y is back.

The presents for the 8y from Santa should be at whichever house he spends Christmas Eve. Then when he gets home he can open presents from you and the 4y.

I wouldn't worry too much about the "Santa" part. In theory, Santa visits you where you are on Christmas morning! You may want to consider having "non-Santa" presents put to the side and open them when your older child is there. You could have a special dinner that night and open "family presents" altogether.

If you are locked into the way the order currently is, this is what I would do. Open presents Christmas morning as normal. Leave your older son's present and at least one for you, your hubby, and your 4yr old to open when your older son arrives on the 26th and opens his presents that Santa let at your home. Your 8 year old is approaching the "no Santa age" but you still need to play it off for your younger son.

My son always left after lunch time on Christmas Day (or the following day) so we never had this issue although his father did. When he had other children, they NEVER held up their Christmas, not even for an hour.

I know this is a very random idea, but my mom (who isn't at all religious), gave us our stocking on Epiphany and instead of being brought by Santa they were brought by The Three Kings. She thought it was great since she could hit the after-Christmas sales, and my sister and I loved it since we got to spread out the joy of Christmas.