We all have Christmas traditions. Some of us have a whole stack of matching jammies just waiting for Christmas Eve, while others have been planning Christmas dinner for a week straight, but all that matters is that we do the same traditions every year, right? Well, not exactly. In one family the tradition is that they open presents at midnight, but one Redditor has been trying to explain to her parents that this year things might have to change. After all, they can't really expect her 10-month-old child to get up at midnight — right?
As the Original Poster explained, every year they celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve.
The tradition is that they get together in the evening, have a late dinner, and then at midnight they open presents, she wrote in her post.
“The night ends around 2 a.m.,” she added. But this year, she’s really rethinking their usual plans — they have a 10-month-old, after all.
Her parents are “adamant” about the OP’s baby waking up at midnight to open up gifts.
“I was thinking of ‘waking him up’ so we can say merry Christmas and maybe open a present,” she wrote.
But is this really a smart thing to do? Most likely her baby will be grumpy, and good luck trying to get her infant to go back to sleep, “but everyone says ‘oh you have to, it’s his first Christmas!’ Ugh I’m dreading it,” she wrote.
So what’s a mom to do?
Believe it or not, some people thought she should totally go for it.
"We did it last year (son was 11 months). We woke him up, had food, had some presents, sent him back to bed. It was great," one commenter shared.
"I think [you're] being dramatic. He will be fine," someone else wrote.
A third person put it this way: "I am of the philosophy that if it is something that you want them to experience or you want to see them experience, do it! If it is important enough to you that you are willing to deal with any potential repercussions then I’m all in. We have done occasional late nights (by late I mean like an hour after normal bed time) for things like Halloween or Christmas parties.
"It doesn’t take too much to get them back on schedule and in my experience it’s never been so bad that I regret those special memories," the commenter continued. "As a parent, you won’t look back and remember that you were great at keeping your kid on a sleep schedule. You’ll remember that first time they reach out and rip a piece of wrapping paper surrounded by family saying they are the best kid ever and THAT is a pretty special memory."
Many more people thought she'd be crazy to wake up her kid that late.
"I think it’s a good rule of thumb to keep baby’s schedule as close to normal as possible, especially on holidays and special occasions … to avoid meltdowns etc. So, no," one commenter advised.
While another commenter put it bluntly: "Girl, you better not let some grown ass people bully you into waking your baby up for a f—ing Merry Christmas."
"The opposite of a Merry Christmas in my opinion," someone else chimed in. "That baby won't get back to sleep."
In the end, the OP thought the commenters' responses were "hilarious."
"Guys, I’m sending this entire thread to my family," she wrote later in the comments.
"To be clear 1) we’re from Peru so that’s how we celebrate (saw people thinking it was weird to celebrate 24th). 2) Even though that’s how we typically celebrate I was totally for NOT waking him up and agree with you all," she added.
Instead, she also wrote that she's considering giving her son his first present before he goes to sleep.
"Just wanted to be sure I wasn’t being a Grinch in not wanting to wake him," she wrote.
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