Hello there! Something has been on my mind so I’m just curious to hear other experiences. I grew up with an older brother and Christmas Eve and morning used to be the most magical 24 hours of my little life. I would be too excited to sleep, then Christmas morning we would try and wake my mom and dad up as early as possible. I look back on the excitement and joy of those Christmas with such fondness. Cut to today, and I’m trying to recreate that magic for my 5 year old daughter. She’s somewhat excited for Christmas, but not nearly to the level that I was. She’s kind of “meh” about it. So I wonder if I’m missing the mark, or is it a lack of having a sibling to amp her up? For example, Christmas morning I had to wake her up Anyway, just curious to hear if others had similar experiences with their only?
@rosemeka13 Anecdotally, I think it just depends on the kid. I have 3 younger siblings. Us girls always had to be woken up on Christmas morning, even though it was an extremely magical day for us and we loved it. We just also liked to sleep. My younger brother is the baby, and he's the only one who ever woke up for Christmas morning lol.
@jojoy Two older siblings and I’d come to expect disappointment from Christmas Day. There was only one year of magic and that was when we got a game system in 87. The next most magical was not Christmas at all. It was getting a computer in November 96.
@deevums Yeah, that’s what I was thinking/hoping. I just feel guilty sometimes so I tend to look for evidence that being an only somehow offers less of a fun life experience for her.
@rosemeka13 My only was so excited this year he got up at 5am and cried because he couldn’t handle how excited he was. He never gets up early. He ran downstairs and went bananas on the toys. It was better for him because he didn’t have to watch siblings open their gifts lol
@deevums Yeah, I have three stepkids that could care less about Christmas magic and tradition. They just want presents lol. Hoping my bio son is all for the Christmas traditions my family has!
@rosemeka13 I’m an only and LOVED Christmas!!! But, I was also a naturally early riser until I was school-age or so. My daughter and I (2.5 and 35) not so much haha. So she’s kinda meh about Christmas too. Also, milennials tend to be a lot less consumeristic with Christmas than our baby boomer parents were with us. So we don’t emphasize it as much with our kids I think?
@discombobulated1 That’s a really good point. I look back at pics of Christmases from my childhood and am shocked at the amount of presents. My daughter got 2 small gifts from Santa
@humanjf Oh lol I guess it just depends on the age your parents were when they had you. Mine had me around age 32, so they’re 63 & 64 now. And my grandparents were born in 1929 so part of the Silent Generation.
Anyway, just curious to hear if others had similar experiences with their only?