Christmas presents - one at a time or all at once?

[pengolodh_sc]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter, Audrey wrote:
> I've been following the discussion of the timing of Christmas 
> decorating and I was curious how people handle another aspect
> of the holiday season - gift opening.
[snip]

Being for all practical purposes an only child (three halfbrothers 
living 800 miles away and encountered once every few years do not 
count, IMO), my family was hardly large.  We open our gifts on 
Christmas Eve, which is the norm in Norway.  Like most Norwegians we 
also pile the wrapped presents underneath the Christmas-tree, until 
the time for opening.  We always have dinner first - back when my 
granmother was alive this meant very late opening of presents, as we 
always visited her for the opening of presents in the nursinghome 
before having dinner at home.  Dinner, of course, is *always the 
same - always, without exception, every year.  Norwegians like 
traditions - which explains why the last 30 years TV has shown every 
December 23rd a short skit about Miss Sophie and her butler (shown in 
Germany and one other country on New Year's Eve); if they skipped it 
a year, or changed to a different version (the one shown in Germany 
is in colours, I believe), there would be an outrage throughout 
Norway.

Anyway - I was supposedly talking about opening presents.  My family 
does it in very civilised fashion.  One person is more or less a 
santa (but without the costume), picking one and one present from 
under the tree, reading the note, and handing it to the correct 
person.  Then that person opens the present.  Tearing of paper and 
string is not done - preferably the string is slid off, alternately 
scissors are used.  With the paper, we work on the bits of tape, 
trying to pull off the tape, alternatively using scissors (we have 
relatives who are notorious for excessive use of tape in 
giftwrapping).  As one gets the tape loose, one then unwraps the 
present, and then neatly disposes the wrappingpaper in the wastebag 
we have handy nearby.

Best regards
Christian Stubø