‘My family opened presents without me – I’ve been holding back tears’

Christmas with family is something to cherish, particularly when little ones are involved. The enchantment of the festive season becomes even more special with children eagerly awaiting Father Christmas’s arrival. Naturally, one mum was heartbroken when she was excluded from this magical moment with her toddler this year.

She revealed that her husband had proceeded with the Christmas morning festivities without her, seemingly oblivious to why this might upset her. Posting on Reddit in 2023, the then-35-year-old, who had been married for four years, explained that she has two sons with her husband, aged three months and two years.

She had been looking forward to the big day tremendously, as this marked the first occasion her toddler truly grasped Christmas, from Father Christmas to wrapping presents together and adorning the tree.

“My husband has been talking a lot about building family traditions for the kids, which I thought was lovely. My family has a German background, so we opened the gifts from family on Christmas Eve together with my parents and brother.

“I had a rough night with the baby, so I slept a little longer than usual this (Christmas) morning, but not unreasonable I thought – I woke at 7.45. The toddler had woken up at 6am and my husband had gotten up [with] him.

“I got up to discover that my husband had opened up the presents from Santa already, which has left me devastated. I felt so excluded and robbed of seeing the joy on my child’s face opening up the gifts I had picked out for him.”

She continued by explaining her distress that her husband hadn’t waited for her to wake naturally or roused her himself. “My husband commented that it was a lovely father-son moment, which drove the knife in further.”

She conveyed how this had left her feeling like an “afterthought” in her husband’s consideration of their family unit. “I’ve been holding back tears all day for the sake of the toddler.”

Social media users rushed to comfort the original poster, with one individual revealing: “I couldn’t look at my husband the same way after that. Christmas morning excitement is the payoff we get for all the day-to-day thankless work of parenting and all magic we put into the holidays. I can’t imagine ever hating my husband enough to deny him that”.

Another declared they would “file for divorce on December 26”, whilst others branded him a “narcissist” or “selfish”. One fellow mum shared: “These moments are precious and the opportunities for them are gone very quickly.”

Nevertheless, not all users could empathise with the mother’s anguish. Some attributed her upset to postnatal depression, whilst others admitted they “feel sorry for the husband”, contending that “he probably thought he was doing a good thing, giving his wife a lie in”.