Family Opening Gifts at Christmas Tree Coloring Page

Family Opening Gifts at Christmas Tree: History & Fun Facts

Wrapping Paper's Surprisingly Recent History

The bright wrapping paper torn open in a scene like this one is younger than most holiday traditions. Before the early 1900s, gifts were usually wrapped in plain brown paper or tissue. That changed almost by accident in 1917, when a Kansas City stationery store ran out of the usual tissue paper and started selling decorative envelope-lining paper instead. It sold out fast, and printed wrapping paper became its own industry within a few years.

Ribbons and bows followed a similar path. Curling ribbon, the kind that gets dragged along a scissor blade to spiral, wasn't invented until the 1930s. Before that, gifts were tied with plain string or fabric ribbon that lay flat. The puppy jumping near the presents in this scene probably has good reason to be excited: loose ribbon and crinkly paper are some of the most tempting things in a house on Christmas morning.

Why Gifts Go Under the Tree, Not on It

Placing presents under the tree instead of hanging them on the branches is its own small tradition with a practical root. Early German Christmas trees were often small tabletop trees, and any gifts too heavy to hang from a branch simply went on the table or floor beneath it. As trees grew larger and moved to the floor themselves in the 1800s, the space underneath became the natural gift-storage spot, and it stuck.

That habit also created the modern moment this scene captures: an entire family gathered on the floor together, at the same eye level as the tree's lowest ornaments, instead of standing around a table. Sitting on the floor to open gifts is such an ingrained part of the day that most people never stop to ask why the presents ended up down there in the first place.

The Order of Opening Presents

Families handle the moment of opening gifts differently, and those small rules often become traditions of their own. Some open one gift at a time in a circle so everyone watches each reaction, some let the youngest child go first, and others allow a free-for-all the second permission is given. Stockings are frequently opened before the tree gifts, since they're smaller and meant to be a quick morning appetizer before the bigger unwrapping begins.

Name tags on gifts became standard once families started exchanging multiple presents rather than one shared gift for the household. Early gift tags were often handwritten strips of paper tied on with string, a far simpler version of the printed stick-on tags most stores sell today. Some families still handwrite tags every year specifically because it slows the process down and keeps the focus on each individual gift instead of speeding straight to the next one.

A Room Full of Reactions

Whatever order a family uses, the tree itself usually stays lit through the entire process, its lights reflecting off crumpled paper and new toys scattered across the floor. That mix, a decorated tree, torn wrapping paper, and a room full of people reacting in real time, is what makes gift-opening scenes some of the most recognizable Christmas morning images there are.

A curious puppy or excited pet often becomes an unplanned part of the tradition too, chasing loose ribbon or claiming an empty box the second it's set down. Pets don't know or care what's inside the wrapping paper, but their reaction to the noise and motion of gift-opening morning has become its own small tradition captured in countless family photos and, fittingly, in scenes just like this one.