Well, technically, midnight IS the morning of Christmas... So the OP did it right, but the family not only pulled a total jerk-move, but also cheated.

That's just how it's always been. I mean, how else will Santa be able to visit all the houses, plant the presents under the trees, and eat the cookies before midnight? It's just a tradition. Sure, there are other traditions that involve opening presents on Christmas Eve, but Christmas itself just doesn't start until sunrise.

I think that only really works in places that have snow. In my opinion, it feels a lot more Christmassy at night when you can see all the lights shining on the tree than in the morning when you can see the green grass outside and the blue sunny skies through the window. It's hard to get into the holiday spirit in California. When I was a kid, we always opened our presents on Christmas Eve, and my parents made us go to our rooms so that we wouldn't see Santa bringing our presents. Let me just say I never believed them.

It doesn't snow here either. In fact, it's ugly and rainy today just to mock us. :| My parents usually hid in their room long into the night wrapping and whatnot after sending us to our rooms. Then, everything would magically be in place by the time we woke up around 7:00. It's harder to wrap all the presents in the day time and then claim Santa did it, methinks. But then there are parents who wrap ahead of time...

What was OP supposed to do? Never leave his/her's mom because she might open presents without him?It probably didn't even cross his mind that they'd do this. Anyway this is probably fake.