The background - I have three kids, two are in high school and one is 12. The 12 year old got really sick on the 23rd.. the eve of Christmas eve. 103.8 fever, aches, tummy hurt... he just felt lousy. I put him to bed and he stayed there all day on the 24th. By that night, he still was very sick. Normally we open family presents on Christmas Eve, but we decided to wait.

My 12 year old is at that age where I don't think he believes, but he WANTS to so after I put him to bed, Santa came and we all crossed our fingers there would be a Christmas miracle and he would feel better.

By Christmas morning, when we normally open Santa presents, he really tried to get up - he took a shower, said he was well enough to go down and see what Santa brought, but took one look at the presents, turned right around and went back upstairs and crawled into bed. I said we would wait to open gifts until he was better, but one of my teens had an attitude about it all day and tonight my husband said he felt bad that we made the kids wait to open their gifts. Now I'm second-guessing everything. I thought it would be cruel to let the kids open their gifts while their little brother was sick upstairs but tonight my husband said we should have let them open their gifts. I suppose I could have picked out a couple of gifts for them to open, but I have no idea which gifts are which... Santa wraps everything in red paper and many of the packages look similar. Even though they have the kids names on them, I have no idea which gifts are which, so it's hard to pick out a couple... I didn't want one kid to open a pair of socks and another kid to open their "big" gift.

Tonight, my 12 year old seems to be improving a bit - his fever now around 102 but he stayed in bed sleeping all day and I'm just really hoping he's MUCH better tomorrow, the 26th.

I didn't think I was asking too much for making the kids wait, it's not like I'll make them wait for days and days but my husband now thinks that making them wait was wrong. Maybe it was.

EDITED TO ADD - I've gotten lots of the same questions:

YES I have been in contact with his doctor all along

YES my husband was involved in the decision to delay gifts. He had a change of heart later.

My 12 year old probably doesn't believe in Santa but doesn't want the magic to end. This wasn't a question of AITA because my kid likes the idea of Santa.

Yes I do have a LOT of red wrapping paper and I wrap the presents so that they all look similar. That is how Santa did it when I grew up.

We did not "cancel" Christmas, just delayed presents. We did special things with the older kids.

My decision would have been the same no matter what kid was sick.

My plan was never to make them wait forever. By Christmas night the big kids knew they would get their gifts the 26th either way. We opened this morning and all is well. Fever broke last night and today (the 26th) the 12 year old is slowly feeling better. Merry Christmas, I appreciate the perspective!