Christmas Present Etiquette

I have a question for the masses. (Yes, I humor myself and assume teeming millions read all of my posts.)

What exactly is the etiquette on opening gifts received from people who won’t be around to know whether or not you waited until Christmas morning to rip through the paper?

I got a present from my mom at the beginning of this week. I’ll be traveling to Buffalo (hopefully to a white Christmas) at the end of next week, and I don’t really want to pack too many presents. As it is, I already have to pack the presents for Safe-Dancing-Guy (assuming I manage to go shopping and get some soon 😛 ). So realistically, I have a couple of options:

1. Open the present NOW!!!!
2. Wait until the day before traveling to at least make an effort to open it as close to Christmas as possible.
3. Err on the side of masochism and wait until AFTER I get home from traveling to open the gift.

Anyone care to gift to me their two cents? (If you do, please don’t wrap them or we’ll be here a long time.)