What's the best bit of Xmas for you...

[daisydee43]

I love the planning and anticipation and getting all the finishing touches but when I was a kid I loved boxing day because my grandad made a grotto with a lever you pulled and a present fell out ...

[Happypiglet]

Christmas eve is my favourite day. It is just DH, me and DC before all the relatives arrive. We do reindeer food sprinkling and spend the afternoon at church taking part in the Crib service. It's a beautiful walk down to our church through parkland and it is even better if it has snowed and we need to sled down which happened two years ago!
Then we come home and eat tea by candlelight in front of carols from Kings before getting everything out for Santa.
I love it. Christmas day is all a out cooking and hosting for me so its a special family day for me.

[CherryMonster]

the lights!!!!! what can i say, i am a jewellery designer and i like sparkly stuffs. i may have been a magpie in a past life.

[OvO]

Games after dinner.

Growing up there was always a new family game as a present and after dinner we'd set it up at the table and have lots of laughs. So I now carry on the tradition with my DS's.

[seabuckthorn]

The build up I think. I start early and enjoy every minute of it.
I think my DP and DC opening their presents I've chosen for them is one of my favourites and showing my DC, who are only just starting to understand elements of Xmas all the lovely lights etc.

[complexo]

I hate Christmas sorry

[PandaNot]

27th December when the Dc and DH go off to visit his parents for a few days. I really don't like Christmas and find it all incredibly stressful. [needs a Grinch emoticon]

[Mintyy]

The food and drink! Oh and I love Christmas cards too.

[milk]

Christmas dinner

[Gemtubbs]

Having Christmas dinner at my mum's house. Could just forget about the presents and just enjoy that bit. Family together, eating a delicious dinner. It's lovely.

[LadySybildeChocolate]

I find Christmas Day really boring. I like the run up to Christmas though; the atmosphere when you go late night shopping, making mince pies and watching a movie with the lights twinkling around you.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Definately the planning.
I try to buy stocking gifts in October, presents in December.
My DS birthday is the first week of Dec so we don't put decorations up until 2 weeks before the Big Day (except the Advent Calender and Elf on the Shelf).

We plan trips out. DD and I go to the ballet ( Nutcracker or Swan Lake)
DH takes the DC to a film on the 22/23 while I get the shopping.

I love the driving away from Sainsburys with all my food shopping plus a few extra bits.

And of course Christmas Eve- very busy but all the anticipation

But when I was a child, my mum (who was a Christmas Hater) saying "Oh I wish it was Boxing Day and it was all over".
Thing is, she did as little as possible for Christmas. We usually had a guest who cooked, or I cooked.
So it wasn't like she was rushed off her feet. Christmas was always meh to her.

[milk]

" I love the driving away from Sainsburys with all my food shopping plus a few extra bits."

Does that make me sad too as I also love that part? lol

[ThePlatypusAlwaysTriumphs]

Love love love Christmas - always have!

I love the magic of it all, although I'm pretty sure my 2 eldest (8 and 7) have sussed the whole Santa-isn't-real thing now , but happily they still play along, and ds (4) is still a believer.

I love the build up- love planning the dinner, getting the tree, squirreling away the gifts. Even love the cheesy music (but not until 1st Dec)

I love christmas Eve- vigil mass, reading The Night Before Christmas, new pjs, doing the reindeer food and putting the glittery footprints at the chimney.

Love doing Christmas dinner- we have a huge 5 course dinner which takes about 5 hours and involves lots of wine in between courses! I love to cook, and pull out all the stops for Christmas, as I don't get to do so much complex cooking these days. Especially looking forward to this year, as last year my kitchen burnt down in november and we had to have the dinner at my dad's (although I still cooked)-this year will be my first Christmas cooking in my lovely new kitchen

Ooh- you've got me all excited now!

[LaurieFairyCake]

Christmas Eve - have the family over early afternoon and we have tea/cake/stollen, and we all watch 'It's a Wonderful Life', then I cook a big dinner with lovely food and we eat it in candlelight - then some go off to the service and dd has new pyjamas.

It's my favourite day of the year.

[40notTrendy]

Putting my hand up to loving the Sainsburys shop too
It's the run up that I love, decorating the house, cooking, planning food. Christmas Eve is magical to me.
I do find Christmas day a bit of an anti-climax though, but it depends on where we are though I suppose. More fun at home.
We went to Lapland last December and arrived home the evening of the 23rd which was just...sigh... wonderful.

[5inthebed]

I love Christmas eve. The whole day. The excited kids, the meal out with all my family, getting the kids bathed and put in their Christmas pyjamas, the special Santa pae with the food for him, sneaking around getting the presents out.

I can't wait!

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

milk yes, 'fraid so.
Even worse if you admit it in real life

[NettOlympicSuperstar]

Cooking, I love it.

[TheonlyWayisGerard]

Getting drunk in the morning

[Badvoc]

Xmas eve...I relive the magic through my children now?
We do reindeer food, leave out water and carrots too, drink and biscuit for Santa.
We also have an advent candle each year.
Reading a christmas carol in the evening...
Sigh...love it.

[DoingItForMyself]

I thought this thread was going to really annoy me as its only September, but I'm starting to get excited now!

I think I love the build up more than the actual day, but its so lovely watching the DCs unwrap their prezzies and seeing their little faces light up that Christmas day itself has to be the best one. The last couple of years I haven't cooked a bit meal, we either went out (for a curry!) or had a simple meal at home, with the roast on Xmas eve or boxing day, so I got to enjoy the day without the stress of all that cooking!

I also love the big shop, all the tacky music in the supermarket, everyone in a good mood and piles of satsumas and Quality Street on the end of every aisle - I can't wait!

It will be our first year without stbxh living here (he was a proper Grinch!) so I will be making some new Christmas traditions this year. Love the hamper idea on one of the other threads. And I can have a real tree this year - wahey!

[nochipsthanks]

I absolutely love Christmas now. When I was growing up, we had so much extended family angst (fighting aunts and uncles and people screaming and an aunt locking herself in a toilet once and crying - at aged 50- because she was not given a present she liked) that my parents actually banned Christmas when I was about 12. So we never had Christmas at all, and my parents still do not celebrate Christmas. They ignore it and garden or watch dvds.

With DH, we have a blast. We have his family over and they stay for a few days and I cook and cook and cook (my favourite thing) and we decorate the house and we drink champagne at breakfast and we watch all the cheesy movies and eat too much chocolate and I LOVE it.

And then, DH takes his parents home on the 28th (they live a long way from us) and I wave them off, open another bottle of something and play with the DCs.

It is just so much fun. :)

I get all excited with Christmas threads, then realise it is still 3 months away!

[peeriebear]

I love having people round. I know for some people, having just the family is what it's all about- but I feel the opposite and love having more family or friends round. Two years ago a friend of ours was going to spend the day alone in his flat! So DH went and fetched him and we had a corking day which extended far into the evening.
Last year it was just DH, the DDs and I for the first time as my dad had norovirus. It was a bit of a bust really, it didn't feel the same at all with just the four of us and I didn't enjoy it much.
I also love the preparation and decoration- setting out nice nibbles, making flavoured spirits, throwing a ton of glittery tat over the whole living room :)

[5inthebed]

*plate

[melliebobs]

If last year was anything to go by, reading all the nativity/school Xmas party etiquette kind of threads! Kept me and dh entertained