For various reasons, our last three Christmases have been remarkably similar to the one you're about to have.
My tips are:
- when the supermarket delivery slots come out, book one for immediately after Christmas. That way, you only have to have enough food in for 25th & 26th. Delivery on 27th can bring fresh bread, milk, fruit, veg etc.
- how many bathrooms do you have? We have an ensuite and a family bathroom & a cloakroom downstairs. Usually, DH and I use the en suite & our DC use the family bathroom. Over Xmas the DC use our en suite leaving the family bathroom just for guests. As well as making sure there is a stack of loo rolls in there, I put some Dettol wipes in there & ask whichever is the most likely to actually do it to wipe around with a Dettol wipe once a day. It takes minutes & means I don't have to worry about it.
- every evening whilst the DC are in the bath, we have one or two adults on bath duty & the rest are on downstairs duty which involves putting any toys away, hoovering through, emptying the dishwasher etc. If everyone is doing something, it obviously gets done faster & no one seems to mind joining in (well, I say that...BIL only joined in on his third Xmas)
- the last to bed are responsible for ensuring the sitting room is tidy before they go to bed. Just little things like making sure no glasses are, for example, left on the floor next to a sofa makes a real difference when you have little children getting up early
- be clear with plans. Don't mind throwing people put for a walk or to take the DC to the park whilst you stay at home & peel veg or whatever and, hopefully, get a few minutes to yourself
- get a box in the garage or utility or somewhere & fill it with spares... lightbulbs, loo roll, kitchen roll, foil, cling film. I opened last year's spare foil about a week ago!
- find out what people's favourite drinks are so you have the right mixers in
- I keep a magazine or a book & a box of chocolates in the en suite. If a relative is really annoying me, I just disappear up there for a few minutes