What do you do on Christmas Eve?

We visit relatives Christmas eve. We dont actually do anything big, just a nice get together with some drinks and nibbles. Christmas Day is at home with family. Both of us work Boxing Day.

We go to a farm in the morning so the kids can burn off some energy in the fresh air, it has a Santa so they get a last minute Santa visit and some cute activities. Then home for lunch and a nap for my youngest. After naps we tend to stroll to the local pub for a drink and then back home for picky dinner and some Christmas tv. This is the first year my eldest is wild with excitement so we will see what time she gets to bed! 😂

Have you got room for one more? I'll be no bother. 😇

I'm sure my lot can manage without me for two days!

Christmas Eve is a whorl getting things ready for Christmas Day. My kids are now older teens / twenties so are in and out all day with friends and do their own thing most of the time. DH works Christmas Eve so he’s out until 8pm ish. Usually arrive at supermarket at 6am as it opens to get fresh food. Driving to fetch DM in the morning. Making mince pies and Christmas cupcakes, possibly with DD who likes baking if she’s home at that point in time. Also make stuffing and sometimes prep some veggies. If it’s been a busy week finishing wrapping. We nearly always have hot home cooked ham baguettes for dinner in the lounge as soon as DH gets home, which is nice and easy and I collapse into the settee and watch silly Christmas rubbish TV for a while before bed, possibly with a glass of port. Those that are out can easily make their own dinner when they get back home. Last thing is to put out the presents under the tree when everyone else has gone to bed. Though it’s a rush it’s a lovely day and satisfying to have everything ready for the big day…

Christmas is eve for me is one of those rare days I don’t go out. I’ll have the carols playing on the radio and spend a good few hours making the chocolate Yule log, till the kitchen is covered in icing and chocolate. It’s become a tradition that I make it every year. While everyone’s out either for a walk or last minute shopping I’ll wrap up the presents etc while watching some films Father Christmas or the snowman. I’m not sure when I’m putting up the Christmas tree, this years theme being gold finger so everything decoration has to be gold. I’m kind of tempted to leave it till Christmas Eve so it feels extra special x
Oh and eat plenty of mince pies, last year I gave my self a third degree burn from one they can be deadly !

Me and OH work term time. So we finish the 19th of December

We have a pizza delivery and play boardgames from about 4pm onwards on Christmas Eve. We've done this for the last 20 years and it's always something we thoroughly look forward to. It's a nice chilled out way to spend Christmas Eve evening and we usually have a slice of left over pizza on Christmas night! This year we'll be playing Ticket to Ride, PacMan Monopoly and Frustration - and possibly Jenga too.

@HeyThereDelila
Och, they have pots and can’t shift it over the Christmas break so it’s going spare. We live coastal and we have a close community. We are very lucky!

@Tintackedsea this is amazing, I need more info. Do they go out and catch the shellfish or is it just that they buy it for you? What great neighbours.

I’ve got visions now of crabs running around the kitchen 😂

Always baffled by all the people who require new pjs every year. Especially if they’re Xmas themed. You must be overrun with pyjamas that never get used!

I’m from a French/Catholic tradition (though neither of those things 😂), so Christmas Eve is the main event of Christmas. We have a big evening meal, known as the Réveillon, which involves an elaborate dinner (seafood starters, lamb leg as a main, with many potato and other side dishes), many desserts, which are fiercely negotiated by the kids, but will include nougat glacé, monkey bread, pistachio Yule log and maple tarts, and then we go into diabetic coma and do stockings. Other presents are open on Xmas day.

The upside of having your main event on the Eve, is that our Christmas Day is very chilled. We have scrambled eggs and gravlax for breakfast, but for the rest of the day there are tons of leftovers from the big meal before, and our traditional meal on the day is a meat pie known as tourtière, which I make and freeze in November, so I just pop one in the oven and Bob’s my uncle. It’s a pyjama day and we just open presents, watch tv, play board games and chill. It’s heavenly. I don’t understand why our set up is not universally adopted.

If we are working, dd used to come to my office (we had to show up for an hour or take a full day off, and loads of kids visited). Then meet DH for lunch in the city centre and any last bits of shopping before going home to prep the veg etc and have a picky tea.

If we were not working, go for a long walk in the morning, and go for lunch locally. Then home for the prep and picky tea.

DD always made cookies for Santa as part of that prep. I always had half a batch from earlier in autumn frozen to slice and bake if time was against us - but if we had plenty of time, we’d make them from scratch.

We go to the church crib and Christingle service, wrap the last few gifts once DC are in bed, put out the mince pie, carrot and sherry for Father Christmas and the reindeer, maybe see family depending on who is visiting and when, hang up stockings and have fish pie for dinner. We usually prep the veg and bake the ham.

This year though I’m going to aim to have the wrapping all done before Christmas Eve, and if we can go for a nice walk or a visit to a National Trust property before church, to make it feel like more of a special day that isn’t just taken up by food prep and wrapping.

It’s not a season of joy for me at all. Money, family, everyone else having more of the above in one way or another. Christmas adverts… the usual shite.

I let out a huge sigh of relief when December / Christmas is over and normality resumes. It’s like a pressure cooker coming off the boil. I ADORE January.

We also used to have a nice dinner as xmas day we just had lasagne (as all they really wanted to do was eat their xmas chocolates and play with their toys) so xmas eve was our main xmas meal (usually around 4pm).

Once they were in bed DH and I would bring presents down, have a bottle of fizz, some m&s party food and watch tv.

DH used to spend xmas eve morning doing veg whilst I did the baking and cookie cutting.

I miss those days!

Now Xmas eve is spent doing veg in the morning, dropping presents off in the afternoon, a nice quick meal and then meet friends at the pub.

Mine are in their 20's now so do their own thing. But we used to bake cookies for them to decorate and hang on the tree, make mince pies so one could be left out for Santa, go out for a walk so they could charge about with the dog to try and get some energy out, bath (to be clean and nice smelling for Santa lol), watch the Nordic santa thing, new pj's and then watch all the xmas things on tv.

Love reading these!
We tend to get up early and go for a nice breakfast somewhere. Depending on weather we'll walk into town. I do enjoy the busy feeling and buzz but only because I'll have had all shopping finished.
Go to parents and see brother, sil and kids. Come home, prep any xmas day bits, fire lit, have freezer buffet for dinner and watch xmas film then bed. Have a newborn this year so will be quite different to an extent!

Usually gym (yes even on Xmas Eve), last minute shopping, crib service, Chinese take away.
After my DCs performance at last years crib service 🥴 I’m going to knock that on the head. I am working this year but will still have a take away and chill out.

Quiet day, we might book bowling although swimming is a good idea. We always have M&S food for tea. The kids go with DH the week of Christmas and stock up on lovely treats.

The past 2 years I’ve taken dc to a fancy cinema to watch a Christmas movie. One of the cinemas where you get food served to your seat. dh stays at home wrapping presents and cleaning. I then do some food prep for the next day and then we head out for an Indian meal in the village. Back home, light the fire, new jammies, G&t and another Christmas movie.

I book annual leave .Kids are all young adults: late teens and still spend Christmas with me . They exchange their gifts to each other on Christmas Eve - always have.
also do a Christmas Eve box - more alcohol and food based nowadays though !
will make mince pies and maybe go pub early doors .
still make them all reindeer food and still leave a carrot out for Santa 🧑‍🎄 😂
we track Santa on NORAD .
watch Christmas film and drink alcohol .
they are normally still awake when Santa os trying to deliver his stockings !

I left nursing for education sector. Best. Decision. Ever.

For 15 years I worked at least every other Christmas Day. And on the years that you got Christmas Day off you had to do the late Christmas Eve and early Boxing Day shifts so you couldn't fully relax.

Now I get school holidays and it's flipping wonderful. 10 years on and I'm still ridiculously excited about my holidays and never take it for granted.

i feel for those who do have to go to work (and hate it, some folk i know don't mind). Hated leaving the kids on Christmas day.

I think that's why I love having lazy days at home. Not having to go anywhere is the best. Pay cut worth it.

My DCs are all shift workers, so our Christmases are always a moveable feast. This year they are all coming on Christmas Eve, including the dog, the cat and DiLs mum.

Everyone is bringing food (picky bits). We will chat and have a few silly games. Knowing their track record, we will have enough food to last us through New Year. They are all great company so it will be a really chilled out day.

We negotiate. Most of my team like the time between Christmas and new year off, so happy to work Christmas eve. I'm happy to work new years eve so pans out. Plus, over Christmas we all wfh and it's pretty quiet but appreciate that's not the same for everyone.

My last place of work, we closed on 23 Dec til 2 Jan

We’ve done lots of different things local family farm park or theme park.
visiting a national trust house or similar

Though always ends with waffles dessert and muppet Christmas carol and Christmas Eve box (new pjs)