What are your Christmas Eve traditions?

[PlomBear]

Do you go to midnight mass? What do you eat? 🎄

If I get out of work early enough I listen to Carols from Kings on the radio during my drive from London to my parents’ house. Then I revert to being a teenager, install myself in their living room, get stuck into the Harvey’s Bristol Cream and wait for my brothers to show up so we can fight over decorating the tree and then sing Fairytale of New York as a trio on the piano.

We are an odd bunch food wise so dinner is usually eggs on toast or something.

Pastry breakfast.We have early evening mass this year on xmas eve. We will go to the park in the afternoon for a long walk with the dog. Christmas movie. On xmas eve night i cover the entrance to the living room in wrapping paper so the children can burst though in the morning. They love that bit.

Usually I cook the ham, we have an all day buffet on the go and if I can’t listen to Carols from Kings with a glass of something I get very grumpy!

This year we are having our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve for the first time, so I’ll be doing lots of cooking instead!

I live “inside the wire” on a military base. We have a Christmas Eve carol service in the evening in the chapel and a collection for a local charity. There are presents for the little ones. Everybody on the base is welcome.

The officer’s wives including myself, bake mince pies to serve and we also have home made mulled wine.

We then have a light supper in the mess and sherry or port.

Last year we started a new tradition of hosting Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. It was brilliant. We ate at 4pm, played games and DC went to bed a little later than usual. The family cleaned up while I put out the presents and enjoyed a glass of wine.

Christmas Day was relaxed and I finally got to enjoy playing with the DC and their new gifts. We all took the dogs for a walk on the beach and went home to glorious leftovers. Repeated the whole thing again on Boxing Day. It was perfect.

I think I prefer the magic of Christmas Eve to Christmas Day.

Oh and the old legend of animals talking at midnight!

We get a takeaway and watch some Xmas films. Don't go to church as we aren't religious. We normally have our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve but at hosting this year. We are going to watch the MR James adaption though

DP cooks duck in orange sauce. Lots of swearing but tastes lovely. At midnight we take champagne outside watch the fireworks with the horses (who don't twitch a whisker!).

We always get together with my family at my parents house. All my siblings and niblings are there. We eat a lot, act out the Nativity and sing carols and Christmas songs. We also play the white elephant present exchange game.
It's a love of fun.

go to work in the morning, flick round the house with the hoover and clean the kitchen in the afternoon, prep the veg for christmas day watch crap telly with a baileys and chocolates in the evening go to bed

We go out for breakfast to a pub or restaurant then a chilled out day, church at 6pm then home for a buffet dinner, a film and new pj's.

We go to the pub and get a takeaway on the way home.
Perfect.

We are having takeaway tonight instead.

The “light supper” is normally something like smoked salmon terrine and a cheeseboard and often profiteroles. Delicious

My (adult) children visit their dad on Christmas Eve, then come over to spend the night with me. If I'm not working I put on a buffet supper (they've usually had a big lunch with their dad), we all have a good natter and a drink, then watch either Elf or Muppets Christmas Carol! Then a dogwalk and bed.

In the morning, I take the dog for a walk - I wanted to go for a run but a chest infection has put paid to that this year. My husband takes a child (we have two; 6 & 4.5) to the butchers to get last minute meat shopping before heading over to his parents house to start prepping veg ready for Christmas Day (when there will be 17 of us eating).

The other child and I start tidying to (politely) loud music and we deliver local presents/cards. A Christmas film gets put on in the afternoon and then our friends and daughter come over in the evening for homemade pizza, baked Camembert and Baileys got chocolate.

I love it.

Crispy duck! About 7 or 8 years ago, pre DC, DH and I had no plans on Christmas Eve. Went to the nearest Sainsbury's for a quick food shop and found a crispy duck kit on offer as it was the use by date so we grabbed it and made it at home and really enjoyed it. I said half jokingly we should do this every Christmas Eve and we have! Although need to get two kits now we have two DC who want to join in. Random but there we go!

I prepare Christmas day desserts most of the day - pumpkin pie, pecan pie, tiramisu, with some tidying and fishing out of candles and candlesticks for the table, and often a last minute supermarket run.

We go to an early evening Mass that lasts until about 7.30, then home for a festive dinner and dessert - usually something like lasagna and lemon meringue pie, followed by exchanging gifts with each other. There are five adult DCs so quite a pile of wrapping paper.

Then I put cinnamon roll dough ingredients into the bread machine and when the dough is ready I make rolls and leave them to rise overnight.

After everyone hits the hay I find the Santa Claus gifts (not all the gifts every year) and put them under the tree, and distribute little chocolate Santas among the DCs' stockings, which are currently hanging from the mantel.

I eat Santa's ceremonial mince pie and steal his sherry too, then toddle off to bed myself.

We have a nice, lazy Christmas morning, with brunch about 10-11 and eat dinner in the evening.

Open the stockings on Christmas eve, eat the same as I did when I was a child! Cheese, potato salad, sauerkraut, sausages, crusty bread. Watch some Christmas films.

We are trying something new this year. We are having friends round with their kids from 2-4 then all walking up to the church for the first mass of Christmas including the kids their will be around 30 of us.
I'm really looking forward to it.

We go to the cinema - Star Wars this year. Then mulled wine when we get home.

My friend comes round with her 2 dcs. It's them and me and my ds. They are teens now.

Have buffet lunch and usually just chat, watch a film, play board games etc.

Finish work and then pick DS up from grandparents, friend hosts a buffet at her house which is crazy as we all take the dcs.

We have a photo of all the kids lined up on the sofa, every year there are new additions.

Christmas pjs, Christmas film, nibbles. We're doing it a day early as DO's daughter is with her mum tomorrow night. It just means we get to celebrate twice!