A thread of wisdom from those of us who have survived young children and Xmas expectations

[MajorMujer]

Please feel free to ignore, but my DC are now adult and this is what I have learned over the years.
There is no such thing as the perfect Xmas
Go with the flow, ie don't fret if your DC dont want to eat a big Xmas dinner - just give them what they like.
Do not let other relatives dictate the day, this was a biggie for me as PIL would arrive at 9:30am expecting a spotless house and spotless dressed children. DH actually put his foot down about that one.
...and Boxing day is usually more fun !

Any more pearls of wisdom ?

We couldn't do it this year but our family tradition was a really long, festive Xmas eve swim. My children are very difficult to get to bed at best of times but this really knackers them out and makes them less frenetic

We just dial back the expectations. The kids are over excited and over tired and we’re a bit knackered too so Christmas dinner was beans in toast requested by my youngest and which he ate happily, we did “proper” Christmas dinner today and everyone enjoyed it for being less tired and less hyped up. The kids were in pjs most of the day and flitted from one toy to the next, we set aside the day to play with them and didn’t worry about piles of wrapping paper, boxes etc. We also got them into bed early, which they were ready for - we all did much better today for having had a good nights sleep.