What are you plans for Christmas Eve?

[thecatthepupandme]

My two girls are 13 and 10, so one believer and one non believer. My little one is very excited and because this will be our last Santa Christmas I want to really enjoy and make the most of it. Usually we have a walk around the park the. Head into town for a hot chocolate before heading home and starting the Christmas prep.

We have a buffet dinner and then put our Xmas jammies on to watch a movie before they head to bed.

We also got a lovely advent Christmas book ( Santas crazy countdown) to read the month of December so were excited to start that on the first dec

What does your Xmas eve look like ?

This year I will be starting a night shift with the teeny babies on the neonatal unit :)

We will get up. Bacon baguettes for breakfast . I prep veg and cook meat for Xmas day.
Usually a walk round the woods , take a some cakes. The children build a den we sit in and have cake.
On the way home we pop in the local where lots of our neighbours/ family are have a couple of drinks.
Come home , the children have their Christmas eve boxes , inside is a nice bath bom and shower gel. They have their baths and hair washed. Get in their Xmas pj's. Do the craft from their cmas eve box., Usually get a take away then we all watch a film with pocorn and whatever treat they have in Xmas eve boxes.

Bed wait 7 hours for them to sleep ! ( one year was 3am!)

Waking up at elderly parents, doing all the food prep for the next day (not a roast - they don’t like nor can’t eat that much food). Try to convince my dad that a lump of Cathedral Cheddar does not constitute a cheese board.

Spending the day / Christmas Day trying not to lose my mind.

Me and DH are going to London for the day. We are going to the Carols at the Royal Albert Hall (our 5th year of going as we love it) and then going to see the lights in Piccadilly, Oxford Street, Carnaby Street etc.

Collecting turkey and food order from M&S.

Meeting mates in the pub at 4 with all our young adult kids that went to school together.

I bloody love Christmas Eve.

Dinner at 5, then up to the church by 6 to get a seat for the 6:30 mass. After that, bath, hot chocolate and snacks then bed for DS2. I've a feeling 17yo DS1 might go out to see his friends.

I will watch Carol's from King's as I drink sherry and retrieve the presents and last minute decorating.😊

i have the day off, so into town with the kids for a pub lunch. Meet DH on his break, then last min shop , home to drink and prep the veg, lay the table and chill.

Spending Christmas with DS and DDIL so we'll be having Polish Christmas Eve, and British Christmas Day. Will be waddling home day after Boxing Day.

Our dc are all in their 20s now (21,22,24) so Christmas Eve is a totally different thing than when they were younger, we've kept some stuff from then and added new things. This year we have MIL and my parents as well, as well as 3 dc and 2 partners.

The daytime is spent working (kids, and dh) or wrapping resents etc. dh will be home by 4, dc here by 6. It's become a tradition to have a fondue for dinner, followed by a chocolate fondue for dessert. I have to do very little of this except make the creamy chocolate on the stovetop before the dipping begins.

After dinner we clean up (have to get dishwasher on for the morning!!) and move to the lounge. We have an advent wreath which we light each Sunday of advent no matter who is here, and then we light all the candles plus the last one on Christmas Eve. We have a series of readings we use and have since the children were small, they all love it, even dd2 who thinks religion is poppycock!

Then another Christmas Eve tradition is that dh reads the children "Kipper's Christmas Eve" which we've had since they were tiny. It was read for years but as they got older dh started improvising pits and now it's a full scale production that has everyone in stitches! I think I might record it this year!

After that it's some liqueurs or gin/whisky before bed.

@weegiemum We do the fondue too!

Then another Christmas Eve tradition is that dh reads the children "Kipper's Christmas Eve" which we've had since they were tiny. It was read for years but as they got older dh started improvising pits and now it's a full scale production that has everyone in stitches! I think I might record it this year!

This brought a tear to my eye! Possibly the two wines I've just had and watching DH play the saddest violin solo ever (I am STARVING), but oh my heart! I hope we're still doing things like this when our kids are grown.

Get in from work in the morning, sleep all day, eat junk, head back to work in the evening.
Riveting stuff!

The 23rd we have ice skating and Father Christmas visit. Probably burger lunch out

The 24th we'll probably go skating again, if it's on. Then nice dinner and a Christmas film, wine obviously, chips etc for the kids

Maybe a Christmas walk

What does your Christmas Eve look like?

Like any other day. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Work! I'll be done around 2 I hope, dh hopefully home by 3, pack car, pick up dsd from her carers around 5 then head to my family for Christmas, drink much needed glass of wine and be waited on by mum! (Dsd has very high needs so the wine may not happen but we include her as much as is possible)

Working. Normally work until 4pm on Christmas eve but this year they've told us we're finishing at 1pm as a "treat". I haven't decided yet whether to go into the office or WFH.

When I've finished work I'll drink baileys and eat chocolates. Will probably get a takeaway. DS is an older teen so no santa or anything like that, but we'll watch a movie together.

I’m working but not sure what hours yet so whatever we do will depend on my shift. We sometimes have Maccies or KFC for tea. DH & I do all the veg prep for the big day & we always watch Love Actually whilst wrapping any presents that haven’t already been done. If I can stay awake, I watch the carols from Kings.

Best day of the whole year!!

Potter around house for breakfast and play, out for a frosty walk, lunch in a nice pub, home to prep next day’s lunch, bath, new pjs, eat pizza in front of log fire, kids to bed, watch Die Hard, then Santa comes, sleep 🥰

Working!

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of work going on elsewhere!

I’ll put a ham in the slow cooker before I go and set the oven to come on for some jacket potatoes later in the day.

depending on how the shift goes and what time I get home (should be 7pm finish) we might go to the pub.

We have two traditions. Cinema and Delia’s 3 mushroom pork stroganoff. We usually go pub for an early tea prior to the cinema. Last year my very theatrical son had us playing charades. We had some funny looks but it just made me and my hubby chuckle and a little bit proud. When we get home the kids have Xmas eve boxes which are new PJ’s and toothbrush nothing amazing but they know that they are on the ‘good list’. We settle them and have our tea - hoping they are asleep prior to ‘staging’ the living room. If I’m honest we are probably close to the kids and DH pandering to my traditions. I’m NC with my family and have such a wonderful ‘in law family’ that I want that to be my kids foundations.

My youngest adult child and her toddler will be staying with us, so I expect I will be woken early and then I will have breakfast with them.
Then I will need to clean and clear the dining room before laying the festive table, as my other daughter and her family are all coming to lunch.
DH will go to get them while I finish off getting lunch ready. It's going to be our traditional Christmas Eve meal of fish pie, so I will cook it in advance and it will just need to go in the oven and there will only be the vegetables to do at the last minute.
After lunch my DH will take middle grandson to choir rehearsal and son in law and eldest child home, then later on eldest daughter and I will go to the Christmas Eve service at the Cathedral and hear middle grandson sing, before delivering daughter and grandson home.
Then a light meal of cheese and crackers or something similar, before bed (where I will be waiting to hear sleigh bells ring!)

I will be working. Come home and quiet dinner with husband.
I love Christmas Eve night.
Wine and cheese.
Last year I bought a bottle Baileys .. hadn’t had for years. Drank 2 large glasses and woke up in middle night and promptly vomited everywhere , no Baileys this year!

We're going to be by the coast with our friends and their kids too. Things we currently have planned are doing a polar breakfast in the morning for the kids, my friend and I are going for a swim in the sea, we will take the kids over to the beach for a run around in the afternoon, pub tea out, back home and some carols around the piano and watch the snowman before the kids head to bed. I can't wait!!!

@GiddyRobin The ‘visiting his ancestors’ thing sounds very familiar!

Getting proper white christmases is worth all the strangeness though.

Working and then trying to get home before the buses service closes down