i used to do this to myself OP and you know i never acheived an entirely clean house for xmas day. never. i would get some rooms cleaned but not all.
i think if you set yourself a smaller target you are likely to feel happier on xmas day because you will have a big tick mark inside your head rather than feeling like you didn't get everything done.
so what are essential rooms?
for me it would be kitchen, bathroom and living room and stairs/front hall because those are rooms people are going to see if they visit (and kitchen and bathroom for hygiene obviously)
then you decide what is essential within those rooms?
for me it would be:
kitchen: counters cleared and cleaned, all dishes done, table cleared and cleaned, any piles of clutter stacked as neat as possible or put into a big box to hide it, floor swept and clean.
Bathroom: basin, bath, toilet and showerscreen/tiles cleaned with a flash wipe, floor swept and mopped and laundry hidden dealt with.
living room: clutter hidden or made to look as neat as possible, surfaces wiped, soafas wiped (cream leather), floor swept and mopped
stairs: hoovered.
hall: shoes neat in a row and floor swept and mopped.
i did all this today in about 90 minutes. it isn't a deep clean, it's a surface clean but it was definitely enough to pass my mother's inspection 
your bedrooms dont need to be clean for xmas, you just need to have space to put new stuff. you have 3 days to have a quick look through all toys and bin what is broken, donate what isn't used and put away the rest. in your shoes i would get thsoe plastic storage boxes and just dump all the' to be kept' toys in them til you can properly sort them.