To think christmas with small dcs actually isn't that great?

[NapQueen]

Yes their little faces at the gifts and the magic of "has he beeeen?" Is lovely but

They get overwhelmed at getting extended family gathering
They get bought craft kits which are too old for them and they want open now even if there's no space to do any
They need to nap more because it's all so exhausting
They don't want the food
They need care and attention so gone are the days of getting quietly squiffy and playing charades or articulate
They generally eat a lot more shit so have these random sugar highs and lows

I'm fucking exhausted!

"Christmas is for the kids" - only because they steal it!

Oh god I have a 1 year old with flu. It's been horrific

Yes my dc are 10, 6 and 4 and the Christmas is slowly getting more bearable. Plus I have taught them how to peel spuds, lay the table etc so even preparing the meal wasn't such a hassle (dh is lovely but literally no use in the kitchen)

I disagree. I love it (2 and 5). Maybe because we did Christmas 'inhouse' this year so no visitors, just us. Best and least stressful Christmas ever.

I think the common denominator here is toddler

This has been the best yet with my 5 and 3 year olds. They opened their presents in the usual frenzy and then proceeded to go off and play together leaving us to chill together and enjoy watching them play!

I think it's better, we had a big family Christmas with 9 kids between 2 (mine), 4 (mine), 7 (mine) then 9-12.

Loved seeing them all open presents then they all just became a sort of herd of children and we all got tipsy and played games.

Have just scooped up the ones that had fallen asleep from various beds/sofas/floors and headed to our respective homes was brilliant!!

I think it's about approach, for one day I don't really care what they do/eat/wear/sleep the 2yo made it to 10pm before dropping, she was running on turkey and chocolate

Oh and before I get bashed for my "approach" comment it's also about:

• not having a 0-2yo which is SHIT
• having very low standards of parenting
• ignoring squabbles until they sort it out themselves or it gets violent 😀

We had a lovely day with 4 and 5 year old DS' today. I think the key factors were the high adult to child ratio and feeding them on demand. Expecting them to wait until we got lunch served at 3pm would have been a recipe for disaster. And they were delighted to have aunts, uncles and grandparents around to indulge them. They behaved beautifully today, and it's not often I say that, sadly!

I am reasonably relaxed about my 6 and 4 year old not eating Christmas dinner (apart from yorkshires!) yes, I would prefer them to eat it but given the crisps and chocolate first thing, it's not surprising they're not so hungry.

The rest of the year I am much stricter . Today I gave up!

I think it would be better if we could avoid traveling. We had to pack up all presents by 11am to move from in laws to sister in laws house. Today were going to my parents. We'll be able to get stuff out to play there at least. It was ok but sitting down to eat at 2.40 was too late, my mam is a roast dinner expert and can get it done for 1.30 which is better if you've been up since 6.
I hope 2017 sees us in our own house so we can stay home for Christmas I am so not doing this again!

Don't want to be smug but DD (3) has just had her 4th Christmas and has been pretty easy going for each one. Obviously no lie in, and this year I found it harder as I'm pregnant so I'm exhausted, but generally she just gets on with it and loves being entertained by grandparents so that makes my life easier. First 2 years she slept on the sofa through Christmas dinner so we all ate in peace, last 2 she sat happily at the table with us and wolfed her Christmas dinner. She had a short nap in the car and went to bed at 9pm this year, got slightly grumpy around 6pm but perked up again after eating some food. Minor disagreement about when we could open the new playdoh, other than that it's been easy.

My DH has been more of a PITA as he has a cold and so is obviously DYING.

Yesterday wasn't magical with an 11 mo but it was still lovely despite all the cold/teething/clinginess/bf-ing every 5 seconds. I think having to stick to the usual routines robs the day of the magic I was expecting - I'm looking forward to him being older so all our routines can be safely left at the door on Christmas day! Also just as tiring as ever other day and then some. But I still enjoyed it

Parenting did go out the window a bit though - ds managed to eat a whole nut, some cat food and some styrofoam then shoved his hand in some beer then into his mouth ahem, twice. This is what happens when I have my first proper drink in the best part of 2 years...

My sister came round with her 18 month old and six week old and she ended up crying her eyes out in the loo for half an hour while I talked her down through the door and my dh looked after her kids!

Small children are gorgeous gorgeous little blessings but HARD WORK and I am more than happy with my hulking teens with their headphones on saying two words a day while I get on with the serious business of drinking my body weight in Champagne and Bailey's.

We had 2x5 yr olds, 3yr, 2yr and a 3 month old - and it was surprisingly good! The children were all fab. It helps that there are lots of adults and that only one child is mine, ha!

op I hear you! youngest has been so cute my heart is in constant puddles but at the same time we are struggling to put music on - she screams and doesnt like it - wont sit at the table - waking us up all hours of night - weeing in our bed etc etc etc. Roll on next year, it will be all be fine she will be five!

My toddler was lovely - slept til 6.30am, opened presents nicely, played with his new things rather than the wrapping paper or boxes, no tantrums, little whining, ate his dinner nicely, had a good nap and went to bed at his usual time without a murmur and then slept for 13 hours straight.

BUT. I still agree, OP! I did t get chance to look at my new things until he was in bed, the timings of all the meals etc had to revolve around him, and I was so shattered when he had his nap that I had to nap too!

And please don't hate me for having a relatively easy toddler, he screamed whenever he was awake for the first six months of his life and never slept for longer than an hour straight, and that only if he was on my chest. His easy going nature now is payback!

My 7 and 4 yo have been ok, apart from barely touching the dinner that DH made which he was a bit crabbit about.

They have been reasonably patient about waiting to get stuff opened/set up.

18mo has required constant supervision so she didn't eat/break the older ones stuff though. Not so relaxing.

4 yo gets silly when tired and we let them all stay up too late so that was a bit hard work.

We never even got round to opening the wine ffs! Must try to pack them all off to bed tonight...

Christmas when they were small was nice.

Yesterday was brilliant. DSs 15 & 17
Opened presents
They played on x box
We had Christmas sex - oh yes
Dinner - they helped
Played games
Watched something grown up on the telly.

Bloody brilliant.

Agree - my DD is 11 and Xmas is lovely. She has always been an easy going child but the older she gets the smoother the day is!

We visited relatives for an hour yesterday and the smaller children (spoilt anyway) were hyper, rude and obnoxious. We both couldn't wait to leave!

Boxing Day - DD woke at nine and got herself bathed, dressed and made cereal. I woke at ten, currently in bath whilst she plays with new Xmas gifts. Then onto sofa to watch Dragonslayer and off to family for another day - no kids there either yippee

This was possibly my best Christmas ever. I hate this time of year and have lots of bad memories but yesterday was great. A few problems with family and dp and I are both ill but it didn't ruin it. It was 2.5 year old dd's third Christmas and she loved it. She played with all her presents, tried the food even though she's not a good eater, and had a big smile on her face for most of the day. She made my Christmas really.

We had a lovely day, but we're very laid back as are my mum and dad who we spent the afternoon with. My mum always says "it's just a roast dinner" and we don't get stressed about timings etc. We don't have starters and puddings are pre made or bought and very simple.

Breakfast was Festive Robin gingerbread with a huge fruit salad to share, egg cobs for DH & I. Toys played with for a few hours before we went to my parents'. We just wear normal clothes or jeans and christmas jumpers.

The kids just had carrots, peas, countless pigs (out of blankets as they don't like bacon) and made up for it with 3 puddings. Frozen on tv, a couple of board games and back home to play until they dropped.

It was a lovely precious day filled with laughter, but distinctly lacking in booze.

I think it can be a fun, relaxed experience if you have kids and families who are happy to drop the routine totally and perhaps it helps that we live a few minutes drive from my mum and dad's and my DH doesn't have any family that we need to visit.

Totally agree. My 2 year old thought the first present he opened was fantastic - so much so he wasn't interested in opening the rest. In the end I decided to keep them for his birthday next year!
The whole day was exhausting, both DC overtired after short naps, I didn't get to have a conversation with another adult without being interrupted after two sentences. I was relieved when the day was over.

Does get better, my dcs are 5 and 8 and the youngest actually ate most of his Xmas dinner for the first time ever as he's a seriously fussy eater. He spent ages just playing with his lego sets, wanting no help from me or playing new wii u games with his sister. The only thing that spoilt it was having most awful cold.

Mine are 7 and 5 this year - perfect really. Old enough to be able to sit at table and eat, old enough to visit and stay past their bedtime on Christmas night without us having to stay over or leave early, old enough for it not to matter if they got a bit less sleep on Xmas eve, and old enough to sit and watch Xmas DVDs and play with their Xmas presents for ages, yet young enough for all the excitement.