So what will you do differently or keep next xmas

[Cupcakeicecream]

I will buy less for extended family stresses thinking I havent given them enough gifts.
Wine cho late for the adults
Give cash to nieces and nephews
Stop sending xmas cards
Wrap in brown parcel paper wrapping paper was rubbish and kept ripping.

Keep

Buying adult DC "fun" presents instead of the practical stuff I think they might need. Many more laughs as DSs (33 and 32) assembled robots and flying things.

Butter muslin on the turkey - everyone said it was very moist. Must remember to remove for crisping up skin though.

Lidl's deluxe gravy - absolutely fine and one less job to do.

Change

Getting all the roasting pans out in advance and organised so I'm not flapping around looking for something to do the parsnips in.

I can't do this, but I'm tempted to retire my inherited dinner service and silver cutlery that only sees the light of day for Christmas as it's not dishwasherproof. Miraculously nothing has been broken but Draining Board Jenga does nothing for my nerves.

Stay at home instead of driving 600 miles around the country visiting parents.

It's been nice, but everyone is exhausted, and the kids can't play with some of their toys, like Lego, because of the logistics of getting them home. Plus we have no idea how we are going to get everything in the car as people have ignored our pleas for small presents for the kids.

What I'm going to keep from this Christmas, is the shit presents I got from various family members. I'm going to wrap them back up, label them, and give them back to them next year for their Christmas present.
That will solve a lot of hassle

@TheCWord
Yes!!
Sil can have her bottle of shower gel back, and I’ll have the nice face cream and jewellery travel case.
For some reason I feel humiliated by my obvious shite present. It doesn’t help our already fairly strained relationship.

I won't be having turkey again when cooking at home.
It's a tough old bird and none of us like it very much...sod tradition....it'll be lamb or beef next year

We had 15 and did a bbq and running buffet. Will do that again. No trying to get everything ready on time.

I'm really pleased with this Christmas. We invited friends over for dinner and we all ate about 6. I made the roasties in the air fryer and it was amazing!

I didn't get a start on the wrapping before Christmas Eve, so that was a bit of a panic. But apart from that, it was all good.

Perhaps not host. I love all the prep and build up, and love cooking. We’ve hosted about 10 of us the last few years, but DD is 2.5 now and even with the best prep in the world, I feel like we barely saw her all day, what with all the cooking and then clearing / tidying. I am absolutely shattered this morning!

I’m thinking next year maybe we will host something a bit more relaxed on Boxing Day, a nice help yourself spread that’s a bit easier to prepare and serve!

Christmas needs a complete overhaul in our house. I am not sure how to do it but I need to take out about 90% of the pre christmas excitement. Everything else was lovely but we were all knackered cause hardly anyone got any sleep

Maybe do it all at home (4 small kids).
Don’t wrap any Santa gifts and remove as much packaging as possible before putting in stocking.
M&S roasties were excellent. Will M&S what I can.

I always say I won’t buy as much food but it never happens. We always just go overboard and now have excess food to get through.

We did use brown paper this year which was great, wrapping paper is a total waste and terrible for the planet. The DC also made their own crackers this year and filled them with a joke and little sweets which they loved doing, we’ll do that again next year for sure.

Honestly I hope I stop stressing as much next year because it always all works out in the end.

Would definitely consider preordering the entire Christmas dinner from M&S again. Usually I love cooking but work and study increased to a point where in late November I realised I did not have the time or headspace to prepare and cook everything from scratch and I could not delegate the job to dh as he has no time or headspace either.
So I bought the whole damned lot, picked it up in 10 mins from M&S on Monday, and yesterday spent a very short amount of time peeling film lids off things and either putting them in the oven or the microwave.
It all tasted absolutely lovely. Everyone was happy and full and I retained serenity throughout Christmas Eve and Day.

Book myself into a private hospital to be put into a three day coma until it's all over.

Keep
Not sending Christmas cards.

Buying less presents. We didn't buy DC as much as we normally would but everything we bought was something they really enjoyed. It didn't feel like they had masses of stuff that would go untouched for days. My parents on the other hand continued to buy lots of random little bits that will never get used.

Also bought less snacks than usual as we always have so much leftover. Today we still have a lot unopened which goes to show we don't need tons of extra stuff.

Change
Forgot to leave the mince pie out for Santa and sprinkle the "reindeer food" - need to remember that next year.

Same goes for crackers. Forgot to put them on the table, then by the time we'd eaten I'd forgotten all about getting them out.

Possibly not bothering with Nigella's brined turkey next year. Did it for the first time this year and I can't say it had a noticeable difference from any other year. The goosefat/maple syrup baste was really nice though, so maybe I'll just do that.

Did party food on Christmas Eve and we had lots leftover. I think next year I'll just do pizza or something simple which is guaranteed to get finished.

Keep - Small starter at 12pm to keep us going, and dinner at 2pm. This meant I could get out for a walk in the daylight after dinner. I always feel a bit stir crazy on Christmas day, and it felt good to get out. Plus, anyone that stayed in cleaned the kitchen - bonus! I came home to a tidier house than I left

Change - I had no boxes of chocolates in the house! We normally get something given in the run up to Christmas and I try not to have too much lying around in January, but this year it was too tight! I could have done with a couple of chocolates in the evening.

Make sure all wrapping is done by early December. I had finished it before CE but it was hard going for the few days before.

Got most of Christmas dinner prepared in advance which was good but still a lot of cooking on the day. Everyone enjoyed their meal but not sure it was worth my stress.

Might go back to having the roast on CEve next year & a hot buffet on CDay.

Presents for DC were perfect, less this year but just right. Gave suggestions to anyone who asked who all stuck to them so dc had a fab selection!

Snacks were also perfect, few tubes of pringles & 1 tub of quality street. Enough to be nice, not so much you feel sick.

Be fully prepared that the dc will struggle to sleep & be a bit emotional about things on CEve. Also we went to look at Christmas lights on CEve which was nice but might not do it next year.

Loved having a real tree which looked & smelled amazing but may suggest buying it on the 2nd weekend of Dec instead of the 1st.

I will prepare better by getting the flu jab in the Autumn

Things that worked well this year: As a pp says getting the tree the second weekend in December, it still looks great. Also I have quite a lot of other decs in various rooms so I put those up one weekend and sorted the tree the next.

Getting out of the house on Christmas day, just to the park with youngest. Weather was great and we got some fresh air and expended some energy.

Having Christmas dinner as a late lunch and Christmas pudding and cheeses for supper in the evening.

Not so good:
Wet and windy today and the plan for today to go to Winter Wonderland (local version, not london) doesn't look great. No indoor alternative but will go loopy cooped up in house all day.
Had friends round christmas eve (evening) so lost some of my prep time and had to get up earlier than planned on Christmas day.
Forgot to buy cranberry sauce!
Drank too much (not drunk but a fair bit slowly over the day) and feel a bit rubbish today.
Parents coming tomorrow and have not planned or shopped for meals as it seemed too far off a couple of days ago!

Keep-
Less more expensive presents for the children over more cheaper ones,

Going for a long walk then to the pub on Christmas Eve,

Box with batteries, scissors, screw driver, bin bags etc next to the sofa for ready Christmas morning, all small bits, instructions, money and vouchers got put back in the box for sake keeping. Didn't get round to it last year and MIL chucked out £30 and two chargers for toys

Getting myself ready first. Have often ended up a sweaty mess due to 'just' finishing off loads of jobs before getting ready then running out of time. This year I snuck off for a shower once all the Santa presents were opened.

Money as gifts for nieces and nephews on DH's side, piece of cake to sort and more appreciated.

Spreading out the courses. Starter at 12 main at 2:30, pudding at 6

Going to the supermarket at opening (6am) with DH on 23rd and then having a coffee after. Was really quiet and we got everything we needed.

Lose-
Not preparing food etc ahead of time, thought as it was just us it would be ok but it did take more time than I'd have liked.

Brining the turkey. Complete waste of time couldn't tell the difference at all.

Too much party/buffet food for Christmas Eve, expensive and didn't get eaten.

I am away with my family and DH family ( 12 of us) for a week, everyone apart from my kids and DH is getting right on my tits . Next year I would like it to be just the 4 of us but it won't happen and I probably wouldn't want it to either ( I'm hard to please 😂)

Part 2 of postponing Xmas going well - DH snoring gently on the sofa with the dachshund draped over him, dishwasher on. Grey and rainy outside, definitely was a good idea to go walking yesterday.

Santa gifts - remove packaging from a lot of items.. ds said oh Santa ripped the price off (I didn't know there was a tiny tear). Buy plenty of batteries.