So thinking to Christmas 2012, lessons learnt? Mistakes regretted?

[TimeWasting]

I did very little in the way of Christmas this year and it's been dull.

So next year I plan to decorate with greenery, do crafty activities, make presents, read Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve, have a nice breakfast etc.

What have you regretted from this year?
What will you def do next year?

(And do I win the prize for earliest Christmas thread???? )

We still have the cards we've received stacked up on the dresser. Next year I will have a plan for them that doesn't involve pins, string and holes in the walls but allows them to be displayed.
Next year I'll wrap and keep list of what I've got as soon as they are bought - marathon wrapping session until 4am this week hasn't helped matters; adequate sleep would be preferable.
Dinner was great even though the pigs in blankets were rather well done. Transferring the cooked veggies into serving dishes and washing the pans before we ate was a very good idea. Serving dishes can go in the dishwasher, pots always have to be done by hand and if I hasn't done 'em, they would still be there.
Family circumstances don't allow for any quiet time to relax, there's lots of coming and going and now grandkids are stopping over.
I've enjoyed parts of the day but to be honest I am really really craving some peace........

playmobil needs assembling

I was glad of the extra selection packs I'd bought 'just in case' because one or two were needed for extra presents for children whose parents bought for our children unexpectedly.

I went a little overboard on the gifts that I bought and have a couple of things that I didn't need to buy.

Lesson learnt - buy more gift wrap. We only JUST had enough and DH's stocking presents didn't get wrapped.

Must do again next year:

• cook goose. Went down very well indeed with spiced apple sauce. I thought it wouldn't taste like Christmas without the turkey and cranberry combo, but it really was special.

• use a splash of damson gin in the mulled wine. Delicious.

• pan fry the parsnips instead of roasting them. Crispy golden brown, sticky and sweet.

You have had a bloody good excuse for not doing much this you know.

Next year I refuse to deep clean the house during october and november. fecking killed me and i am now ill again.

Don't let myself get so tired. I've spent every spare few minutes trying to nap - I'll try to be less tired next time.

A small turkey crown that feeds 3-5 is in fact a monster bird and won't feed two "with a nice amount of leftovers". I'm a bit overwhelmed by it and am now looking for good leftover recipes to make and freeze .

Next year: return to a turkey leg and embrace the dark side meat.

There's no way I'm getting a goose next year. It took 6 hours to cook and a huge glob of fat ended up on the floor as it was so bloody heavy I couldn't get it out of the oven.

Next year I hope I'll think a bit harder about DD's presents. She was 14 in November and I felt a bit bad for her today as she had some nice presents but it was all a bit dull and nothing really that she could 'do' this morning.

Trouble is, as she said herself, she has loads of kits and things to do which lie ignored in her room, and she couldn't think of anything herself that she particularly wanted.

Maybe I'll get the brains of MN on it next year!

Next year I will buy food ready to be bunged in the oven. While I love cooking and planing the meal, I did find it a bit much today especially seeing that it is only me and DH that eats it, DS being a fussy git.

I would also go easier on the gifts. I overspent this year.

I reckon I may also arrange Christmas Eve drinks for friends that live close by.

Next year I will just order the nice turkey from the expensive butcher to start with, not be let down by the butcher I use all the year yet again. Ever had to return a turkey because the bastards offloaded a nasty pre-packed bird that looked like it had been kicked around a footie pitch on my 18 yo son who had kindly volunteered to collect it and save me the Christmas Eve shopping centre scrum? For the second year in a row I slunk into the posh butcher's wondering if they had a 7 kg turkey with nobody's name on it and for the second year in a row they saved the day!

I will not be ill next year, after second year running of being ill all Christmas day (last year flu, this year sinusitis).

I will write christmas cards earlier so I actually send them, rather than waiting for November and then being ill. Will announce christmas card day as the 1st oct!

Big change for us, we have kind of agreed together that from now on will have christmas day at home to save carting presents on 300 mile road trip. Will be sad not to have grandparents watching present opening (will invite them but v much doubt will come), but will save the comments about just getting an orange, a nut and a hapenny bit. Try explaining how father christmas too has given into materialism.

I might try to rein in the spending a little. Many things were second hand, and relatively not a mega christmas spend, about 300 pounds between 3 children but dh huffs and puffs about the cost (which we can afford, esp if he stops randomly buying them dvds/games each time he takes them out), and that all he got in his day was an orange, a nut, a sixpence and 3 toys.

I managed to cook well for everyone despite only 4hrs sleep due to pain, and the children seemed to like all of their presents. They all still embraced the magic, and dd1 (nearly 7) even managed to catch a glimpse of the big man when she went downstairs in the night (though she never wakes up, and I was awake most of the night and didn't get to see him). Altogether a fairly good day, just hope I and dd2 can catch a bit more sleep after more pain killers before the children are all awake.

I will try harder to get presents in advance. I had some but not too many, and I think it I could be totally finished by December 1st I could really enjoy the holidays more. I felt bad too as I just got some dull gifts for DH and he got me the first two seasons of Jeeves and Wooster, which I adored when we were first dating. I was touched he remembered! :) I really need to write things down when I hear of something someone would like.

I will answer this properly tomorrow as I am expecting 19 for lunch today but yesterday we were tired by about 4 pm but living in the countryside meant it was too dark to take DS out for a walk so a walk early on. Also, M&S premium range stuffing wrapped in bacon tastes like perfume so I won't buy that again next year!

oooh, and I won't decide to decorate the livingroom and put down new flooring in December!

Thinking towards 2012 , have started Christmas shopping NOW - wrapping paper and cards go on special now

I am also going to write next years cards out as I take down this years, and put next years in the top of the tree box.

I am writing the names of all the people I need to buy for and will buy stuff throughout the year

I am also looking into a hamper from somewhere like Chrisco, but will probably write a list of all what I'll need and again start throughout the year.

I will NOT trust my FIL to collect my roasting pork (or anything else to be honest) to avoid the seething I did all day about not having the piece of pork I paid for....

That I will make a list of who sent cards to me and write down my neighbours names.

To buy more xmas card holders in the sale so I can get them all out of the way of the kids as they are delivered.

I intend for it to become family tradition that we go out for Christmas lunch. It was bloody brilliant. Made the day seem really special, and a superb alternative to me slaving in the kitchen all morning while everyone else has a lovely Christmas morning. The food was probably nicer too! Santa made an appearance. The kids had all sorts of activities laid on and had a marvellous day racing around with their friends. No washing up. Home for snoozes on the couch and proper investigations of the morning's presents. Perfik.

the lady at number 7 is called Brenda, as I thought, and not Bettina, as DH insisted and so wrote in her card.

I will remember that having a day of just dh, ds and me with lunch courtesy of Mr M&S was totally lovely

and to put all the stickers on dd1's teeny tiny Sylvanians accessories the night before, or at the very least before dd2 eats them

Fewer visitors on Christmas day! We were swamped unexpectedly and it was all too much for DD 1 & 2.

Tidy the playroom properly before Christmas so we have somewhere to put the huge quantity of toys!

I will do more homemade stuff next year, did none this year due to newborn.

To chill out. This year I didn't stress about anything until dinner was cooking .
I didn't care if the tree wasn't perfect and I didn't blitz the house in preparation.
My mum usually spends a 100.00 on each dc she didn't this year and instead got them each one present they really wanted. Because of this my house isn't bursting at the seams and my dc said it was a lot less stressful this year!
I did put a lot of thought into the gifts for dc this year and they have gone down a storm. I bought the dd's a candyfloss maker and we all had loads of fun making it.
We had a very chilled out day and a record was set as not one argument broke out all day!
I will buy prepared everything for dinner next year though.

In the run up we have been doing little things each year this was the first year that the dc asked if we were going to do them so I suppose they are our family traditions now.
We always go into town or look online and they each choose a special tree decoration. It's so nice when they get them out again the year after and recognise them.
We have coke floats on the 23rd . Think I made them once when the xmas food shopping arrived and now the dc have conned me into thinking this happens every year.

We had friends round on the 23rd and 24th, this seemed to stop the boredom and they loved it as they were seeing their friends at a special time.
They made reindeer food and decorated a chocolate tree.
I bought a lot of cheapy christmas craft packs from homebargains which kept them quiet the week before too.

Actually, I am feeling rather smug about how things went this year, as I put into practice some of the lessons learnt in previous years. :)

Bought cards and wrapping paper in the sales last year, so had a good stock all nice and ready. Also can't live without the little scotchtape wristband thing - makes present wrapping so much easier!

Started writing cards in early November, much less stressful and cheaper too because they went 2nd class. During the holiday, I intend to type all of the names & addresses into a spreadsheet, so that next year, I'll be able to print out address labels - should be much quicker!

Bought stuff throughout the year, looking out for bargains as I went. Also tried not to procrastinate too much this year, and was fairly decisive about what to get.

Started wrapping presents early this year, so no midnight marathon on christmas eve. Quite relaxing actually, in front of the TV of an evening, sometimes with a glass of wine.

No panic shopping/wrapping on Christmas eve, so was able to relax, make gingerbread with dd and watch DVD. House smells lovely after the baking too!

Breakfast was scrambled egg with smoked salmon, and bucks fizz for the grown ups - has become something of a family tradition, and is a lovely way to start the day. Yum!

Dinner was eaten out - a lovely five-course lunch which we started at around 2pm, so we all feasted and then nobody wanted anything much in the evening. Nice half hour walk to the restaurant and back, which gave us all a bit of fresh air and exercise - and no washing up! :)

No family rows this year - my dad has been unwell, and I think it has all put things into perspective a bit.

Next year, would just like the house to be a bit tidier - then it would be perfect. :)

Do a big toy clearout BEFORE Christmas day. Sitting room looks like a toyshop. See if my DSis will come to us to save us schlepping over to her for an hour (as we have done for the past four years). Try and structure DPs family handing out the presents as it was chaos (again) this year and my mum missed seeing DS open the presents from her. Try not to get so stressed. Get more help somehow in advance; seemed to spend all if Christmas eve on the kitchen.

Put water in the pan with the turkey. Stops it drying out, and makes it lovely and tender.

Took the week off work beforehand to get the house ready, and meant not too much of a rush.

Worried that I hadn't bought enough presents for DC, but they had more than enough.

Am very interested to hear of those who have eaten out on Xmas day - would never haver considered it, but maybe should for next year.