AIBU to wonder what people do on Christmas day?

[BurntToastSmell]

...besides have arguments of course

So far, me and my little brood are:

Church in the morning.
Open Christmas presents.
Crimbo dinner at the pub.
Errr... now what?

We don't have any family close by.

I don't want Christmas day to resemble the boring ones I remember from my childhood; Sitting in front of the TV with a glum feeling of anti-climax.

Suggestions anyone?

Wake up and kids open stockings....breakfasts, some go to church, some play outside or go for a walk. Prepare and eat lunch (yum!). Open family presents before pudding. Pudding, games, oldies sleep infront of TV, youngies continue games....

Am excited just thinking about it!

We see family on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day but chose to have Christmas Day just the three of us. Always have done since before DD was born. She is 10y now and we love our Christmas Day - relaxed, fun, and only ourselves to please.

Normally wake up when DD wakes up between 7 and 8.
I go down stairs and grab my camera.
DH and DD come downstairs and then DD will see her "Father Christmas" oresent - which is normally something all set our ready. After that we open presents. DD loves us to all take it in turns. DD has lots more than us though so once me and Dh have finished DH goes and gets us all a drink - normally Bucks Fizz for us and juice for DD. We probably munch of Christmas chocolates for breakfast :)

We will then look out, play with gifts, etc and will call parents to wish them merry Christmas.

Might get dressed late morning and Dh will make a late breakfast - nothing fancy maybe toast or muffins.

Lunch is normally early-mid afternoon, when we get round to it. I never spend hours cooking on Christmas Day. I will cheat and buy beg that is preprepared/ready peeled/sliced etc. Dh and DD take it in turns to chose their meat - DD likes duck, DH steak. I will usually chose fish as I don't eat meat. We rarely bother with a dessert as normally too full. We will have it late afternoon instead or even soemtimes instead of supper in the evening.

At some point we will go for a walk - either before or after lunch. Last year friends had a brunch offering and we drove over there after a walk for half an hour or so.

Afternoon/evening is spent playing a game DD will have got, messing about with new gifts and watching TV.

DH and me will enjoy a bottle of wine or two.

Ooooooh anoldie that sounds bloody fab.

We have breakfast of cheese and crackers and pork pie (midlands tradition, I think. Passed down from my gp's)

DS will probably spend a few hours playing with his new toys (he's 2) and probably a drive to the local park for an hour whilst the bulk of the dinner cooks to burn off some energy. We'll eat dinner, DS will nap, wake up and then we might pop to some friends for a few drinks, and the children can play.

Back home to cold cuts, bed for DS and more fizz for us

It's a lovely thread op, am soooo excited now..

You had boring Christmas's as a child?

As a child, in the afternoons, my mother would make us all play games such as charades. And hunt the thimble. No she inflicts this on my DC, but they seem to enjoy it. But then DM banned TV on christmas day, apart from the queens speech.

I quite like to go for a walk if the DC have had a new out door toy.

Everyone Christmas sounds wonderful, I hope you have a great day and open a bottle for me :)

I am a 36 year old woman who has either gone home or to mil's house every single year so far.

I fancy staying at home this year.

Usual customs:

Cups of tea all round
Present opening.
Cooked breakfast.
Playing with dc and their new toys.
Pottering about.
Kids to park if one of us can be arsed.
Lots of drinking and eating.
Lounging on my parents' v comfy recliners - ahhh.

Yes, might go home after all ...

We don't have family nearby either, we usually visit them one weekend in December. Sometimes I wish we were having a
big, multi-generational Christmas day, in nordic knitwear and new cashmere socks, like on the telly.... then I remember what my family are really like

Get up, make coffe/tea, watch dc open presents

smoked salmon, scrambled egg, bucks fizz for brekkie.

Open family, non-Santa pressies.

Take dogs for long walk in local country park, through woods and round the lake. Exchange greetings with other dog walkers and familys. Kids on new bikes and scooters, everyone with new hats and scarves, tinsel round dogs necks! Everyone says Merry Christmas, it's nice

Home, to play with new toys, read new books, neck bucks fizz. Snacky lunch, teens are allowed to retreat to bedrooms to play new console games for a bit if they like.

Dh cooks roast for about 6-ish. Nothing too hard work, just a normal, nice roast dinner with turkey crown instead of our usual chicken, and a couple of bits like bread sauce and cranberry sauce that make it a bit special. Something like Sara Lee gateaux for pud, no-one likes xmas pudding. Crackers must be pulled, jokes read, and hats worn.

No telly, unless there's something particularly special - like The Gruffalo a couple of years ago. We don't bother with Queens speech or films.

Play a board game with teens after dinner, when little ones are in bed. I buy a new one every year, but TBH I think I have them all now.

Port and nice cheeses. Chill. Bed.

Anticlimax towards the end of Christmas Day is normal. Bit like the last couple of days of a holiday. Something nice is ending. Long time till it comes around again. All that.

Plan something social for the evening. Ask another family over?

Or plan a big day out on Boxing Day that means you have to get ready the night before.

Or jump in the car and drive off to farflung family on Christmas Day afternoon. The roads are really quiet on Christmas Day, so your journey will be easy.

I've run out of ideas now!

The children wake up at the crack of dawn with a little help from an over excited me

They open their presents while we watch and film them. (it gets added to a tape that shows birthdays, holidays and christmasses through the years, so we get to see the differences year on year. It's lovely.)

We then exchange our gifts.

Then the children eat chocolate and play with their stuff, which my husband begins to get drunk and I finish cooking (most of the stuff is cooked/baked/prepared in the days running up to christmas day)

Most years we have a houseful and we just eat, drink and have fun. Watch tv, chat.

It's really laid back. There aren't plans to stick to or anything, we just do what we feel like doing.

And we make the boxing day pledge of Never Eating Again.

Then that afternoon, we're picking at the goose leftovers and digging into the nuts and chocs.

I'm at work from 7am-7pm so my lovely DC's will be with my parents all day ;-(

Were gonna have ours on boxing day this year, they're unhappy and upset but it's my job,it's the only time wen I HATE being a nurse :-(

Up early with dc. (1 and 6)
Dh makes us all a hot drink, puts lights, fire on etc
Brings drinks up to our bed
All open our stockings while in our bed
Go down and see what Father Christmas has brought
Play
Cooked breakfast and Buck's Fizz
Play, more Buck's Fizz
Dinner
Walk hound
Play
Snacks
Baths for everyone
Hot chocolate with cream and flakes for dc.
Dc bed
Wine, anti pasti, more wine, more food....
Bed

First Christmas in a while we'll be on our own (as in no visitors and no visiting) so making the most of it.

Ds3 should be about 7 weeks old this Christmas so we'll have to see how it goes!

Christmas is overrated I work 8.30am Christmas Eve to 8.30am Boxing Day sorts it out nicely.

It's just the 2 of us (TTC so hoping I'll be skipping the champers this year).

We go for a short run around the local park. Then home for stockings, croissants with scrambled eggs (and smoked salmon for him) and the first glass of champagne.

Rest of day is cooking, eating, pressies, phone chats with faraway rellies, Dr Who, other nonsense tv. I love Christmas day!

Don't ever feel guilty for working Christmas. If you need to work you need to work.

• Open Father Christmas presents
• Breakfast
• Church
• Kids play with presents while I cook dinner
• Eat dinner
• My Dad or DH dresses up as Father Christmas (good outfits on eBay) to give out the Christmas tree presents, i.e. from relatives, friends, and the presents DH and I give to each other. The kids love this bit and it spreads out the present giving so it's not too full on in the morning.

By that time it's about 5pm so not much time to get bored! But honestly, there's no reason to get bored - as others have said, go for a walk, play board games, watch a bit of TV in the evening.

stocking presents before breakfast.
breakfast.
wash up
church ( walk there and back)
home via the pub for a swift drink and say happy Christmas to neighbours,
cook lunch (DH) / Make a table/ wall decoration out of old cards, bits of tinsel etc ( me and DS)

Eat lunch
wash up
Cup of tea
The queen
open presents
play with stuff
tea for DS,
story
bed time for DS

More wine whilst reading new books/ playing with new gadgets and eventually supper for DH and I . If we have GPs staying they seem to slot into this OK. DH and I had similar experiences in our own childhood Christmases, just with GPs living locally so we tended to do lunch and afternoon with GPs.

Get up whenever the children do (so far they've never done the insane getting up at 4am thing and since they're now 10 and 5 I think we may have escaped that)

Open presents

Eat breakfast (providing they haven't already eaten a selection box / giant tube of Smarties)

Watch some telly

Get veg etc ready for dinner

Welcome various family members who've come for dinner

Cook and eat huge dinner

Play cards / board games

Tidy up

Telly

Bed.

We're a very dull family

Now they're older they bring Mum and Dad coffee in bed. Then I get up and cook breakfast.
Tapas out for the day. Pressie opening at ten with 'It's a Wonderful Life' playing in the background.
Board game or new jigsaw around twelve, helping ourselves to tapas.
Afternoon walk and back for food to be served at four. Food and clearing up etc takes us until eight. We'll sit and chat or watch a film that we've all chosen.

Kids get into my bed at the crack of dawn to open their stockings

Bucksfizz and croissants/cinnamon rolls/ brioche (anything naice that can be oven cooked) Have been thinking of making a posh bread and butter pudding for breakfast this year.

Open presents while eating breakfast (common)

Get showered and dressed in new christmas outfits,

Go for a walk in the park,

Go to my mums, more presents

Very late lunch

Another walk to the duckpond if I'm not to squiffy or asleep

More food and drink. Card games and board games with the grandparents, brother and sister and stepsis and her dc.

Might stay over unless I can scrounge a lift back home from brother or sister.

Boxing day I'm having an open house, my nan will come over, my mum stpdad brother and sister, friends popping in. Will lay out a buffet with a ham and not get stressed.

Would like to stay at home just me and dc so they can play with their toys more, and I won't get stressed about their over excited behaviour with my mum and gran making digs if they forget a please. But it won't feel that christmassy just the 3 of us and I'm to cheap to cook a massive dinner

This is our first year with DS, and I think the plan is: Up early (as usual) with DS, have breakfast in new PJs, get washed and dressed, my parents come over, all open presents and have brunch/snacks, start making lunch. After lunch and napping we'll be doing some kind of mini celebration as it's DS's first birthday too! So birthday cake, balloons and more presents I imagine!

I'd like to go out for a nice walk if the weather permits, must check if the local park is open on Christmas day.

Once DS is in bed, we will drink wine and watch rubbish TV and films and play with all DS's new toys!

And then the inlaws will be coming a couple of days later, so we'll do it all again!

I've never understood opening pressies so early on as most of you seem to do - everything after that is bound to be an anti-climax, especially for children.

We open stockings, then one pressie before breakfast, then one after. All other pressies get opened in the afternoon. That way everyone still has something to look forward to most of the day.

OldGreyWiffleTest Because it's evil making kids wait all day looking at their presents.

Early October