Can I ask what people generally do on christmas eve...? Looking for ideas.

[iloveholidays]

We are usually at family on Christmas eve then home at 5ish to get girls to do stockings, bath bed etc.

Because it falls on a Monday this year and DD3 is due in November we've decided to do family on Sunday 23rd instead, have Christmas Eve at home, then Christmas day and boxing day with family again. Hoping it will give me and DDs a chance to rest up before a hectic couple of days.

DP is the type of person who would usually just go and move in with family Christmas eve for a few days... Loves having lots of people around! So basically he's happy to have Christmas eve at home, but said he doesnt want it to turn into any other day so I'm looking for some Christmasy ideas to be festive but not tire us out!! :)

I'm thinking of making some festive cookies, watch a Xmas film and maybe go for a walk.

Any other ideas?

Thanks

xmaself NO! she is not too young! my DD has just turned 3 and is so excited. go all out this year.

Us too pablop! We call the 23rd Christmas eve's eve! Saddos
And when we wake up on the 24th I always text my brother a quote from the bill murrays scrooged "it's Christmas eve! It only comes once a year!"
Good times!

Work. Until market closing, drive back to base, unload, sort out the horses, go home and collapse into bed!
Its no joke being a market trader during cgristmas week! DP wraps the presents and probably buys them too and does all the other stuff.

I start celebrating right after our Thanksgiving (end of November) until New Year's eve. Christmas films, projects, crafts...I loooove it. :)

oooh I am afraid I have to be difficult and go back a day!

Our run up is starting on 23rd this year when we have a family day out to a local zoo type place, with our godchildren and their parents too (good friends)
There we have a 1.5hr slot booked with Santa / Mrs Claus / the elves

christmas eve, we have a normal relaxed morning, doing some simple baking / christmassy crafts, then we are off to the panto for the matinee show (2.30pm start) we'll have an early dinner after that.
On the way home we'll go in the hunt of pretty christmas lights, then go for a nice walk when we are home - either looking for more local lights if its dry, or in wellies and the woods if not!
Sprinkle reindeer food outside
baths
Everyone gets their christmassy pjs on
Do santas plate - mince pie, carrot, drink - which can vary hugely depending on DDs mood... last year she was positive he'd like a can of coke!
watch a christmassy film with hot chocolate
quick track of santa
try and convince DD to sleep whilst DS snores nearby

drink wine / baileys for an hour or two waiting for the full on snoozing before we madly get the room ready!

CAN'T WAIT!

DH takes the DC to the pictures to see a Christmas film then for hot chocolate and to see Fenwicks window. I stay at home and wrap like a mad woman. Then we meet family for some food, home, new pyjamas and bedding after a bath, Santa story and Santa plate then off to bed.

We go to the Xmas market on the south bank, have lunch and then go home, dd gets a Xmas hamper with new pjs, Xmas book and DVD. We all watch film together then make sure everything is ready for father Xmas and the reindeers.

5Things Fenwick's Christmas Window! Tragically living in the south but get people to text me pictures of it every year!

agenda it's worth a trip up north just for Fenwicks window!

Adding fenwicks window to my list -maybe one for the weekend rather than Christmas eve itself

We will arrive at my parents, clean the house and sort out the food for tomorrow. We will make anything that can be made in advance together, eg braised red cabbage, brandy butter etc while listneing to the Kings College 9 lessons and carols.

We will eat quite lightly (or veggie anyway) as Christmas eve is traditionally a day for fasting (at least until the first mass).

Then we will go to evening mass if we haven't planned to go on Christmas day (which iften we haven't if family are coming over). Sometimes midnight mass but often just the family mass as midnight mass leaves us all knackered the next day.

Then we will go home, have some dinner as we burn down the advent candle, we often eat fish but sometimes just a nice big pasta dish or something and have some mulled wine infront of a xmas movie. Then we put all the presents out have amince pie for father christmas and all go to bed early (so stockings can be sorted, and yes we are all adults).

Really christmas eve is a day of preparation, but a nice one.

brilliant thread OP - am goig to start planning with DH, starting frm the friday before Christmas :o

Oooh I'm so excited, I love Christmas Eve even more than Christmas Day! We will be starting the day with a full fry up, then we will watch some Christmas movies with ds. After that we will have my parents over for a luscious salad with cold meats and potatoe bake! Then myself and ds will make some cookies for Santa (and try not to eat them all on Santa) read the night before Christmas, maybe another Christmas movie and then ds to bed! We try to then get presents out without little man waking up! Such a special time! The anticipation is great!

We always go ice-skating on Christmas eve. Skating at Winchester Cathedral helps but all the rinks we've been to play Christmas music and it's a really nice atmosphere.

And watch It's a Wonderful Life.

I love Christmas and love this thread! My DD will be 10 months old this christmas so wont have a clue this year but I can't wait to make it special for her when she does.

Some lovely ideas on here, thanks!

Chicaguapa - I'm close to Winchester, might have a look into that... Haven't been ice skating in years. My DD will be 3.9 - would she be too young?

Christmas eve is always a nice buffet with tasty nibbles which I used to prepare but which the dcs have taken over now they are older. House gets a tidy up, and when dark we put out jamjars with nightlights in them along the path and up the stairs. Grandma and any visiting rellies come round. House is lit with candles everywhere and I MUST MUST MUST be ready to sit and watch carols from kings with a glass of chilled champagne with everything done.

Love the candle idea dementedma.

Where I used to live (in the US) the neighbours used to put out small brown lunch type bags with sand in the bottom for ballast, with lit candles sitting in the sand. The luminaria were spaced about ten paces apart all up and down the street on either side. I think it's a southwest US tradition but I wasn't in the SW.

We do it Minnesota too Math. :) I had white ones at my wedding reception.

Well, our kids are grown now, but when they were little we did much of what has been suggested already.
We alternated hosting Christmas Eve and Christmas day with the in-laws, having a buffet dinner and lot's of appetizers all evening on Christmas Eve. It was an open house and the kids usually had friends hanging out.

Most years we went to the family Christmas Eve church service. This is one tradition we still do. It is really a good one with the youth group performing musical Christmas show, they always bring live animals even a camel in.

If it was good weather (not raining!) we'd all go for a walk and look at the houses decorated with lights.

One present was allowed to be opened in the evening. Christmas movies on tv for the kids. We'd burn a letter to Santa in the fireplace (he would receive the letter via the smoke, being magical and all) and leave out a plate of cookies and carrots for Santa and the reindeer's.
Sometimes we'd bake cookies and decorate them, but usually that was done in the days beforehand.
Before I developed asthma, I liked to burn candles that had Christmas themed scents, bayberry, Christmas sugar cookie etc..

Nightlights in jamjars is so simple and amazingly pretty. Get the dcs to decorate them with glitter paint too. Even little dcs can make them and Santa uses them to know where to land the reindeer! Also they don't blow out or fall over so are quite safe.
Scatter a handful of shiny chocolate coins round a group of indoor ones for more loveliness

Funny you mentioned jam jars - I am doing jam jar lanterns for the fireworks night storytime session at work (library). Everyone's been saving their jars for us :o

Rather than paint, we are covering them with thin tissue paper and PVA, and then using black sugar paper shapes to make silhouettes. I've not tried it myself but it looked fab in the book :o

fuzzpig I did jars covered in tissue paper for Hallowe'en (I uaes small chubby jars like the Dorito Salsa dip jars).
And I used those battery TeaLights for safety.
They looked really good.