Come and share you Christmas Eve traditions ! many of mine have been inspired by Mumsnet !

[fakeblondie]

I just love hearing about other people's traditions and many of ours I now realise I have started from mumsnet threads !
The biggest hit and one we will always do with dc was lining the entire drive both sides with empty jam jars on Christmas eve . pop a tea light in each one and light. . . .just as Dc look out window to see if they can see Santa at bedtime there is a lit up landing strip for Rudolph ! beautiful.

Other traditions we have are . .

Always go into town for a hot choc Christmas Eve.
Christmas Eve hamper for all dc with new pyjamas, reindeer food, DVD to watch < (Polar Express last year ) , marshmallows to toast on patio burner before bed.
Always go to church to candlelit service and have champagne when we get home.
grown up tradition of cuddle with Santa ( DH ) in front of the fire last thing as it's the only night in the entire year we know dc won't come downstairs !
DH always delivers sacks dressed in full Santa Outfit incase of peeping ! DC are 19, 16, 9 and 2 !
love it x

We always have a Christmas drink at a pub in town, come home make Christmas cookies, gingerbread house and snowflakes for the window. Then a christmas crib service at church followed by a Christmas Eve buffet at home and watch a christmassy film. Once the boys are in bed dh and I crack open a bottle of champagne.

We do baking in the morning whilst singing along to all the Christmas songs.

Have a drink at the local village pub lunchtime, watch a Christmas film and then have our Christmas meal. We have the main meal Christmas Eve night instead which DD loves. She then watches another film, puts out the reindeer food, has a bath etc before finally settling down for bed.

Christmas Day is then a really relaxed day, eat and drink what we want but with no main meal at all. DD gets the attention she wants and I don't have to disappear to the kitchen.

That's a good idea to have the meal on Christmas Eve SushiQueen. I found that I
was missing out on spending time with ds because I was cooking in the kitchen. I now buy everything ready made so I literally just have to put it in the oven, I know that's not to everyone's taste but we prefer it this way. I think when my youngest is older we will move our Christmas meal to Christmas Eve and will probably eat at a restaurant and then have a buffet type meal on Christmas Day.

Does everybody really get Christmas Eve off? We have to work to at least 1200 - so by teh time I get home (usually drop off presents on teh way and sometimes collect the turkey) it's around 3p.m. - so spend the next hours tidying the house with dh and setting teh Christmas table. Usually no time for a special meal - just a rush to get things ready before kids go to bed. One year they nearly forgot to put their stockings out! Last year was good as Christmas Eve was the Saturday.

We have always booked annual leave on Christmas Eve. Even before we had children I would book annual leave if I could.

I always take it as annual leave.

I have to go in for the "morning" or otherwise take a full day's leave - but the reality is that everyone brings their kids and once you show your face around 10am ish (we can officially start up to 10am anyway on flexi system), you really only have to stay a while (I usually go in early but leave by about 11am).

DH is usually off, so comes into town with us in the morning and wanders (enjoys a quiet coffee and the paper), and meets us to get anything we need. If I need to get the turkey, we do that together. But we would be home before 2 usually, and we tend to do dropping off the following day on our visits.

We try to do the big cleaning/tidying in the days running up, so it's just a picking up job on 24th.

And we also don't stress about it, once there is food on the table and the house is warm, we aren't aiming for perfection (even if there are visitors coming to ours).

Haggisaggis - I was going to ask the same thing!

Not really an option for us to take annual leave, and this year my husband will be at work until 7pm, so not quite as magical as it could be!

That said, we always have a party on Christmas eve for close friends. Last year we had 12 adults and 8 children here and it was fantastic - the children ran around like loons getting more and more excited, until there was a ring at the doorbell and a box on the doorstep with stockings for each child filled with sweets and one of those little playmobil figures - at which point they almost exploded with excitement! It was brilliant, and what I remember from Christmas eve when we went to the same family every year for a party.

Our friends obviously consider it a pretty fixed part of their Christmas eve too - we have our 3rd baby due on dec 21st this year, and when we told them, the second thing he said after congratulations was "but we can still come over on Christmas eve can't we?"!!

I have xmas eve off for the first time in 6years.

I normally only work until 2.30 though so plenty of time for Christmassy stuff.

I love reading what everyone else does. A lot of our December traditions have grown from ideas on mumsnet.

We do the hamper on Dec 1st as we always have family over on Xmas Eve. The hamper is a Christmas box. This year it will arrive with Cranberry (our Christmas elf) and the advent calendars. The hamper has new pj's, a couple of Christmas DVD's, Christmas story book, chocs and a Christmas cookie making kit.

Christmas Eve DH works till around 12pm. In the morning, DC's will make the Chrismas cookies to leave out for Santa later. Then usually pottering around, DC's watching Christmas film, me preparing veg for the big day and buffet or meal for that evening. DH's family all come over from around 4pm and we exchange gifts, play games etc. Once they leave - usually no later than 8pm - we track Santa on Norad and read some Chrismas books before bed.

I love the idea of the reindeer run way. And the flour / glitter boot prints. Does anyone have any ideas what we could use for the tea lights? I think it's a bit late to start saving empty jam jars!

Paper bags, especially brown paper bags, or chinese take away white bags. Any sturdy, medium sized bag with a flat bottom will do really, but it's nice to have a lot of them all the same size, colour and shape. You put some sand in the bottom to weigh them down and set the tea light in the sand. If you want to be fancy you can cut shapes in the bags but they're just as nice without.

I always read 'King John's Christmas' by A A Milne to the DCs at bedtime (or bedtime for DS aged 7). Eldest ones are teens/20 but still come and sit and listen to it.

Am not sure about putting a tea light in a paper bag.... Will it not burn and set alight my reindeer runway?! Extremely excited! Dd has just turned 2 and this year is going to be SO magical!

The last couple of years we've had special tea light holders for our runway but before that used a range of jam jars/nutella jars. We always track santa on Norad too, when he gets to Africa it's bedtime. :)

Kirstoll I bought some battery tea lights from ebay for our runway. We have used them loads already, in fact dcs are amazed by them - non burny candles as dd puts it!

You lot are so lovely. Our Christmas Eves have always been a mad rush to clean and tidy and wrap, but having read this thread I was inspired. Everything is wrapped in advance, and we are spending Christmas eve visiting a favourite relative in the morning then off to WinterWonderland at Hyde Park to see the circus. Can't wait.

We do at least hang up stockings by the fire and put out reindeer food, and always have spag bol (DCs very favourite meal) then homemade chocolate yule log by candlelight. Used to do all the wrapping with a glass of champagne, but this year it'll be feet up by the fire once the Dc are in bed.

When the dc's wake up, they always like to see what is in the last drawer of their advent calender. I usually pop a little present on top too. Last year it was a mug with their photo on filled with sweets.

I've bought the gingerbread silicone tray from 'Lakeland' as a surprise for the dc's, so we will be baking a gingerbread house in the morning ( they have always wanted to make one, but we've never got round to it, so they will love it!). DD is only 23 months, so she will cut some gingerbread girl shapes with DH while I make the house with the boys.

We will also make some peppermint creams dipped in chocolate (probably do this while we are waiting for the gingerbread house to cook/cool)

I'd like to fit a nice long walk in at some point. We live by the sea, so a lovely walk along the beach with the dog, and then back through the town to see the lights, soak up the atmosphere. pick up some nice fresh bread for lunch.

After lunch DD will have her nap, and DH, the boys and I will watch a dvd with some christmas nibbles!

I need to think of some sort of activity for later on that everyone can join in with. Also need to decide what to do for dinner!

We'll put out mince pies/ carrot/ sherry for FC. Read 'Twas the night before Christmas', hang the stockings, and hopefully have a nice relaxing evening once the DC's are in bed!

Love this thread- inspiring me.

fluffy how do u make peppermint cremes I fancy this idea. Then we could have them after dinner on Christmas day.

A lot of people have mentioned gingerbread houses. Is this a Christmas tradition? How for hansel and gretel link to Christmas?

Wow, this thread had me practically in tears (am pg!) it all sounds so wonderful and calm and fun.

We are doing turkey and trimmings for Christmas Eve dinner, then bath and bed for dd (2years) after watching the Snowman and Father Christmas dvd's and putting out mince pies and carrots. We live in an apartment so not sure where I will leave them. Other than that I haven't really thought of anything special to do but this thread has inspired me! Christmas day will be stockings and a breakfast of panettone and champagne and then out for lunch; tea will be sausage rolls, leftover turkey or smoked salmon sandwiches and mince pies and Christmas cake. Cannot wait!

This is such a lovely thread and has given me some super ideas for our first Xmas at home this year.

Just thought I'd share :)