Don't like Christmas Day - your tips, pls

[NoNoNoMYDoIt]

Background: I have 2 DC - DS aged 6 and DD aged 3. I am divorced from their father.

I just don't like Christmas Day. I love Advent, tree has been up since 1 Dec. Taking kids to Lapland UK on Friday. Can't get enough of all that sort of thing.

But Christmas Day - bleurgh. Kids wake up early, overhyped, rip the paper off their presents in 10 minutes and then spend the day whingeing and bored and tired.

I want to give them a lovely Christmas day full of fun and excitement. But it's all about the presents for them and they just end up so overhyped and then ungrateful. Last year, DS said 'I hate these presents. I want different ones'.

Normally they are great kids but Christmas seems to bring out the worst in them.

So - what do I do to make the day less awful and to stop me wanting to strangle them by 7.45am?

No family around, so we won't be visiting anyone or being visited. I think we might go to church in the morning, so that will take an hour. We could go out to the park or something in the afternoon.

What do you guys all do which makes Christmas day special and stops all the whingeing?

the poo croissants have been purchased. and pain au chocolat too. that should take up 20 mins of the morning at least.

thanks all so very much for your replies. and i do love the idea of a message from Father Christmas saying that he expects them to behave nicely and NOT open their presents all at once. we are going to LaplandUK tomorrow so I might contrive one to arrive on Saturday thanking them for their help at Lapland and asking them to make sure they are especially good on Christmas day and don't rip their presents open all at once.

They were given magic reindeer dust at school to put out for the reindeer on Christmas eve, so we will do that.

DD has said she doesn't want Father Christmas coming into her room, so her stocking will be in the lounge. DS says he wants him in, so there may be a couple of things in his room, but will make it v small stuff.

i have decided that i will actually paper over the front room door so that no-one can get in there without me knowing in the morning. (DS sleeps downstairs so he often lets the cats out of the kitchen and goes into the lounge to play first thing)

i will tell them that they must come into me in the morning and we will then go downstairs into the lounge together and see what there is.

i have bought some of that chocolate sheep poo to put down as reindeer droppings and found some sleighbells that will have fallen off Santa's sleigh. I will also do Santa footprints with boots and icing sugar.

So that gets us to about 7.05am...

I have also picked up some craft stuff to put in their stockings. I will try and get them to open their stockings and one main present before breakfast. Then do the croissant / pain au chocolat poo and maybe some craft. then get dressed and Daddy will come with more presents oh good that will help a lot

Then church. Then lunch. Then hopefully I will have a glass of something once exH has gone home and all will be fine from there on in!

Thanks so much for all your lovely suggestions. Fingers crossed I can contain the excitement and make it bearable this year.

nono will you come back and let us know how it goes? :)

Sure will. May post frantic calls for help throughout the day

NoNoNo - your Christmas Day plan sounds lovely, I used to have a rough sort of 'timetable' when my children were young too. Merry Christmas

Just to let you know all going well. The poo croissants and pains au chocolat were a hit! The kids have remained calm as have I in spite of dd having a temp of 39! Exh has been and gone and we have been to church. Dd is having a lie down while I supervise Lego construction. Turkey in oven

I papered the lounge door and put sleighbells in garden. I also did snowy feet on the lounge floor (flour) and some reindeer droppings. All a big hit!

Thanks for all your tips. So far so good and still loads of pressies left to unveil!

So happy that you are all having a lovely morning. I hope your DD feels better soon.