On Christmas Eve, since DD was almost 1, we have baked cookies for Santa. Some years, we are relaxed and calm and do it from scratch. But I always keep a half a roll of dough from a previous batch in the freezer for the Christmas Eve that is frazzled and busy and we've run late somewhere - so I can just slice and bake. (The oven is always on anyway and I am in the kitchen peeling etc for the following day - but it's usually reasonably relaxed, I just want to avoid deliberately overloading myself). Nowadays, DD will do it all herself, but by about 3-4, she could crack eggs, allow me to check for shells and then whisk them, sieve flour, mix the batter, and slice log of fresh dough into cookies with a regular dinner knife (frozen dough needs Mammy and a sharp knife). If you have a rolling out and cutting type dough, that could easily distract for a good while.
We do a Christmas Eve hamper - after dinner, and lighting Christmas Candle (to show there is "room at our Inn"), when we reflect on the good and bad things about the past year. Our hamper marks a transition towards bedtime - new PJs (for DD, DH and I in our case), bath bomb, nice hot choc, DD stocking, and our family copy of "Twas the Night before Christmas" to be read that night. DD puts out the stocking, and cookies we baked, runs up for her bath and new pjs, back down for hot choc and final Norad check on the way to bed, where we read the book (and probably a few more stories) before we get to settle down for a while and relax.
I have a list of things to put into the advent calendar in the run up, as we have a calendar with pockets that I put a small chocolate into and some kind of note or colouring sheet (printed off internet for free) most days (I haven't done all these myself, just have a loooong list for ideas when I am wiped) -
Clean your room for Santa coming
Get rid of broken toys from playroom/chest
Put too small clothes into a bag for DCousins/charity shop
Buy a present (I give money - now €20 but maybe €5-10 at age 4) that you would like for a child your own age who doesn't get much (and we give it to local Lion's Club appeal)
Go for a wintery walk in the woods (and collect pine cones for a crafting afternoon another day) to see nature in winter
Have a hot chocolate in the car one night after dark, driving around to see the local houses lit up outside (have a look yourself beforehand to pick a route)
Go to see the "Live Crib" or other local attraction (free ones)
Put out seed for the birds, and water in icy weather
Make some potato or handprint wrapping paper
Write cards to family
Write a letter to Santa
Make some thank you cards for after Christmas use
Set the table for dinner today to help Mammy
Read a Christmassy book/watch a Christmas dvd
Have a Christmas Shopping day in town (where you have NO shopping to do, it's all the DCs, and preferably very little of that, and mostly an excuse to people watch and enjoy the magic, have a hot chocolate and cookie together in a coffee shop etc)
Help Mammy wrap presents (where you help them wrap the presents they are giving to others - or maybe help you with passing sections of tape or bows for your wrapping IF they can be helpful rather than major distraction)
Make a pomander to hang (stick a load of cloves in an orange)
Make an angel for the tree - or a craft project for something for the house (a string of paper angels for a window, paper chains for the ceiling (can keep them busy alone for ages if you just give a box of pre-cut strips in different colours and pieces of tape), make a toilet roll inner snowman for the tree/mantelpiece....loads of ideas on the net)
Go for a walk in the rain one day (if you have proper willies and raingear) and jump in muddy puddles (I know, it's messy, but if you have dry gear in the car or ready at home, it can be great fun for littlies, especially if not normally allowed!!)
Have a Christmassy picnic - dvd at home, with popcorn, hot choc or nice drink, cookies, curled up under a rug together.
Go see a movie?
If you can find one, go to some kind of Christmas performance, preferably with music, that is suited to your pocket and family tastes (lots of free things on streets and in churches, up to £££ events, but there are loads aimed at children generally)
Go visit Santa somewhere
Do a treasure hunt for a present (small toy at the end, a few clues (about 5 is a good max number) leading from the calendar around the house - can use pictures when small, to cryptic written clues when older!!)
"Drop presents to Granny" type jobs
Get a Christmas present and/or write/make a card for your teacher/nursery minder etc
Learn a Christmas song or Christmas joke
Have a check on santaupdate.com/ to see how the preparations are going
Track Santa on Norad on Christmas eve
"See if you can go for a whole day without asking how many days it is till we put the Christmas tree up"
Play a board game together
Make time for something the DCs love but you rarely get to do - play with BF, go shopping, go out for a meal together (even if only a sandwich for lunch)
In the stocking, try to have something to read (that you can snuggle up and read together in your bed maybe, or a comic book he'd read himself? even if not the words) and an activity of some sort that he might do that morning (a small lego set, pack of cards, quiet board game, something that requires building?) - and food (ours always have sweets and lots of lovely fruit - a red apple, a green apple, a perfect banana, a clementine, and something like a kiwi, plum or pear), maybe even a drink as well (smoothie, orange juice, apple juice, fizzy water etc)?
I always operate filling stockings on the basis of:
Something you want
Something you need
Something to eat and
Something to read
If the grandparents will be there in the evening, have some snack things to eat, maybe a cheese board, some sausage rolls, nice bread for a cold turkey and stuffing sambo etc?
And maybe make a list for yourself of ideas for games - charades, board games, card games - or nice dvds you can watch, check tv listings in advance to know what will be on that you might all be happy to watch so you can just turn on the relevant channel, pull out the cds of music that would be nice to listen to quietly, or in the background of a game etc. If you will be alone once GPs are gone, make sure you have a nice book to read or new (even library loaned) dvd to watch, or know what you might watch on tv, so you can relax and unwind happily. You won't need all of those, and maybe not even any, but knowing beforehand what you CAN do means it is far less likely to drag.
Getting out for fresh air of some sort on Boxing Day is great. (It's great if you can go out for a little on Christmas Day too - even if that's only watching DS play in the garden or refilling birdfeeder or something).
And have a few ideas up your sleeve for the quiet days after Christmas too. You may want to go to the sales, but have a few things that DS would like too (activity, crafts, outdoor adventures, take a few of the advent list ideas that you haven't done, write thank you's etc).