What Christmas tips worked well this year and what will you not be doing next year?

[Monroe]

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas
I've picked up lots of tips over the years from these threads. This year we tried the lottery present opening for the 2 dc's. We had a jar filled with numbers that corresponded to the ones stuck to the bottom of the dc's gifts and they took turns pulling out a number then both had to find that gift. It stretched the opening of them out and they really enjoyed playing the "game"

What I won't be doing is buying loads of stocking fillers just for the sake of it. Most of them were opened and discarded within the first couple of minutes

dancingwitch reusing stocking fillers is genius! I'm going to do that next year and forever more (well almost)!

dancingwitch I'm another one who thinks your stocking filler thing is GENIUS!

Thanks random I will keep trying!!

Instead of a goose or turkey - as there is only 4 of us - I bought a large juicy chicken and was given a large unsmoked gammon which I made into Christmas ham (thanks to MN for recipe on Christmas Eve when I was panicking!).

We had ham on Christmas Eve, Roast Chicken AND Ham for Christmas Dinner which felt very luxurious) , plenty of cold cuts for Boxing Day, and Ham Egg and Chips yesterday for Supper after a long day out.

I always buy fancy crackers and paper etc now for next year.

I WISH I'd had chance to buy an iPad mini in the JLewis Black Friday sale.
A lovely lovely person sent me a £20 JL voucher which would have gone towards it. Ds is dyslexic and there are loads of Apps which you can only get on iPads which would be helpful. The kids were sick on the day and I didn't get chance till it was too late. Never mind.

We had a lovely Christmas, and I am very grateful for it.

Like the idea of using the slow cooker for Christmas Day porridge (up early in this house) and later for mulled cider/wine.

After years of angst about who wants this and doesn't eat that, and faffing about with veg that no-one wants (never gone as far as pernod carrots though) This year - sprouts fried with bacon, parsnips with honey drizzled over and then roasted plus plain peas and carrots and everybody liked them all (never been known with sprouts or parsnips). That is it for evermore on the Xmas veg front.
DP said they were the best parsnips ever (except the ones he had in the army with marmite on -yuck, only if you make your own mate)

Last year we went for a posh Norfolk bronze turkey and this year just a plain old free range and saved ££ in the process. I brine it anyway and definitely won't waste money on a bronze again.

Found out this year that turkey curry is really rather nice ! I made Delia.s (old school) and it was a great way to get rid of the dark meat.

When people asked what we wanted for the DDs (1 and 2) we gave answers rather than "they'll love anything." Made for much much more sensible presents and cut down on the plastic tat from MIL by about 90%. As I know this is a controversial topic, I should point out that we didn't give advice if it wasn't asked for!

Had ham and soup on Christmas Eve - far more sensible than a big meal.

Bought relatively expensive crackers in Lakeland but they had an elf racing game rather than the usual rubbish. HUGE hit - my family have sworn off normal crackers forever!

Much as she drove me mad, having my mother for Christmas cut down hugely on the work for me. She's a great cook, and loves it, so we split the dinner between the two of us. Brilliant idea. Sadly next year I'll have my lovely mother in law who's more of the "boil sprouts for 40 mins" persuasion. Sigh.

GETME just cook them from frozen, try that

We had a simple Christmas this year, learned from 2012 and 2013 not to place any store in stocking-fillers (so I agree with lots of PPs!).

We did 1 main present each, plus 3-4 smaller but "wanted" gifts.

It was nice, less of a ripping-orgy "on to the next one", and more time taken to make fewer presents go further!

My 2 "notes-to-self"

1. Start paying attention and listening out for 'hints' about what people need, say around Oct/Nov. Eg: a month ago DSS said my earbuds have broken , so I said (all casual-like) what do you think of those Apple earbuds "mmm yes they are good quality". Result! - and he had forgotten our conversation, so it was still a surprise.

1. Remember to buy some favourite deli-style items in late Nov, eg tinned vineleaves, stuffed olives etc This year, we chased around trying to find them on Christmas eve, which was really daft.

Tell DP exactly what I want, or buy it myself then not left with a gift from the bargain shelf at TK Maxx
Clear out old toys
1 or 2 gifts per DC, as they get lots from relatives
Turkey Crown next year for us too

Amaretto and diet vanilla coke - my new Xmas drink, totally yum and was £6 Aldi amaretto so bargainess too!

Next year make sure dh has got the Xmas playlist sorted. I really wanted nice festive background music when we had visitors, but he spent ages fiddling with his equipment

Pressone - marmite sounds far better on parsnips than honey to me, I hate sweet veg. Might try that!

Another one is to keep putting things on the Amazon wishlists all year round and not leaving them till about November and struggling to think of things. Although at least I remembered to clear older items off them that the DCs would have been interested in a couple of years ago and not any more.

Not to do too much entertaining. Having visitors staying from abroad for 3 weeks and having endless rounds of friends and relations around.
I am exhausted and just need some time on my own.

My gravy went horribly wrong :( But in about 3 minutes flat I made some more with turkey gravy powder, a stock cube, a spoonful of sugar and some paprika, added a couple of spoonfuls of the gone-wrong gravy and it worked and was fine and I could breathe again! So discovered that gravy that tastes acceptable is really easy and quick to make.

Goose fat does make better roasties.

Love the 4 presents idea.

Should have gone to Xmas parkrun (last year I did).

I spent the best part of a Saturday online shopping and did 90% of the presents in one go. Then did a quick whip around the pound shop for stocking fillers. Also did my Christmas food shop online.

Hmmm, I am singlehandedly causing the death of the High Street aren't I?

"... he spent ages fiddling with his equipment."

What, in front of your guests Davros?

DH is in and out, quick as you like with Spotify ;-)

Yes in front if the guests! We should swap

I'll still do the stockings. DD's will be 13 & 11 then so easy to fill with body sprays/shower gels & chocolates. DS will be 7 and is a huge football fan so I'll fill his with bits & bobs.

Lunch was fine. Got a big bird - 21LB - and I'll probably do the same next year, or may find a whopping big crown.

I didn't make pudding I bought a fresh cream chocolate log from Tesco for £6 and it went down a treat with fresh cream.

I've also started buying a few bits in the sale. Smellies from Boots for Niece, SIL and school pals of the girls. I'm also a saver with Park and for next year I'm ordered £50 each for the girls for Primark and they will love that!

I think I must be one of the only people that have never 'done' the stocking thing.

Brilliant thread with some great ideas, here are a few of mine.

Use the coldest parts of the house to store soft drinks, beers, schloer, j20s etc., for us it is the porch. It was so cold in there that I actually managed to get a jelly to set in less than two hours!

Cook the gammon in Pepsi overnight in the slow cooker on Christmas Eve, so I woke up to a perfect cooked gammon by 8am. I just finished it off in the oven for 30 mins to get the sticky glaze. It stood cooling off whilst I cooked the main joints of meat.

I used Aunt Bessie Yorkshires and Roasties, but I always drizzle the potatoes in Marmite halfway through.

This year was the first year that I have not purchased crap toiletry sets in nice boxes from Boots or TK Maxx. I hate them with a passion. I now buy full size bottles of their fave products (sometimes two or three of each depending on price). It was so much better.

Most importantly, it was my first Christmas not seeing my ever-so-toxic and totally-dysfunctional family. I have had no stress, no drama and no narc behaviour. As the advert says, priceless....

Things that worked for us:
Buying the Waitrose cook in a bag turkey. Tis genius! Cooks a turkey big enough for 8 people in 1hour 40mins (it's moist, yummy, only downside you don't get crispy skin, but I don't care about that). This means you can actually serve at 1pm without having to get up at the crack of dawn. (meat in oven just after 10, out just before 12, rested for half an hour then carved giving enough time to sort eveything else for the meal, easy!)

Buying fewer things and no 'tat' for the stocking. (although love the dedicated stocking tat that comes out yearly for just the christmas season, genius!)

Letting DS pick what we had for dinner on Christmas eve after the children's service at Church, chips and burgers was an inspired choice! (And going to church on Christmas eve, not Christmas Day makes it a lot easier)

Coffee machine filled and ready to go on christmas eve evening, so just hit 'on' first thing.

All gifts ordered/bought by start of second week in December. All wrapping done by 22nd.

Culled card list significantly. Told DH to get his own parents and family's gifts (made an exception for DN's gift, but that was rather DSIL told me what DN would like and I added it to an Amazon order I was doing anyway).

Also didn't do a christmas pudding, did the nigella 'spruced up vanilla cake' - it was a hit whereas the pudding is normally left.

Do
Have something quick and easy for Christmas Eve dinner. Last year I did a buffet for family and it was a PITA and it felt like I was in the kitchen for the entire Christmas period. So I wrote down last year not to do it again and I stuck to it! We had a supermarket "takeaway", one of those Indian takeaway boxes that comes with mains and sides. So it was just a case of ping, dinner done.

Another thing that went well was cutting out on crap filler presents. Quality over quantity. Last year DS was 2 and he was overwhelmed with presents by everyone and the whole day was just too much for him. This year everyone cut down and he still got lots but it's all great stuff that he'll enjoy for ages, not just stuff for the sake of it.

Cook the pigs in blankets and the stuffing for the last 40 mins of the turkey cooking. Then cover with foil and reheat just before serving dinner. Saved loads of space this year doing it that way and I didn't have to use our crap top grill/oven which cooks at the temperature of a lightbulb.

Don't
I made a Christmas cake for the first and last time this year and split it with my parents because only DP eats Christmas cake in this house, so usually they would buy a cake and give us half for DP. But this year I decided to make my own, and while they all said how lovely it was, DP's share is still in the box, with just a nibble taken out. Every year he does this, same goes for the Christmas pudding. It sits in the cupboard until March. So the cost of making a cake just isn't worth it!

Don't buy Aunt Bessie's sprouts in sage butter or whatever it was. They were disgusting. They were nice last year which is why we bought them again, and it's easy to pop them in the microwave while I'm cooking everything else. But they were properly foul.

Forgot to say, the kids stockings had phone top up vouchers, toothbrushes, toothpaste, pocket tissues, a lottery scratchcard each, school biros, sweeties and a satsuma.

Was worried that the piles would look small this year as the older they get the smaller the presents are. So I wrapped small items in larger gift boxes and gift bags. The piles looked bigger so the initial wow factor was there in the morning. Have put all the gift bags and boxes away to use next year.