Christmas is tomorrow, you have this afternoon to get ready...

[Acunningruse]

What 5 things can you not have Christmas without?

For me, I'd be spending the afternoon:

• decorating the tree
• wrapping kids presents
• chilling champagne for Buck's Fizz breakfast
• buying crackers and getting some games out
• getting the roast dinner trimmings sorted such as pigs in blankets and making proper gravy.

Not sure I could do all that in an afternoon actually!

What is essential for your Christmas?

First I would go to M&S and buy everything for Christmas dinner - Turkey, gravy, roasted, pigs in blankets, sprouts, stuffing, carrots and cranberry sauce. No time to make from scratch with all the other prep to do! I'd also buy lots of booze, smoked salmon, nice bread and orange juice for the kids. Then I'd have to go and get my boys their scooters and probably go a bit mad buying stocking fillers. Come home, decorate tree, Christmas tunes on, wrap gifts, put out Santa plate etc and read night before Christmas.
Great thread now I know to prioritize food and presents for my boys!

In our house the trees don't go up til Christmas Eve anyway, so that's normal. The rest of the house would look a bit bare though. Stocking are sorted already so don't need to worry about them. Priorities would be:

Get big tree from the farm up the road, apologising for being so late. Will also get mistletoe from here. Go to b&q for 2 more trees and pick them up for pennies (I have actually done this- 1p per tree!)

Send dh out to buy food and drink as I'm busy with the tree. We've got red wine in the house so he'd need to get fizz as well as m&s party food (we don't do a big Christmas dinner, we graze throughout the day) and sausage rolls (kids) and crispy duck (us) for tonight.

While he was out he would need to grab some Christmas pjs for the kids

Stick the Snowman on and be gutted that we missed our Christmas eve morning trip to watch the Snowman.

Watch die hard while wrapping what presents we had in along with a few promise presents.

1. Thank heck I ordered DP’s present yesterday, and hope it arrives in time
2. Sort out gifts for rest of close family quick
3. Buy something awesome for tomorrow’s lunch, along with chocolate
4. Clean house
5. Buy a random tree from garden centre and decorate it (or do you think the Christmas tree people will find out it’s tomorrow in time and start selling them immediately?)

This is pretty much how my mum did Christmas every year! We got a solstice Christmas tree ie three days before Christmas, presents and food were bought after that.

It was always stressful but we never went without!

Decorate the tree
Christmas dinner and snacks. Can't be without mince pies!

Not really bothered about presents. I would just grab a few things for DS!

Actually, I'd quite like Christmas to be tomorrow. I wouldn't do a thing to prepare. Be nice to have a quiet day, maybe spend a little time with friends or family, eat and drink whatever we have in the cupboards without stress. Christmas just doesn't do anything for me. Nothing but hype and expectation, lots of work and money. As each year goes by, I do less and less, buy and receive fewer cards/presents, food & drink gets simpler, and Christmas gets better and better. It's people that matter, not possessions. As long as I could spend the day with people I love, what more would I want.

Tree is number one priority. A real one, with lights. An excellent chicken (think poulet de Bresse) instead of boring, fussy turkey; roast veg, stuffing, pudding; a decent bottle of red, Christmas carols; table set with linen and china and crackers. No presents necessary now the DC are teens.

More than five... oh well.

decorating tree
christmas music
Muppets Christmas Carol
Quick supermarket trip
make stuffing and pigs in blankets and mince pies
Make homemade chocolates/ treats to give out as presents

Oooh I like this game! My list is some what easier as I don't host!

1. Get decorations from my mothers put the tree up and have a bit of a tidy.
2. Buy and wrap the remaining 5 things I need to get
3. Buy cheese and crackers (my contribution to my mothers xmas feast) and something nice for breakfast
4. Make chilli jelly, spiced xmas nuts and fudge
5. Make sure my xmas day dress is clean and ready to wear!

Actually, I realized I probably cheated as our dinner is only for 3 and we all work together on that (it's a very sociable kitchen that day, 'tis lovely!).

If I was hosting, properly, I'd be serving possibly up to 18 or so.

So a bigger supermarket run, including a turkey AND either a spiced beef or a ham, sack of potatoes, few bags carrots etc. And more logs as we'd definitely have the fire going longer.

Ring DM to ask her to bring a larger pudding.

Still turn on Christmas music and do the decorations.
Still clean the house but also having to make sure spare beds were all made up and ready.

Mad dash for last presents, at least 2 hours whizzing up a few more (finishing sewing in ends on knitting projects, and probably doing some fabric sewing as well) before wrapping everything.

And definitely doing lots of prep once I get home - peel potatoes, prep veg, make stuffing, defrost chicken stock for gravy (not making turkey stock at that last minute), defrost pastry for mince pies, get out plates and glasses.....

And definitely open a bottle of something to avoid it descending into chaos altogether!!

Christmas tree
Christmas dinner
Decorations
Party
Family time
Quiz night
Carol singing

Pigs in blankets and brandy butter on everything.

THE END.

I'm loving this thread.

Tree and lights
Roast turkey prep
Chilling bubbles to drink
Loved ones

Tree decorated
Something that vaguely resembles a roast
Stocking and last minute pressies for DS
Christmas pudding or mince pies
Nice festive film on t'telly

Buy cheat tree with lights on
Buy turkey steaks, stuffing balls, cocktail sausages (skewer like kebabs), spuds, veg, cranberry, ingredients for bread sauce, mince pies and chocs, some nice cream, fizz and wine, gift bags, and smoked salmon. Birthday card and cake for DS.
Buy older dc fitbits, present for dh, my mother and step and MIL and whack into bags above.
Phone MIL and tell her to travel 250 miles immediately if she wants to come
Go to church

Sounds quite cool to me

• Tree/Decs
• Film/Hot Choc/New PJs tonight
• Presents for DC (though I do have most of these already anyway )
• Roast Dinner, honestly not fussed what type but would get bits in.
• DH off work

Prep turkey
Chill champagne for breakfast
Shove the presents under the tree - they were wrapped a month ago for the sake of my sanity
Eat dinner
Sit down with DDs and watch a film

Said tree will have been decorated at least two weeks prior. Or two months if I let DD1 get her way.

No one i invite for Christmas would care about a tree or gifts. As long as there was food, booze and board games Christmas fun would be had! I would therefore go to the supermarket and get the games out the attic. Job done.

I'd have to take DD to see Father Christmas.
I'd then send DH home with our DD whilst I went and shopped for all of the presents and food.
I'd get home and put the decorations up.
Then I'd write all of the cards and post the local one's through people's doors.
Once our 5DC were in bed I'd wrap all of the presents.

Does anyone put their tree up on Christmas Eve,?

Mine is already up and house decorated by then

Essentials are- Stocking presents already wrapped,
Main presents wrapped.
Clean house from top to bottom
Food shopping delivered on 23rd so i still have time to get anything that didn't arrive in the shop on Christmas Eve
'Doctor' the christmas crackers with a small personal gift, Nothing expensive,,maybe a lip gloss for DD;s etc
Get a naice big box of chocs from Hotel Chocolat . These are adult only chocs .

The whole point is that it's tomorrow, so we skip from November to Christmas! We haven't had December to put the tree up. 🎄

I just enjoy the day when it arrives.

If I don't stress about it I will have fun!