What do you love about Christmas and what annoys you ?

[countdowntochristmas]

I'll start ,
I love doing Christmas lists
Getting all the lovely food in
Christmas Eve all the presents are out
Lovely Christmas dinner .
Spending the day with family.
Annoys me
Christmas starting so early in November
The endless social media of everything bigger the 1st day of advent for example why is that a thing ? Christmas tree lights boasting .
The pressure to spend money ,
Having to arrange meet ups with friends/ colleagues in those few weeks that you won't do all year .
The shops / traffic
People asking are you ready for Christmas throughout December.

I love
Making Christmas puddings (lovely Christmassy smell)
Making first mince pies (yesterday, never before 1st Dec)
Putting up tree with decorations collected over many years
Smell of a real tree.
Mulled wine!

Seeing other people's Christmas trees in their windows, esp. when it's cold, dark and dismal.
Carols from Kings on Chr. Eve (with mulled wine)
Any carols, but not before December
Stockings - little things only but everyone in our house gets one, inc. any guests
Smell of turkey cooking on Christmas Day
Ditto smell of gammon cooking on Chr. Eve - the spicy orange glaze smells gorgeous.
The nice relaxed but still Christmassy time between Christmas and New Year - very little cooking, lots of lovely leftovers to eat up.
Oh, and one thing I only discovered a couple of years ago - apple and leftover-mincemeat crumble!

And lately, the excitement of little Gdcs, both just old enough to get it now.

Not much annoys me, except people complaining about being pressured/forced into going completely OTT.
Nobody has to. You can have a lovely Christmas without going OTT with spending and buying into every latest marketing-driven fad.

And people who buy far too much food and end up wasting much of it. Or who chuck out much of the turkey because they CBA to do anything with it after the big day.

Food waste is one of the few things that really make me mad.,