Christmas Eve - tell me your plans for today

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Happy Christmas Eve all! Obviously today is going to feel really different , we normally go for a nice long walk in the woods, cinema, church, dinner and then all the normal Christmas Eve things. Without all the bits we normally do in the day I’m at a bit of a loss as how to keep today special for the DC ( especially as I’m feeling zero festive) . I’m going to make everyone a nice breakfast and we’ll still get out for a walk (if it’s stopped raining) and thought maybe watch the NT panto on YouTube but any other festive tips would be much appreciated otherwise the DC will be up in their rooms on tik tok 🙄. They’re 10 & 12 so both non Santa 🎅🏻 believers (its DS’s first year of not believing) and I just want to make it feel as special as possible (without me having a mini breakdown). TIA

Also me being awake from 4am not ideal 😂

Finish wrapping presents
Then tonight we have presents of books and will eat, drink and read.

Could you do some baking or play a board game?

Make super hot chocolates with all the trimmings, have delicious snacks and watch a movie together?

Also wide awake thanks to baby who is clearly in the festive spirit and refusing to sleep...

My eldest is 4 so doing activities mostly for me (!) but we're going to bake gingerbread men, go for a walk, put on an Xmas playlist, watch Xmas films and probably FaceTime lots of family. We've also decided to all open a couple of presents this evening as it's our first Christmas at our place not grandparents!

Have fun!

I'm going to go for a walk by the river with a friend .
Later I'll prep the sprouts and chestnuts whilst drinking a glass of something festive...maybe advocat !
Dinner this year is going to be bao buns and egg fried rice.
Our children live locally and we are seeing them tomorrow for lunch ...then my husband and I plan a beach walk before heading home to cheese n biscuits and hopefully something on TV

Up early with a wiggly dog. Just me & the kids this year. We are going to decorate the fairy garden and then map out a runway for Father Christmas in the back garden with the solar lights. This afternoon we are watching Danger in the Manger and I'm going to make myself some cocktails with my new Saint Germain liquer.

I am about to send DH out on a mission to buy gruyere. It was our only substitution yesterday but I need it for a recipe.

Otherwise, we will have a lovely festive breakfast, the two older DCs (12 and 8) will help with some token tidying and cleaning for Santa. The 15 month old will undo all our hard work in under 30 seconds.😂🙈
We will watch A Muppets Christmas Carol at some stage, go out for a walk, bake for Santa and have a party tea. Once the baby has been dispatched to bed, we may play a boardgame but the older two like to go to bed early on Christmas Eve.😂

I also need to make tomorrow's dessert today and I'm contemplating sorting Boxing Day's ham today as well.

I hope everyone manages to have a lovely time despite all the changes.

I've just got up to take ds swim training!
Sadly the last for an indefinite time as we are T4 from Saturday.

Then we will have breakfast and we have a list of jobs that need doing as I like the house to be all cleaned up of usual everyday stuff on Xmas day - ready for everything else to be lying around everywhere

Lunchtime we are out for a nice walk with my DN as sister is working delivering vaccines and we are still under rule of 6 outside.

Then we will have showers, watch a film, play board games and have gammon for tea.

So I'm afraid very much the same sort of thing.

We usually have guests Xmas eve so this is an odd one but we have to do what we have to do in 2020.

We're flooded - got cows and horses to try to attend to.

Nightmare!!!!

Last night my biggest problem was exchanging presents with my sister. That's definitely not happening now!

This morning we’re taking the youngest DC swimming (will be out last swim for a while I think!) and then popping round a friends to exchange presents in the garden. We’re going to do some baking this afternoon, including sausage rolls as we’re going for a Christmas lights and drive in cinema experience with a car picnic 😊

Just about to get up and iron all the school uniform so I can put the ironing board away. Then the kitchen needs a blitz.

Gammon is in the slow cooker and needs finishing off. Need to collect turkey when the butchers opens and have some bits of baking to do.

We are going to drive to the coast for the morning , and then meeting family this afternoon at an outdoor animal country park. My youngest was awake at 4.30am so hoping he’ll last the day without a meltdown!

These are the things I need to achieve: laundry (shedloads of the bloody stuff), make cookies, assemble trifle, walk dog, trim his nails and bath him, entertain excited children (one of whom is isolating due to contact at school), clean floors.

Dh has some work to do and he's going to make stuffing and cook the ham.

I also forgot to get ds1's whiteboard so need to run to the shop for it.

About to get up and make a coffee. Light the rest of the advent candle and give thanks to God for everything I can think of. I love this kind of morning (husband at work at daughter in bed).
Then ironing so kitchen is tidy.
Will set up a little 'party' in the kitchen for the three of us later 😆. Christmas food and music. May be a walk later.
Will take some flowers to my mums (if they have got any decent bunches left!)
We'd normally go to the crib service then I'd go to midnight Mass but its obviously not happening this year.
I'm going to try and make the most of it!

Usually we would go to the christingle tonight but it's not on. They are doing it on zoom but the dcs will quickly lose interest. We are doing doorstep carols and bell ringing tonight though.

@twinkletoesimnot I'm sorry to hear that! I hope it stops raining where you are.

Cook the ham and finish the trifle; prep veg for tomorrow
Long walk
Give the new puppy her first bath
Watch The Nutcracker ballet online
Bake some shortbread
Play some board games so the 5 year old can practice losing
Pierrade for supper

Day half over here already so ...
Went out for breakfast
Went to bakery to get fresh sourdough for Christmas
Went to fish co-op to get seafood
Went to beach for short walk, only 25 degrees so too cold to swim, was nicer yesterday
Went to Bunnings
Bought last minute groceries and champagne as I’d forgotten it earlier
Tidied house
Made kids do some housework
Going for a swim soon
Still need to peel prawns
Still need to rearrange dining room as there’s 10-15 of us for breakfast and lunch and we’re hosting
Will also need to save green tree frogs from dog again later as they keep coming under the pergola at night

Going to go play in the snow

Go to work ☹️
I’m the only team member in today. Could be very quiet, could be very busy with last minute stuff.
Await fall out from some emails I sent yesterday to management.
Home at 5, meal, tv and bed.
Just not feeling in the mood this year. Can’t wait to see the back of 2020

Thank you, some lovely suggestions here. I’m also going to track down Charlie Brown Christmas in YouTube and make us all watch that. DD told me yesterday it was the first year she’s not felt Christmassy (she hasn’t been able to do much as so much quarantining at her school this term) and I think it’s made me want to make things extra special with a lot less to do at my disposal 🙄. I’m sure we’ll all have a lovely day... I’m going to try and get back to sleep 😴 before the cat comes and wakes me up.

@twinkletoesimnot

We're flooded - got cows and horses to try to attend to.

Nightmare!!!!

Last night my biggest problem was exchanging presents with my sister. That's definitely not happening now!

Oh no! Hope the bloody rain stops and ending positive Christmas miracle thoughts your way.

I’ve hardly slept so I’m going to start off with a shower and a very large pot of coffee...

Breakfast this year is sour dough with proper butter and Bucksfizz marmalade.

Two youngest DD’s out on there ponies for a Christmas hack, carols, Christmas hats n all and we will possibly stop by our lovely local garden centre for a hot chocolate (tier 2)

Back and going to pop all 3dd’s in front of a Christmas movie and do a bit of prep for tomorrow and potter, the odd little thing to wrap, run a cloth round the bathrooms etc, I actually quite enjoy this on Christmas Eve if not under any pressure.

We are in married quarters due to my husband being in the forces and one of the pardre’s and his wife have organised a Christingle service for all the family out in the street and have asked my 3dd’s to do a reading...I’m not particularly churchy but seems very apt this year and I’m really looking forward to all the twinkly lights in the dark.

The best part of our day is my husband and DD’s dad is coming home today (we swung it by the the skin of our teeth) due to him working away and restrictions and I can’t wait for him to arrive home, Christmas to really begin and for us all be together.

Christmas Eve boxes will be found, each includes a bath bomb and Elf sheet mask as well as the traditional PJ’s so I’m sure there will be a couple of hours of girly pampering!!

DH will nip out and pick up up the traditional Chinese and also stop by to hang pony’s stocking for Santa (not sure how we ever got into this but here we are and now secretly one of the things that makes all our Christmas’s!!

I’ll pop all the candles on, carols, set the table, open the fizz and then once back in we will have a family meal.

Obligatory yearly family picture in matching PJ’s discussions of acceptable time for girls to wake us up. Stocking, sacks carrots, Sherry, mince meat pie left out (and of course skittles for the elf!!!) and upstairs for 3 very bouncy girls that definitely won’t go to sleep for ours!!!

Proper catch up for DH and I and then Santa will come.

Do the potatoes, make redcurrant sauce, play a board game. Decide whether I can be bothered to get duck fat for roasties.

Decorate dining room and table

I'm working until 5.30pm, then dinner for the children, gulp a bit of Gin, last minute wrapping and cleaning for tomorrow, bit more Gin, the kids have already requested we watch The Grinch before bed!