The unusual moment you look forward to most?

[penguinwithasuitcase]

Chatting to a friend this morning and she said that of everything about Christmas, the one moment that she loves most is:

Opening the front door to her extended family when they arrive on Christmas morning –the noise and madness of way too many people crammed into the hallway trying to get their coats off while juggling presents-stuffed-under-arms and kissing the kids at the same time and handing over a bottle of wine to put in the fridge and someone calling "Can you move the car over a bit so I can pull right in?" all at once.

I thought it was just the loveliest thing – that THAT's what she looks forward to most! Not presents, not lunch, not turning on the lights of the tree, but a cramped, chaotic moment of cold air and shoe-wrestling in the hallway

What are your unexpected favourite moments of Christmas?

@GetOffTheTableMabel When I make the Christmas Day sandwiches this year I will be thinking of you and sending good vibes your way! Your Dad won't be with you but in a way he will be every single Christmas always when you make leftover sandwiches ❤️

The first high clear notes of Once in Royal David's City from Carols from Kings,with a glass of cold champagne in my hand and everything done and ready.

Sorry @mynameiscalypso he absolutely loved it, I have the sweetest video of him seeing it wrapped and guessing what it was but not quite believing it until he’d fully unwrapped it. It was exactly what Christmas dreams were made of!

Such a beautiful thread, I’ve definitely shed a little tear. Thank you everyone for sharing

Gif this thread has unintentionally made me feel completely crap. My kids don’t have extended family and crowds of people at Christmas. I hope they don’t hate me for it later 🥴

Christmas Day 14 years ago I was in a car crash. I was 26 weeks pregnant, and they had to deliver my son. (We're both fine now) by co incidence there was another woman birth very prematurely that day too....same hospital. We met when our boys were about 3 weeks old in NICU and have been friends ever since. Every Christmas morning, very early we call each other and just remember, remember how scared we were, how sick our babies were and how bloody lucky we are. Sometimes we cry, sometimes we laugh but it's the time when i just acknowledge everything, I don't have to hide that's it's sometimes difficult to smile, that the memories sometimes hurt.
It's healing and we both agree we'd struggle without that moment to just breathe. We never speak of it, but we do it every single year by unspoken agreement.

Then it's on with the fun and games for both of us. (We now have 8 children between us!)

Oh, @FreeBritnee, I very much doubt they will. FWIW, we don't have that either!

It's just DP, DSS and me –and it's cosy and intimate and special.

Tell us one of the things you love about your Christmases together

What a lovely thread! When DD12 was younger, my favourite moment was sprinkling “ reindeer dust” on the doorstep in the moonlight. Now it’s when Christmas dinner has somehow miraculously come together & we are all sitting round the table, grinning at each other, having made it through another year & thinking how lucky we are. Christmas always makes me very emotional & nostalgic.

@guffaux

it used to be when i arrived at work Christmas Eve at 2pm, knowing i was there until 3pm Christmas Day, having my plan on how to make it as good a day as possible for the people I was looking after.

My role/department has now changed, though I'm still working Christmas, ( child free so I tend to cover for colleagues who have children) i dont spend it with service users.

Christmas is a time of service for me, which makes it feel more like Christmas, IYSWIM?

I’m sure your colleagues appreciate this lovely thing you do for them.

Oh and Junior Choice on radio 2 whilst preparing the dinner. I bloody love Christmas!

This is the best thread I have read in a long time.
This year i’m so looking forward to every single moment. It will be our first in our new house and I can’t wait to create special memories.

Reading all your posts has made me emotional. I can picture them all in my head and I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas.

Oh Jesus @FreeBritnee sorry if it was down to me we’d have absolutely no one round! Last year was my best Christmas ever (don’t tell my family that ) when we just had the day to ourselves!
Much more relaxed.
We always host and always have a houseful, it’s crap having to rush the kids opening their stockings and then having to rush them all back to their rooms to put their stuff in there and get changed etc so we can have breakfast and clean the kitchen again before all the guests come. The amount of years I’ve barely seen my kids all day because we’ve had so many people round is really sad! But because the rest of my lot all love it, we do it.
We then have another similar manic day round at the ils (who are all lovely and I love them all to bits), it’s just all too much!
Overall it’s great to have big families etc but selfishly I do wish Christmas could be quieter. I’m always overruled by dh and the dc.

@RockPaperScissorLizardSpock

Incywinceyspider

That moment when Santa has been and I'm sitting on the sofa with just the tree lights on and all the wrapped presents laid out. It's a really lovely feeling

I came on here to say this exact same thing. All of this whilst listening to midnight mass on the tv

I third this. When the presents are all o ur and ready and sitting with a final drink listening to the carols on the TV

My favourite moments are -

DP bumbling around in the kitchen making a mess as he prepares snacks for the evening.

Approaching the warm light of a church lit up for a traditional carol service, nose like a little ice cube, swaddled in a thick, soft scarf and all the lights in the houses are glowing.

The walk home afterwards when it's all quiet and people are happily indoors making their final preparations.

The absolute quiet just before sunrise, sitting and watching as the first golden glow of dawn begins to fade the stars, heralded by a single Robin defiantly shouting out his challenge to the cold and the dark then, as the other birds begin their song, the signs of lights switching on where excited children have finally persuaded their parents that it really is morning.

Going for a walk as more and more lights come on and, if you're lucky, the bells are ringing out as the early morning mist begins to dissipate.

Peeling potatoes and veg in front of the TV with a steaming hot black coffee preferably with shedload of sugar and a slug of booze in it

Then DP after we've eaten - he's zonked out on the sofa with the cat taking full advantage of his legs stretched out whilst an old film is on TV.

When Christmas day is done on the night when the kids have gone to bed me and my DH will snuggle up on the couch have glasses of wine eat chocolates and watch a film I love this bit of the day and we don't get it every year because he's on shift some Christmas evening .

Boxing Day lunch made by my lovely mum. Cold beef, ham, salads, crusty bread, cheese, quiche, pork pie, sausage rolls etc. It's the best

@TheChosenTwo I have said no to any guests except my mum dad and bro but after Xmas lunch. We had Xmas with friends last year and it was great but I hate being hostess when I just want to watch a crap film with my kids!!

2019 my bil, sil and 2 kids can over from Thailand and we had them here 2 weeks and mil and fil for a couple of days. It was my worst Xmas tbh even though they're all lovely (except my in laws don't do Xmas in a big way so I always feel like I've gone overboard when they're here!)

Can't wait for my quiet day in this year!

I don't have any family so spend Christmas alone and have done for years (not a problem, quite enjoy the me time). I enjoy going out for a walk when everyone else is sitting down to dinner. The silence is like no other.

Watching Santa leave the North Pole on Christmas eve after the rte news before going to mass (the Irish will know)
Also love the family arriving on Christmas afternoon,the anticipation for them coming and then that meeting in the hall etc

💖

On Christmas Eve, once the children are in bed post stories, hanging of stockings and leaving out of treats and when I've finished setting out presents, arranging snowy footprints and filling stockings, I go outside. I stand and look at the stars, listen to any distant traffic, look up and down our village road and imagine all the children fast asleep and I feel peaceful and happy. It's like the world is taking a deep breath and I spend 5 or 10 minutes thinking about my Grandma and the people I miss and those who I won't see. It's a really special moment and I always comes back into the house feeling tearful but so content.

@Vapeyvapevape

Loved it when the Round Table came round the streets with Father Christmas on his sleigh.

Is the round table a country wide thing or I wonder if you are a local mumsnetter? I remember when we used to have him drive up our road when I was a young teen and then, in another road but nearby when my kids were young.

I think one of my favourite moments of Christmas is Christmas Eve, when everything is done, nothing else to buy or wrap, the tree lights are on and I can savour the moment.
The other is Christmas Day evening after everything is over and the kids, now young adults, haven't fallen out too much and we have had a lovely day.

to all who have bittersweet memories of this time.

when the kids were small , it was Christmas Eve; before bed they put out the carrot and mince-pie for santa and the reindeer and hung up their stockings and tucked into bed. Peak excitement. Then DH and I spent a couple of hours sitting on the floor by the fire wrapping presents, stuffing the stockings and getting drunk to Carols from Kings.

The Making of the Bread Sauce is also a favourite moment of mine. I make the BS, the chestnut stuffing, the cranberry sauce and brandy butter all on the same day, usually the 23rd, put it in the fridge and enjoy a happy little delusion that's Christmas dinner sorted.

I like sitting down on the sofa with a cuppa after all the presents have been unwrapped by everyone, and take a moment to soak in the carnage before we clear away the rubbish etc.

I love my early morning Christmas walk, just me and the dog. It’s my absolute favourite walk of the year. There’s usually carols being played by the bells in the church on Christmas morning so listening to them as we walk. Everyone saying merry Christmas as they walk past and sometimes seeing the kids who’ve been up early out playing on their new bikes/scooters looking really happy.