What do you do on Christmas day/Boxing day?

[theGreatYuan]

I never did much at Christmas growing up. We had a chocolate advent calendar every year from 1st December. We put a carrot, mince pie and glass of milk out just before bed on Christmas eve, then Christmas morning we opened our mountains of very expensive presents and then took them all up to our rooms so that the living room could be tidied straight after. Then us kids either sat in the living room watching tv all day, quite bored, or played alone in our rooms with our new toys while our parents spent the day in the dining room and got annoyed if any of us kids came in. We had fruit salad for dinner and then chicken, mash, veg and gravy for tea at about 7pm and then went to bed, and that was that. It was all quite boring really.

I have a just turned 5 year old and want to make Christmas really special, but have no idea where to start or what other people do. I've been reading other threads and got some great ideas for December days out and good food, but what do people actually do on Christmas day itself, and boxing day? I'm considering going out for a meal to a place with a softplay so that it's not just another day, but does anyone have any other ideas?
Thanks!

When the boys were little we did....

Christmas Eve - special children's nativity service with dressing up and participation at the local church, followed by surprise gift of new pyjamas and chocolate from the elves. A personal video message from Father Christmas on PSP and watching his sleigh on NORAD. Bed early after hanging up stockings and putting out mince pie, sherry, and a carrot. Story of 'Twas the night before Christmas.

Christmas Day - early morning opening small stockings with quirky, fun, useful things in bedrooms - often bits to keep them busy whilst everyone is up and ready. Then down to the main event with presents. Breakfast of croissants, pain au chocolat etc. then playing with toys. Visit by grandparents with more presents and mince pies and Christmas treats. More playing then we have our starter as our lunch - prawn cocktail. Followed by more playing and watching films. Christmas dinner for our evening meal (with an extra present) then stories before bed.

Boxing Day - a bit of a tidy and a photograph of all the presents. Trip to grandparents for board games, films and playing with an extra present and buffet for a meal.

I'm a single parent of 2 kids, and for a long time it was just the 3 of us.

They're both teens now.
When they were little we did presents in the morning, and then I played with them. I'd always try and spend as much time playing as I could, with them and their new toys.
If the weather was good we'd go to the park. If it wasn't we'd maybe watch a film.

I'd generally have a total chocolate amnesty till early afternoon so all they'd eat was their chocolate and sweets, and then I made them stop so they'd have an appetite for dinner. I cooked pretty basic Christmas dinner (roast chicken etc) for tea. We'd have crackers with silly jokes and paper hats.
I was basically led by them and what they wanted to do.

Now they're teens we still do presents in the morning, but they tend to drift to their rooms after that, but will maybe watch a film with me, and we have Christmas dinner in the evening, with grandparents who now live locally and come to us.
My partner comes over in the evening, and my younger DS does a Christmas quiz for us!

At your daughter's age OP, she will just want you to play with her. That will make Christmas special for her.
Also decorating the tree is big on our house. We don't get it early - usually mid December - and the 3 of us throw all the decorations on, many are decades old, and it's totally uncoordinated and looks like an explosion in a tinsel factory! But even at 16 and 12 they still loved it last year. We play Christmas songs while we're doing it.

Sorry, not sure where I got that your child was a girl. Same applies if you have a boy though!

This made me sad when I read this,I'm not sure why. I think it's because I love Christmas and when I remember my Childhood Christmas it makes me smile.
Our Christmas routine/ tradition changes depending on when my husband is working etc.
But for the most part it looks like this:

Christmas Eve
A fun breakfast with our son
A trip to a playground/ forest or beach with maybe a winter picnic to enjoy or tea in a flask and a Christmassy treat.
Christmas visiting to family
Christmassy activities such as arts and crafts or baking Christmas biscuits.
Listening and dancing to Christmas music.
A Buffet or takeaway for dinner.
Christmas movies.
Opening a present in the evening, normally a book etc.
Getting ready for Santa.

Christmas Day
Wake up at a decent hour
Stocking on our bed
Christmas Breakfast during a present opening break.
We take our time opening presents so it doesn't get too overwhelming and we can all enjoy the presents that are being opened.
Tin of Chocolate s opened
Maybe family will drop by in the morning.
Tidy up wrapping paper and put presents in piles or in plastic containers so they don't get lost,but can be played with.
Get dressed and go to whoever's family we are going to that year for dinner or if staying at home for dinner we might stay in PJ's.
Turkey dinner
Christmas movies and playing with toys.
Turkey Sandwiches for tea.
Try to leave a few present s for the evening or Boxing Day to spread the excitement out.

Boxing Day
Depends on if we stayed over with family or at home.
Mainly lazy but enjoyable day with playing with toys, reading books, playing games together.
Maybe a walk or trip to playground .
More visiting family.
Lots of Christmas food.

__

Sounds to me like you all were (rightly) craving adult attention. Honestly op, you can have a great Christmas at home. Playing with the kids all day and their new toys on the living room floor, Christmas TV / songs / movies on in the background. Big box of roses / quality street / selection boxes open to take whenever someone wants - no food rules on this day if you have them usually. Big dinner together with crackers and stupid jokes. Evening games and telly with more chocolates (our house it's after eights lol). These were my Christmases and I honestly loved them so much and we were just at home all day.

We start with all going down to the sitting room together for Dd to open her stocking, then DH and I get the coffee going while Dd had time with her new things when young (or loads listening to music now). We make a nice breakfast - usually freshly squeezed juice, proper coffee and some pastries we bake in the oven. Sometimes we make good bacon butties, or have a bowl of mixed berries.

Relaxed morning - which is extremely unusual for us. Showers and getting dressed before church mid-morning.

We generally have a walk as well, along the local pier or through the woods (more important now we have DDog).

We get the turkey in the oven early afternoon when we get in from those, potter around getting things organised (fire lit, nice drink each poured, pre-prepared veg pulled from fridge etc), and cook 1 tray M&S party food while oven not too full. Once things are organised and dinner cooking, we retreat to sitting room and open presents under the tree.

We occasionally have to baste turkey or put potatoes in to oven or swap trays of veggies around but it's a relaxed couple of hours, we might have tv on once presents opened and wrappings cleared up.

We enjoy a turkey dinner but we have done other dinners sometimes that are not manic preparation but are special and that we will enjoy eating. Our starter is the party food with drinks. We have cheeseboard later and sometimes dessert later in the evening- but some years we are too full.

After dinner, we sometimes play board games or watch a movie or tv together.

Boxing Day involves a slow start and a long walk.
Normally we have an "at home" open house for neighbours and local relatives in the afternoon, mulled wine and M&S party food mostly. Some years it's just the afternoon, some years it's midnight when we close the door on the last guests.

Christmas Eve usually consists of me working in the morning, then around 1 I come home and give them thier Christmas Eve boxes, we have Chinese takeout for dinner, watch a nightmare before Christmas, then go out in the car to look at Christmas lights around the area. Kids go to bed about 9, they put out a carrot, mince pie and whatever drink I suggest to the kids. I always tell them santa gets enough milk at other houses so let’s give him something different. It’s usually a cherry coke.
christmas day has always been presents, dinner, games
Boxing Day is usually games, Tv, and a Buffet.

Thank you for this thread @theGreatYuan - I’m newly divorced and thinking this year I can do things however I, and DC, want. I will need to involve their father at some point, somehow (for their sake, not his, I left him because of abuse), so I’m currently thinking how best to work that in, but it’s nice to be able to reinvent the season 😎

My DC are 6 and 4. They wake us up to tell us Santa has left a gift at the foot of their beds, we watch them open it. Then we all go downstairs and open stockings (with strong coffee). Then we sit and have breakfast together with Christmas music.

After breakfast we open tree gifts. Then mum and dad pop round - more gifts, cuppa. I get lunch on, kids play with toys - DH normally building some of them.

Eat Christmas lunch together (turkey, trimmings, wow factor dessert).

After lunch, board games, go for a walk to look at lights if we fancy, movie together with picky bits. Kids have a bath with a bath bomb then bed so we can crack open a bottle.

Boxing day - playing with new toys, lunch at mum's, dinner together. More films and board games.

Just nice family time together really.

My childhood christmases were great. Family all lived close by so from mid morning there were always people popping in. One set of grandparents always came to lunch. Xmas night there was a party, boxing night there was a party, 28th there was a party then one New Yrs Eve. My grandad was always there with his cine camera too.

It's just me DH and Ds aged 5

Xmas eve- do Christmas themed crafts/baking in the morning, then a long walk in local forest country park, let DS run around on the playarea.
Either pick up a McDonald's on the way home or order a takeaway. Get bathed and clean PJ's, watch a christmas film (Muppets Xmas carol last year) then put out mince pie etc then bed for DS.
Me and DH have a drink and do a quiz usually with Xmas music.

Xmas day- D's opens stocking in our bed, get up, cup of tea etc and some sort of breakfast (pastries or bacon sandwich usually) whilst D's plays with stocking toys/bits with Xmas music on.
Then after breakfast sit under the tree and open presents. Play with Ds and toys, prepare Xmas dinner (roast chicken) and just relax.
Then we eat at about 4pm together at the table, pull crackers together etc
Then in the evening we have buffet snacky bits if wanted and have a little disco dancing around to Xmas music together and D's loves it! (We also do that a few times in the run up to Xmas too!) We turn the lights off and sometimes blow up a balloon as ds loves them.
We also usually play a board game and snack on the buffet bits then put a very tired Ds to bed.
Boxing day- eat all the leftovers and buffet bits, go for a walk. Play with toys.

Ours was the same as you mostly except NOT taking the toys up stairs... everyone sits and plays downstairs.

Yes its a mess but the otherway sounds dull and antisocial.

Also we have pizza instead of fruit salad.

I love our xmases, did as a child and my kids do now as an adult.

We dont do anything on boxing day except maybe tidy a bit of the mess so the house functions (usually looks like a bomb went off in a toy factory lol).

oh sorry we eat more around 4-5pm than 7pm... thats too late, were trying to wind the kids down for bed by then.

Eke out the present opening so it takes more time, and defer it so it's not all over with by lunch.

We've always had stockings in the morning, then the morning is (if not going to church) mainly getting lunch ready. Depending on age of DC you can set them to play with stocking gifts/help with lunch prep/host grandma/walk dog/organise piles of presents by recipient.

Lunch. One small table present to open between first course and pudding, "from the dog".

Clear away/wash up.

Then a grand present opening, not too fast, so everyone can see who's got what, and you can make a note for thank you letters. If DC are old enough you can allocate one as giver-out.

Tea - Christmas cake and mince pies.

If time, play a board game with guests, or something like UNO.

Guests go home.

Take presents to rooms/clear up wrapping paper.

It's evening by then. Sausage rolls and maybe a bit of cold turkey for supper if anyone has room.

No TV during the day.

If you get a lot of presents for the DC from relatives not present, save a few for Boxing Day.

Christmas eve morning we usually prep the house for guests, then in the afternoon it is usually a walk with friends with DC and either a pub stop or back to someones for mulled wine/hot chocolates
Once back home, its mince pie etc out for santa, sometimes reindeer food, then i'll prep for Christmas dinner, slow cook a ham etc Christmas pjs, Christmas film and bed..
then DH and I get to work..! 😜🤫
Christmas Day, wake kids and sneak down to see if He's been, presents and sweets with Christmas music channel on.
Then usually DC and DH play with toys sort out gifts/walk dog whilst i get dinner sorted, we ways host as have the most space, so anywhere from 15-20 depending on who is coming. Big meal, starters, usually prawn cocktails, Christmas dinner with turkey, ham and ALL the trimmings, crackers and table games then we chil, play games for abit whilst people take turns clearing away and then we have deserts. Always a blackforest gateaux, a trifle, a chocolate desert of some kind plus Christmas pudding, Chistmas cake or mince pies.
In the evening its leftovers with a few buffet bits (always enough to feed an army!) by 8pm its pjs on for those that are staying over,
Boxing day breakfast (family all argue about who gets to stay over for this!) is full spread, bacon, eggs, smoked salmon, pigs in blankets, croissants, spreads, cereals, juices, bucks fizz. More Chistmas crackers! By early afternoon everyone leaves with full hearts and full bellies 😊 Then I sit down for a cuppa!
Im a 'hoster' always just had the most space and i naturally fell into this role, so now I host every year. I have all matching Christmas table crockery, we usually have 2 or 3 trees, the whole house is just welcoming and chilled. No pressure (for everyone except me 😂) to do anything except eat drink and be merry!

Christmas Eve is always an early start for me as I go and collect the meat from M&S food to order. After that, depends on which day of the week it falls on as it could be a normal working day for me and DH.

Christmas Day we get up and open presents. I usually bang the Turkey and the gammon in the oven, then I head up alone to the cemetery to put a wreath down for my dad and my grandparents.

We usually start welcoming family from midday for champagne and nibbles and I serve dinner about 2:30pm.

Afternoons usually consist of board games, I don’t watch The Speech as I am of nationalist Northern Irish parentage. Then party food buffet and a dip in the hot tub in the evening.

I love the sound of your Christmas! And that boxing Day breakfast is something I might steal 😅

On Christmas Eve, we make sausage rolls and then go out for a walk with a paper bag of warm sausage rolls to keep our hands warm. We wander around without a set plan, looking for the spirit of Christmas. Once we've found it, we go back home to find a parcel left by our departing Elf, with Christmas Eve supplies of pyjamas, drinking chocolate, candy canes, relaxing shower gel, writing paper and Christmas stockings. We listen to the 9 lessons and carols and do food prep and have a simple meal of lentil soup. The children (now teenagers) shower and get into their pyjamas. They write a note for Father Christmas and leave out a mince pie, drink and a carrot. Everyone watches Christmassy TV (ideally The Snowman). The kids go upstairs and I set up the stockings and gifts from Father Christmas and go to midnight mass. When I get home, I leave the stockings on everyone's bed and go to sleep.

Christmas day starts with the children coming into bed with us in the morning while we all open our stockings. The stockings will generally contain a swanee whistle or kazoo, and a finger puppet each, so we play silly songs and play together with the fingerpuppets while eating chocolate in bed for a while before we get up.

We go downstairs, where we find that the baby Jesus has appeared in the Nativity scene, that Father Christmas has left presents under the tree and written a thank you note for the snack we left out for him (and notice the plate if crumbs and reindeer-chewed carrot left behind) and we switch on the fairy lights and play Christmas music, then fortify ourselves with tea/coffee/orange juice and have a nice but easy to eat/prepare breakfast, usually bagels with smoked salmon and cream cheese.

Then everyone opens their presents. We generally take it in turns to open a present each while everyone else watches.

The adults get washed and dressed, but the children tend to stay in their matching Christmas pyjamas unless they have been given some we exciting clothes to wear.

We then potter around preparing food, nibbling on stocking chocolate and playing with presents (and reading new books and magazines). At around noon we have canapés and we have a big Christmas meal at around three. We phone our families at some point when we aren't eating. We watch TV if there's anything good on. We eat cheese.

We put things in the fridge and go to bed.

On Boxing Day, we watch TV, eat lots of nice leftovers, play/read, digest, and go for a nice walk.

The kids wake up, find their stocking in their bedroom door and open them up on our bed. DH and get quickly showed and dressed and the kids lead us downstairs to see what's under the tree and we all open what's there.

I make an easy breakfast, coffee and croissants whilst they are playing, DH is often building things. My Mum or the PILs turn up with more gifts.

For Dinner, DH collects the pre ordered curry from the Indian restaurant about 2pm.
Once we've eaten. It's alcohol, choc, TV and games for the rest of the day.

Christmas Eve we do prep for Christmas Day food. Children help peel veggies (the kitchen is covered in tiny bits of potato peel). My parents arrive and we all go for a walk in the afternoon. At about 5pm we go to a Christingle service where I always cry while all the children sing Away in a Manger in the candlelight. Back home for ginger glazed ham. Children watch a Christmas film then we all sing carols and Christmas songs before bedtime (carols have been adjusted over the years to include our own funny verses and versions).

Christmas day the children open their stockings on our bed and we all go down for breakfast. smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for adults and Nutella christmas tree for the children. When everyone is dressed we go into the sitting room and open presents from parents to children. Then off to the family service at church.

Back for lunch ( during prep children play with DH and Granddad while DM, DSIS and I cook and drink cocktails).

After lunch all the other presents are opened. There is usually a board game among the gifts that we then play, or we play charades.

We all declare we are too full to ever eat again before tucking into leftovers, rolls, cheese and chocolate.

Another Christmas film is put on before overtired children are put to bed.

Boxing Day we are with the other side of the family and the children and cousins disappear for most of the day to play with new toys and plan songs and dances they perform to the adults later on. There is another large meal and the gingerbread house (made earlier in Advent) is smashed to smithereens eaten.

To be honest I think the traditions the children enjoy most are the little touches. The nutella Christmas tree, the way we sing We Three Kings while running around the bedroom yelling OHHHHHHHH and headbanging the chorus, the same sweets that are always in the stocking, the walk back from church in the dark with torches etc.

Xmas eve, make a start on prepping the veg and a good tidy up of the house. 11am ish we go and meet my friend and go for a walk on the local common which stretches from one end of the town up to the high street. We would then go to lunch at a local greasy spoon cafe (and pray they have a big enough free table to fit us all on) then walk the shorter way back.

The evening is spent doing more food prep, maybe a xmas film and a light dinner (sometimes cereal). The kids find new PJs in a wicker basket under the tree and then go shower and put them on. DH and I will have champagne and nibbles once the kids are sorted and watch a move.

Xmas Day starts early, my youngest is usually banging on our door at exactly 7am and not a minute later having snuck down to see the presents. We then make them wait until I have a cuppa in my hand before the dive in to the gifts. Traditionally I try to slow them down and savour the gifts, DH loves to let them rip in!

Chocolate for kids breakfast, snacks for DH and I. Lunch is late, around 3PM then the afternoon is spent trying to stay awake. We might play a game with the kids. Once they're in bed we like to watch a stand up comedian show which is the new release, but usually by 10pm we're passed out on the sofa.

This year we have my Mum sleeping on the sofa bed so not sure how I'll change things. She actually likes a later night than I do 😆

Boxing day we have an open invite for all our friends and will cook a massive buffet. We drink, eat and play games and again pass out by 10pm.

I’ve been known to run through my local park at dawn dressed as Santa on Xmas day morning. Not one of the miserable dog walkers replied to my cheers of “happy Xmas”.
when we were kids we always stayed at home and grandparents came for Xmas dinner and there always seemed to be a lot of stress around cooking it. Never really had any particular traditions and we don’t really go mad on food and drink. I don’t think a box of quality street has ever crossed my mother’s front door step!!
i quite often go to friends on Xmas eve, sometimes go to early mass with them and their kids, then sometimes a takeaway or pizza and often end up helping with the last minute wrapping once the kids have gone to bed! If there’s a local parkrun on I’ll go there in the morning and we’ve been as an extended family too and taken Sherry and mince pies for afterwards! Last year we went for a walk at the beach which was lovely and then home for fizz and nibbles while the roast cooked.

Are you entirely serious @DaisyWaldron ?!

Yes. Why wouldn't I be?