Away for Christmas (visiting family) - what festive things do you do before and after?

[notlisteningwithmother]

We've been invited to spend a few days with in-laws over Christmas. I love the build up to Christmas at home (tree, candles, decorations, baking, Christmas cake, random traditions), but it feels a bit pointless if we're not going to be here. It will be lovely to see family, but I'd like to enjoy the days at home before Christmas and have something that we can look forward to when we get home. Not a second Christmas as such, more a way of making the holiday period before and after Christmas (school age DCs) not feel flat.

Can you stretch to a panto or some kind of show? Maybe organise a mini Christmas or New year party? Depending on your children, maybe some kind of Christmas activity at a nearby National Trust place, or a lights trail ( eg at Kew Gardens). I used to like taking mine to an outside skating rink.
If your children like crafts, you can make cards and print wrapping paper, maybe get them involved in doing some of the wrapping, decorating the presents with origami or some such. I have been quite successful in the past with collecting and pressing leaves and using them to make cards, and you could go on a walk to collect pine cones, you could even try dyeing them or spraying them.
Could they write Christmas poems or jokes or limericks to go in the cards? It really depends on how hands on they are and if they like those sorts of activities.

Could you buy in food that will be in date when you get home,like buffet party food, and keep some presents for under the tree when you get home?

Take them to your local church for a Nativity service. Our Sunday school children perform ours, usually the week before Christmas, and its a hoot!
Great singalong with carols, and the three year old in a sheep outfit usually runs amok in the aisle…
We also have an outdoor nativity with real donkeys and sheep on a local hill farm - the alpacas get involved too (!) and there’s mince pies and mulled wine or tea.
Your church may also go carol singing round the streets in the week before Christmas and would welcome you and the DC as extra voices.

Thank you. Those are lovely suggestions. We've never been to a light trail, so that would be a nice treat. And yes to the party food ideas - great for pyjama clad evenings. We usually go to the Christmas Eve carol service in our local church with our neighbours, but I'm sure we could do something similar.
DCs usually muck in with gift wrapping. And of course if we're not posting presents then we can make good use of a school holiday day to do that. And possibly make some things to give too.