What do you do on Christmas Day?

[ToddlerTerror]

I absolutely love Christmas. I love the run up to it, I love the food, the decorations, the trees, even the Christmas jumpers. BUT the last few Christmas days, I have felt like they have been a bit of an anti-climax.
We tend to have a nice breakfast, then open presents, then I feel like I am stuck in the kitchen cooking and hosting until 4pm ish and then the day feels like it is over and I am knackered.
I was wondering what other people do to make the day feel a bit more special? I did suggest to DH that we have our main Christmas meal at 6pm ish instead of 1pm as then that gives us the day to do something but he wasn't overly keen.
There is just myself, DH and DD who is 3. We tend to have at least one set of parents if not both over for lunch but none of them, apart from my Mum, are interested in games.
I'm just a bit fed up of feeling like my favourite time of year is no longer magical like it was when I was a child.

We have our main meal at 5pm. Early enough to have cleared up early, but late enough to not be cooking all day.

I think a later meal is the way forward as I do feel like I just spend the day cooking otherwise.

I think that once you become a parent Xmas is no longer special. It’s such hard work !
It was ok when mine were little, they were excited and lots of Xmas things to attend, but now that mine are grown the magic has gone.

I used to feel like this. It felt like a tickbox exercise to get through....You have to find new traditions and keep it real and sentimental.

Don't do Christmas for social media and don't pressurise yourself into doing everything because everyone else (or seems to be)

Keep it real!

If you are thinking about it from June onwards no wonder it is an anticlimax!

This !!! It is Summer enjoy I don't even think about Christmas

I wouldn't normally. It's only because we were watching sewing bee and someone was making a Christmas dress and it got me thinking and discussing it with DH.

I feel similar, love it all except the actual day! After many years of doing the same huge turkey lunch and the kids eating it in 10 mins I've decided never again. I'm also getting divorced so I think this year I might do a lovely big roast for dinner on Xmas Eve and on Xmas Day we'll do presents, party food, leftovers and some sort of movie marathon (all the Star Wars films maybe!). My kids are older now so some of the early years magic has gone sadly. It's definitely time for a change.

It is different when you have a child. I’ve tried doing dinner in the evening but found it didn’t work, you still have todo a lunch which being Christmas has to be special, then I found I spent all afternoon clearing lunch, getting snacks, finding batteries and cooking a Turkey.

I find it better todo a light buffet type breakfast, then open santa sacks, then dinner at 12/1, all hands on deck clearing away, then tree presents, with a light cold Turkey/ham sandwich type of supper.

if you prep as much as possible before Christmas morning is just popping things in the oven at the right time. I set an alarm to remind me. I started this when my youngest was about 2, she’s now mid 20s and we still do it this way

I love Christmas but started to feel a bit like you so now I think of Christmas as the whole of December - a month to prioritise family, doing nice activities, creating a bit of magic etc - as opposed to just one day.

I'm Catholic so I go to church, that is the important part of the day for me.
We make sure to have a nice meal and play a few games but Christmas for me is not about eating, drinking or dressing up. That is only the secondary part of the day, not the main focus.

This sounds great! Maybe I just need to wait a few more years until DD understands what a movie marathon is.

Yes, I definitely enjoy the festive period more than the day. Maybe I should just accept it is what it is for one day and make a big effort throughout December instead.

For the last 30 years of so we have gone to a local restaurant for Christmas lunch. There is normally around 14 of us (all family)
Get up Christmas morning, light breakfast including Bucks Fizz! Open our presents and have a lovely relaxing morning.
We then get dressed up, go and have a fabulous lunch, then back home change into our comfies and chill out.
Absolute bliss!

We’ll be skiing this year then coming home to a party food type slap up meal with plenty of wine

I’ve always fancied having a luxurious buffet type Christmas lunch, to pick at over a while.
Cold meat and fish, cheese, lovely crusty bread, maybe some of your trashy bung in the oven party faves.
There would be a riot in my family if we didn’t do the traditional turkey though.

I wish we could do this but we just couldn't justify it. DD eats like a sparrow so it would be galling to pay £100 for her to just push her food around the plate and nibble a roast potato! Maybe when she is older though.

This is my idea of heaven! I would love to be able to go skiing over Christmas. I haven't been on the slopes in 10 years 😩

Your dc will be old enough to start skiing next year. Look at Family Ski Company or Ski Famille for a stress free trip

ours are teenagers now so we’re past needing those companies but they got us off to a great start

It's basically just a roast dinner. For the past 3 years we have ate duck or beef instead. Dinner around 3pm, snacks in the evening. I always lay the table and prepare all the veg on Christmas eve so just a case of cooking the meat and veg. Definitely prep as much as possible

Prep everything (including potatoes) to within an inch of its life the day before so I can bung them in the oven. Cook turkey day before. Table set and decorated day before.

Then:

Stockings.
Light breakfast.
Church.
Christmas dinner.
King’s speech.
Open rest of presents.
Silly games.
Supper.
Film.
Bed.

Right.

[cracks knuckles]

Childhood christmas day - in Australia so boiling hot.

Wake early. Open christmas one main christmas present. Bundle into car and go to one set of family (alternate years between fathers and mothers). get to grandparents and all sit around in the main room and cousins take turns opening presents. meal of salads and seafood and cold smoked chicken and playing cricket in the garden with those foam cricket balls. Bored silly while adults get drunk and the start arguing. Head for home usually with my mother crying.

Current Christmas day with my family (DH, two Dcs here in the UK).

Wake ealy. Pour bucks fizz. Open presents in a crazy way. I get up here and there to turne potatoes or the chicken. Breakfast usually if icecream then an early lunch, then tv and playing with toys then dinner of ham, cranberry sauce, nice bread and prosecco. Bed by 9 pm. Boxing day we go for a walk and to the pub.

Dream Christmas day- spending it somehwere where there is snow and in a lovely hotel where I do not have to do the cooking and we can go out and do some skating on ice and have hot chocolate and mulled wine and roasted chestnuts in the afternoon.

Well of course it doesn't feel the same! You now have to do the work (I hope your husband does his share too).
Christmas is a bit anticlimactic. Weeks of build up then boom over in a flurry of wrapping paper and a big meal with a lot of tidying up.
I think maybe plan a few activities for the few days after as well to stretch it out. Ice skating? Panto? That sort of thing.

I actually like to get the meal over at lunchtime because then I can relax for the rest of the day. I don’t want to spend the afternoon/early evening in the kitchen.

I think there’s something really nice about after lunch on Christmas Day. All the work is done, everything went well, now I can flop on the sofa and everyone can do what they like with minimal input from me. I’ll go for my middle-class walk tomorrow, pass me those chocolates.

Beware the later meal!

It doesn't leave much room for cheese / chocolate snacking and I feel like I don't get to properly relax until it's served!!

I do however manage to get out for a walk

We do:

7ish Pastries / coffee / presents
9ish Showers / lay table
10ish more kids & adult presents
12.30ish cold Starter / light lunch
13.30 turkey in, out for a walk
15.30 turkey out, everything else in
17.00 ish main meal then clear up
19.00 dessert