What is your Christmas Day timeline?

[Alittlebitfluffy]

What does your Christmas Day look like from start to end? Ie. What time to guests arrive if applicable, when do you sit for lunch, open presents etc

Genuinely curious to see how others do it. My MIL does things very very late and I'd like to switch it up when we host next year. She told us all not to bother coming before 1-2pm which to me feels like half a day rushing and squeezing everything in!

How does your Christmas Day timeline go?

We don't go to our hosts house till around 3pm. The morning would be so rushed if we had to go earlier.

Usually home for about 7 too.

Breakfast at 9am (me, DW, DS (28), DD (26) and MIL)

Starters at 12pm

Main Course at 3.30pm

Dessert at 7:30pm

Cheese and Biscuits / Cake at 9pm

The gaps between food will be filled with opening presents, snoozing on the sofa and playing ridiculous games.

It’s hot here (Australia) and we have a traditional English style Christmas lunch so spread it out through the day to avoid too many food coma issues.

This year we are hosting so:
6am wake up (small children!)
Open Santa presents
Breakfast (usually by about 8am)
Open other presents
Guest (my grandparents) arrive around 12pm
Lunch around 1pm
Kings Speech 3pm
Take grandparent home around 5pm (they get tired quickly with the kids)
Snacky tea around 6pm (kids) 7-8pm (Adults)

Sorry op , but no timelines here . No guests , no little ones . Wake up usual time , have breakfast later than usual , laze around . Have a few face times with family .
If weather ok , go for a walk .
Come back , start dinner together . Eat it . Laze about .
Wash up . Laze about . Watch t.v. . Go to bed .

Perhaps I should clarify, the way she does it means we don't sit to eat til 5-6pm. Then after that it's pushing 8 and a mad rush to fit in gifts, dessert, games and just chilling and enjoying the day.

Perhaps it's just me but I am not a big fan of that spacing. I do appreciate when you're hosting though you need time.. we usually host and I aim to eat by 1-2pm but have them here from 11 with canapés and present opening etc.

No young kids here but if there were it would be torture waiting til gone 8pm to open gifts!

I quite like this approach! Sounds lovely and relaxed 😊

(Small) kids wake early and open Santa presents and stocking. Leisurely breakfast around 9am (smoked salmon & scrambled eggs) then open tree presents, play with them, lounge around in PJs. Get ready around 1pm then off to lunch at the pub for 2.30pm. Home around 5.30pm for Christmas movie, lounging around, more food if we can stuff it in, copious wine, bed 🎅

Nothing exciting really happens here.
Up at 5am (as every morning) to walk the Shih Tzu, once back have instructions to wake DS (21). We then open our gifts, I shower first so can get on with sorting out the dinner. My father and ex DP arrive around 11am and we have Christmas dinner early around 1 to 1.30pm.
After the main meal, my dad will most likely want to watch any type of war film (I was brought up as a child having to sit through Zulu, Zulu dawn and anything with machine guns blaring on Christmas Day) while dozing off with the remote clutched in his hand. DS will be in his room playing PS5 and XBOX games.
Tea is served around 7pm which is just a cheeseboard, cold meats, party snacks and the traditional Christmas cake. Dad and ex leave around 10pm and then I take a late night walk with the dog.

It’s moved later now there are no children here. Adult DC all come for the Xmas period, Mum comes over but lives locally. We’ll have breakfast about 10-11, maybe open a few presents beforehand, especially if the pressies are clothes, open a few more pressies when mum arrives, cook dinner, have snacks in the interim, eat dinner around 3. Play some games, watch a film, turkey sandwiches or cheese board about 8-9. We might fit in a short walk before lunch if the weather is ok.

What do you do between 1pm and 5pm? Why don't you do gifts then? I don't think finishing dinner at 8pm is late, especially when it's all adults. Does she expect you to leave early? Are you generally an early bird?

I'm not a morning person so arriving at someone's house to socialise at 11am(!!!) would not be happening. When I was little it was up at 8 or 9am for presents (as I said, not a morning person!), grandparents round for lunch and their gifts, Christmas dinner at 4ish, so obviously I think that's the 'correct' way as it's house I was raised.

This year we're doing a totally different thing (due to family circumstances). No kids so guests are staying over tonight. We'll get up about 9 tomorrow, have a biggish breakfast (bagels/pastries), walk the dog. Then get dressed, presents, start cooking. Dinner about 4, cheese about 8, games then bed. It's always been Christmas Dinner to me, never Christmas Lunch. Maybe that's the difference.

I think that's my thing, I grew up as Christmas lunch, so would usually eat somewhere between 12-3.

They invite us at 1, which would be fine if there was a flow to things, but we usually just end up sat there til 5 nursing a single drink. They refuse to do presents or any activities before hand. I offer to help but they don't usually want anyone touching anything yet are running around like headless chickens (well FIL is and MIL doesn't so much as offer drinks).

So you kind of feel like you've invaded their home a bit.. then once the food is served it all settles more into a Christmas Day feeling. I think I'm just stuck in my ways of how I'm used to it being I suppose!

DH, me and our 5 children do stockings straight away in the morning at about 6:30am. We then have a nice breakfast and freshen up a bit before opening main presents which takes absolutely ages because we take turns and we aren't done till about 8:30am! Then we properly get dressed for the day and just chill and relax and make Christmassy snacks and belt to Christmas music.

We are heading off to my brother's house this Christmas and we will be there by about 1pm. There's going to be loads of people there so the kids will run havoc with their cousins and we'll catch up with each other. We'll eat Christmas Dinner by about 3pm and that's big too. Keep spending time with each other and we'll pull crackers, play Christmas games and then we will be home by about 7:30pm and absolutely exhausted! The kids will then eat a picky bits dinner and they can't stay away from their gifts so

The kids gradually go to bed after we have a relaxing evening and DH and I end up watching Die Hard with a Chinese takeaway as we do every Christmas.

Kids are allowed to wake us at 7!
Present opening then a cooked breakfast around 8.30
Relaxed morning interspersed with cooking and guest arrives at 11.30
Dinner around 2
Chilled afternoon and cheese and biscuits from 7ish

Only me, DH and dog. Up 730 to 8 ish. Feed dog. Tea in bed and give dog his first present.
More tea, up, eat breakfast about 930am /10am then out for walk for about 1 to 1
5 hours.
Home, all bath Inc dog.
Open present.
Off to inlaws about 2pm
Snacks / canapes and open pressies.
Dinner about 430pm/5pm. Usually only
Play games and watch a film ...we don't tend to both eating pudding, bit maybe little cheese later.
Leave about 11pm and walk home.

Christmas Dinner AND Chinese takeaway
...no judgement but blimey.

We never end up finishing it and end up eating it on Boxing Day but it's just something we have always done 😊

Another normal day for my husband & I, no kids, family or friends. Relaxing and chilling out.

We’re at DSil - 17 of us. No young children so a lie in morning. Up in time for a late breakfast in new pj’s ready for the annual competition. Huge cold buffet starts early afternoon. No time table (that’s the best thing). Those who want to will go out skiing in the late afternoon/evening.

We try for a relaxing day. So wake up around 8ish have a cup of tea and open stockings. All DC are teenagers now so who knows when they will surface. We will try and rouse them for stockings then presents. Breakfast is pain au chocolat, croissants, waffles with juice/coffee/tea. Then chilling until visitors arrive for more presents, coffee, and mince pies. Once they leave more chilling until lunch - prawn cocktail - yum! Then dinner prep and chilling. Dinner is whenever everything is ready. Then when we are hungry again it will be Christmas pudding.