What things do you do for Christmas that make it less stressful?

[AxolotlEars]

Every month some money goes into a bank account just for Christmas. Roughly, I use it throughout the first half of the year to buy gifts for friends and family. The second half of the year I use it for my kids and husband.

This year, for the first time, I cooked everything that went in the oven, in foil trays.

What are your tried and tested tips?
Did you do anything new, this year, that you'll repeat next year?

We have roast pork and apple barms on Xmas Eve, I finely slice the left over pork and make gravy from scratch from the tray juices. Poor it over and refrigerate until the next day. Then reheat for 20 minutes once the lamb is resting and the roasties are crisping up. I premake and freeze my own pigs and stuffing and just defrost them in the fridge over night on Xmas Eve and cook them when the roasties first go in. I have a dedicated “big catering event drawer” with extra cooking trays, serving spoons, ladles etc. I love cooking and it’s not unusual for there to be 10-18 People at mine for dinner. 20-40 on Boxing Day for a party. I put all the plates into the dish washer timed so they come out clean hot and dry exactly in the 5 minutes window of plating up. Serving lots of meals means they often go out luke warm and the hot plates really help to prevent this.

my husbands favourite trick is that I have a meat slicer. The day after Boxing Day I slice up all the Boxing Day ham that’s left and then portion it out and freeze it, or/and I premake his sandwiches/barms and freeze them in his packed lunch section of the freezer along with left over quiche slices, a few home made pastries and pies ( turkey and sweetcorn, pork and gravy, sausage rolls, turkey , ham and leek). He helps himself to them on the days where I’m not home to make him fresh sandwiches to take to work and he always messages me saying how much he’s enjoying them and how they make him smile when they taste so much better than other “normal” ones. He’s a total sucker for home made food and it’s definitely his favourite part of big events like Easter and Christmas.

A database or spreadsheet and mail merge can do this in mins once it is set up.

Not if you hand write your cards, it can't ...

👍 yup, I prefer to hand write the cards, and as that's the time available to do that, I also hand write the envelopes.

I have dreams of doing a database, and have tried a few times, but never managed it - and don't have home printing facilities. Not can I use work facilities for that purpose. But 60 odd cards is not a hardship if done in batches.

Buffet Servers!

Absolute god send this year. Kept all of the vegetables piping hot and more importantly I could take everything off the hob, drained all without people hovering around and getting in my way.

Wish I’d thought of it years ago.

Get drunk and stoned. 🤣

Take the kids to lunch and the cinema on Christmas Eve so there is no dinner that night, just snacks.

Do the big shop on the 23rd and be very relaxed about anything I can't get, including the roast. However I do buy and freeze pigs in blankets in November!

It's just the four of us as our family is too far away in various places for a gathering so it's just phone and video calls on the big day. I think this is the main reason it is so chilled and relaxed!

Drink wine with a low alcohol content during the day and then hit the martinis once everything is done. Breakfast is panettone. We do starter at 12ish, roast at 3ish, pudding at 6ish. If it all moves by an hour it's no big deal. Have a walk while the roast and potatoes are cooking.

I bloody love our Christmas Day.

Make a shopping list in January and buy a thing each week. Toilet duck, foil, pickles, anything and everything non perishable. I aim to have a whole shop in the cupboard by Christmas so all I have to do is veges, dairy etc.

I am gf, df and more so everything is from scratch. It’s time consuming. Some time before Christmas, I prep my baking into Tupperware. All the dry ingredients. Then, on baking day (23rd, usually), I just empty the container, add the eggs and milk and bake. Note to self, when the recipe says cream butter and sugar, don’t add sugar to the flour previously and then tip onto creamed butter and sugar. Thankfully, no diabetics here this week.

I got divorced* 😂Made a huge difference to my stress levels around this time of year.
Now it's just me one year and just me and the kids the other year. Both are bliss in their own way.

On a practical level,

• I have refillable advent calendars, which I sort at some point in November
• I say no to all Christmas work dos
• I handmake cards some time in summer/ autumn
• I buy Christmas jumpers one size too large for the kids so they can wear them for 3 years at a time
• food is a well-practised roast I can pretty much make in my sleep, including trimmings, and the bird is bought early in December and frozen
• the kids always get books so I have plenty of downtime in between
• I own the world's supply of classic board games, so it never gets boring

*I obviously have to point out that a relaxed Christmas was not the reason for the divorce.

M n S
A good butcher
Two ovens
A dishwasher
A cleaner
alcohol

Online shopping

But be warned! This year I realised, from combination of gifts exchanged and the timing of some gifts, my MIL and my cousin are both on the bargain thread 😅

I think MIL is a lurker, but pretty sure cousin is a specific user who quite active.

(I also think it’s lovely, and was quite pleased to realise.)

Buy everything online, book Tesco slot early and have food delivered

Go out for Xmas lunch every 2nd year, and the year the dc are with their dads family we have curry takeaway. I can't do Xmas when the dc are not here it doesn't feel right.

I do however make an Xmas meal on Xmas eve instead.

Do a secret Santa for family to save buying 9/10 gifts. £75 budget so can get something decent

I hosted yesterday and I really hate doing it. I do every bit of prep I can on Christmas Eve and still feel like all I do is stand in the kitchen for hours on Christmas Day. Next year I will -

Accept my mums or MILs offer to go to theirs for dinner (I didn’t this year as I thought it would be nice for the kids to be at home all day with their new toys and it was but not worth me hosting for the privilege 😂)

Save money throughout the year, me and DH have set up a Christmas savings account with a standing order of £75 a month to it which should cover all gifts next year at least.

This. I do some things that matter to my nearest and dearest but I’m perfectly capable of saying I won’t turn myself inside out for things. If it matters to anyone else, they can take the lead and I can help.

M&S prepared food if I am not fussed by it - I make the effort for food that I really like.

I say on repeat that the kitchen is closed from Christmas Night for at least 4 days!

I go to my local pub for Christmas lunch and relax

We save all year, Nectar points as well as cash. I get stocking fillers, Christmas bits and small toys in sales throughout the year and pop them all in the same place, so they don’t get lost.

We start buying non fresh food and drink as soon as use by dates allow. Just a few extra bits in each shopping trip so we get all the bits we want without worrying about bits being sold out, or having to lug them home from the supermarket.

Tin foil trays. You can never have enough tin foil trays.

I'm loving all your ideas! Thanks to those who have put links.

I buy wrapping stuff in the sales. I'll buy a pack of cards too but don't send many.

We often go out for dinner or get a takeaway on Christmas eve.

Tesco order
Menu plan for a week but I do that all year.
All food prepped on Christmas eve eve or Christmas eve.
Cooked a ham in the slow cooker.
Beef cooked and frozen in gravy a few weeks ago.
Red cabbage cooked and frozen in November.
Par cooked the roasts Christmas eve too which is a Mary Berry recipe. Will give the polenta a miss next time.

Boxing day is definitely leftovers

Keep a permanent list of people I buy for, on my phone, reviewed every year, and update with what I've bought. I use symbols to differentiate between an idea, whether I've bought it, wrapped it and given it.

Someone suggested a buffet tray, which I have. They are great and solves me trying to time everything perfectly... impossible!

Realised years ago that whatever I buy is a token so I don't spend a lot of money. I'm generally not very good at capitulating to expectations 🤣

I stop buying for nieces and nephews and godchildren after 18. Stopped buying for sister in laws and brother in laws years ago ...we made that decision altogether. Phew!

I only buy for my parents, sibling, wife and DC.

Don't stress myself out with a load of Christmas 'events' for DC.

Christmas is one day! So many people seem to put themselves under so much pressure, and buy sooo much food and drink. We did croissants for breakfast, a shared meal with family (everyone contributed) and cheeseboard in the evening. Not stressful, not particularly expensive. I didn't spend hundreds on Christmas snacks / tins of chocolates / special drinks etc.

We don't like leaving key bits of food shopping until right before in case we can't get them for any reason, so the turkey crown, pigs in blankets and stuffing are all bought in advance and frozen.

Post it notes on the fridge with reminders to take things out of the freezer on time.

I buy the gravy rather than make it.

We don't go overboard with buying presents, and get DD some second hand things through the autumn/early winter if I come across something great.

Put all Christmas decorations away in clearly labelled boxes so everything's easy to find, and write reminder notes on the box for myself/DH for next year about anything that'll need changing (e.g. the tree lights have given up the ghost after ten years and need replacing, we've used up all the crackers, etc)

Make sure all house cleaning/washing up and laundry are sorted before the day so we're not having to find and wash the potato peeler/sieve/Christmas jumper/whatever.

Leave notes for myself directly in my eye line on the kitchen cupboards when cooking the main meal. This year's were "The pigs in blankets take longer than you think,", "Don't forget to take the foil off the turkey,", "Put the fat for the Yorkshires in EARLY!" and so on.

Make sure there's room in the recycling bin.

Build in a prearranged time to FaceTime my parents so they can see DD.

Basically, it just requires me to be far more organised than I usually am!

Have Christmas Dinner in the evening.

No waking up at dawn to cook the turkey. No one hangry at 3pm desperate for food. Everyone has a relaxed morning, waking late after midnight mass, opening presents and going for a walk. Brunch of smoked salmon bagels, scrambled egg s and cheeseboard, then they play games and watch TV while I spend the afternoon taking time to get dinner ready for 7pm. (Used to be earlier when DC were small) Never stressful.

Use washi tape instead of sellotape. You can hold and tear it with one hand while your other hand is holding down the edge you're trying to tape.

Decide to buy much much less. Couple of family over. Dont try run round pleasing people. Bliss

I'm vegetarian rest of family meat eaters but don't like roast dinners. Past few years I've done buffet of party food. Pig in blankets and roast gammon also. Ppl help themselves. Have cut down on number of puddings I offer as alot going in bin. Very chilled and relaxed.

Another one here what’s found Christmas a lot less stressful since getting divorced.

Plus I don’t have my mother over.