What went well and what will you change?

[GeorgRainb]

A thread to share things you did this year that went well and things that didn't go so well and you may change next year

Mine is that we went out on Christmas Eve and I actually think in future I would just prefer a cosy day at home. Maybe a family brunch, films, Christmas music and food prep.

We went out to eat on Christmas Day to an Indian we all enjoy and it was fantastic. The whole run up to Christmas felt lovely not worrying about food for the big day and the day itself was so relaxed.

I would not buy as much chocolate which nobody ever eats and always sits there until Easter. Every year I swear I buy less but then people eat even less again.

This sounds perfect. I agree that so much time is taken up with the meal on the day. We went out for dinner once and it was so nice not go have the worry.

One thing I did this year was not buying christmas eve and day clothes for everyone. More by accident than design because most of the stuff I was planning to buy sold out. Everyone wore clothes they already owned, the world didn't end and I saved the money

@GeorgRainb that's interesting because we never buy new clothes for Christmas Day anymore but this year we did and it felt a real treat. I think part of that was shopping together and trying things on and then looking forward to wearing them. It was fun!

Are they things you can wear on other occasions too? Or Christmas jumpers etc

Things we can wear on other occasions too. Albeit mine had a bit of sparkle ✨

That makes sense and I agree can make the day feel even more special. But what I'm going to definitely cut out is any novelty type stuff or running around in a panic in the last few days in the belief that everyone must have a completely new outfit to wear 😂

We stayed at home with just our normal household. It’s been lovely!
Busy few days coming up now though with New Year’s party and two friends having Big Birthdays before packing the kids off back to school.

One thing that worked well with teens was asking for their Christmas list in September, so they'd forgotten what they'd asked for by December. Nice to have a surprise!

I didn't buy new PJs this year - mainly because other than me & Dh, the kids don't wear them anymore! Prefer sleeping in their pants. So won't bother going forward either.

I won't send as many Christmas cards - hardly got any back & it's just such a faff & waste of money.

We've always gone out on Christmas Eve for dinner - that went a bit wonky this year as an event we were due to attend earlier in December was postponed till Christmas Eve. It was nice but hectic & not really want I'd prefer on the day before Christmas.

Next year we're going away to sunnier shores for Christmas. It's so cold and somehow more miserable in the UK now

Not bothering with a tree or decorations worked well. I really couldn't be bothered and teen DS wasn't bothered either.

Christmas Day was at relative's with all the usual tat so we didn't miss out.