What are your best tips for a fantastic Christmas?

[Mothersload4]

I love Christmas and already can't wait! what are your best tips for a fantastic and easy Christmas? I have found assigning everyone their own wrapping paper a game changer!

Not necessarily a tip for a fantastic Christmas but a tip (especially if you travel to others for lunch) is have an easy Christmas dinner in your freezer in case of emergency plan changes. I keep a cook from frozen turkey joint, frozen parsnips, sprouts, roasties etc in just in case our plans to travel have to change last minute (illness/weather etc) it's not quite the same but we'd still get a christmas dinner of sorts

Do the shopping early, so that the only thing that's left by December would be a work Secret Santa gift or something like that. Also you can swap signing actual cards for relatives with making video greeting cards instead (here is a tutorial for that) and sending them via Whatsapp or email. This is what we have started doing years ago and everyone seems to love video stuff way more than usual cards that need to be stored somewhere or might end up being regifted to you if what you have written was vague enough😁

Love this! My default mode during the festive season is "don't stress about it". Christmas is supposed to be fun, if it feels like a chore you're probably doing something wrong.

Don’t aim for perfection. Caused so much needless irritation

Reducing time focused on food to an absolute minimum. As a child I used to feel sad that my mum and grandma spent the best part of the day in the kitchen. Now I have my own children I buy everything pre prepared and the focus of the day is playing together and family fun.

I sit down by the fire in late November and do all the Christmas cards with a bottle of red wine. I hate doing cards in December as it feels like a chore at that point, but doing them in late November gets me in the mood for the season.

Something I want to change this year-
last year we put the usual effort into a lovely meal but I feel like we rushed through the eating part and it was over too soon! I’d like to slow down a little and enjoy it, not just move on to the next thing.

Could you do courses? Or a Christmas style taster menu? Which I think is 5-9 courses :)

• Don't overspend: nobody needs a giant heap of gifts
• Enjoy good food

That's it!

Thanks everyone!! Christmas is my favourite time of the year i love the over the topness of it all!! For me it starts late November and lasts until Jan 2nd!!!

Don't try to make it perfect. If you do you'll be so stressed if something doesn't go the way you want it to.

Do NOT a succumb to the itch. That feeling when you desperately think that Christmas will not be complete without that extra present, the extra thing on the table, the extra expensive trip. It won’t make a dot of difference.

Do not succumb to the notion that Mulled Wine is a delicious drink. It’s fucking minging, and then you’re left with a cooking cup of the shite whilst you wish you’d asked for a gin and tonic.

Do not assume your WIFI will be working on Christmas Day and only buy gifts that need it. Also do not take a chainsaw to a bush on Christmas Eve and saw straight through your WIFI cable.

Order your Christmas dinner from local pub and get it delivered/collect it. Does anyone really enjoy cooking the Christmas dinner?

Agree now with everyone that you don't need presents - game changer!

Oh, and remember that noone in the house likes the chocolate cake/pudding/log thing that so this year don't buy one to put in the bin 2 weeks later.... Spend the money on peanuts instead

Christmas notebook with a calendar page for things we did, a page for gifts bought, a page for food timings etc, and then a page for what worked/didn’t. Every year I use the same notebook and it’s so useful to refer back.

Last year we hosted all DH’s family so there were 14 of us for the three days. My best decision was buying some fun paper plates and insisting they were used for breakfasts. It meant we went into cooking and the rest of the day with an empty dishwasher which made a huge difference.

Glow stick party for the children - about 5pm we did them an early tea, then snapped a load of glow sticks and chucked them in the garden for them to play with. The younger ones brought some in and had them in the bath with the lights off and music on for a “disco bath”. Was a great way to burn off all the excitement of the day before bed.

Have Christmas dinner in Christmas Eve. Then you don’t need to spend hours cooking while everyone else is opening presents.

Wise words! 🤣

Spread it out a bit. I get the shopping done early, wrap as I go, and cook a little here and there, filling up the freezer. It feels lovely and festive, doing a bit now and again as the mood takes me through November and December. So much nicer than trying to rush through it all in a blur in December.

I try and go out less in December, because the traffic is heavier and everything takes longer. I decorate the house a little bit at a time and I love fairy lights and led candles on timers that just take care of themselves. The only place I go to more often is the library,

If I don’t cook everything I planned, that’s ok and I can pick up something from the shop or do without. My dc are teens so even if a gift doesn’t come on time, no one will be that bothered.

Our families can never decide who is doing what, or going where, but I’ve stopped caring. Some years, people are dropping in unannounced, others I have a freezer full of food for January.

But, no matter how hard I try and keep it chilled, things have a way of getting frenzied in December even if it’s just other people’s drama. And that’s why I love the slow lazy days after before school starts again. I don’t rush out shopping, start decluttering or take up exercising. It’s time for reading, watching movies, eating chocolate, crafting and catching up on sleep. No rush to wrap it up.

Try to see the preparations as part of Christmas.

Making the mince pies is a Christmas activity. Wrapping presents is a Christmas activity. Singing at the care home (bit niche this one) is a Christmas activity.

Don't look at everything else as just things you have to do in order to prepare for the pile of presents and glorified roast, because then yes you will look back and wonder whether it was all worth it for four hours of alloyed enjoyment...

It’s all about board games for me, or the moment you sit down with the Christmas tree in the corner and everything is done and you just go ‘ahhh’. Also seeing my mum and brother and Aunty and uncle

These are wise words indeed. Have the Christmas you want, don't spend time with people who don't make you happy. It is meant to be a joyous time, fill your life with that, not just at Christmas, but year round.

There are no rules about food or when to have it, or that you need to cook a turkey, most people wouldn't choose turkey at any other time of year. If you don't like it, make something else.

We keep it simple, gifts for family are very low budget wise, just a bit of fun so no one is bleeding money. We do post Christmas feedback in our family of 4 so we can amend menus, do less of this or more of that. That means everyone gets a vote which we try to accommodate. This is the first year we won't be doing an advent calendar but stockings will still be hung for Father Christmas, my children are 22 and 19. Those stockings are always full on Christmas morning. Believe

Write yourself a list of what doesn't work or what you don;t want or need
For me it's Don;t make a Christmas Cake
Only I eat it , so though I love the idea of cooking one ( and I make the marzipan and icing ) , the cake will sit about glumly till mid January . I used to take some to my parents or give them some if they were with me for Christmas .

Don;t buy cheese that will stink out the fridge and make me feel <not envy each time I opened the fridge .

DS ( 25 ) isn;t a Christmas fan, DD and I are , DH is non plussed .
So last year DD,DH and I went in a 3 day Christmas Market cruise in December . This year we;re having a 3 day city break in Dec
Then Christmas itself is a nice relaxed meal , no pressure .

Book your supermarket delivery if you use this .
Empty your fridge (for your Christmas Fridge , obvs )
Christmas Clean-a-Long for stress free
Get your wrapping done before the 24th

I do Dec 1st Boxes for my DC (adults)
Pick a nice relaxed weekend to decorate
Enjoy it !

Don't do any of it
It's fantastic! 🤣

Well said you are all angels in the nhs , yes a simple quiet Xmas is good, hope you get time of with familly , children , or whatever have a lovely time

@Mothersload4 , understand what is really important. If you have children making it magical for them would be most important to me.
Understand that money doesn’t make a Christmas special, although I acknowledge a desperate lack of money can make it difficult.
The joy of Christmas does not come from expensive foods or expensive anything.
Taking time to enjoy your family and friends and have fun with them is what matters and this is free. As a child my family played games which required at most paper and pencil, we play those games now with our grandchildren.
For me Christmas is a spirit. It is a spirit of joy and togetherness. If we can let go of any concerns about making it perfect and just enjoy the people we love then it will be perfect.
This is very, very early but here goes my first ‘Happy Christmas’ of 2025!
Enjoy!

Simplify, distribute and shake things up a bit!
Eliminate the present buying madness and have a secretly secret Santa - we’ve good apps that do the allocating. Get everyone involved in the cooking get them to nominate a dish or a task - we give guests a job too. Go for a walk, get out of the house, pub, church, park wherever just get out! Eat in the evening - no panic over timing and getting up early. Consider whether turkey is really what you want to eat. When the kids were younger - their favourite food was tomato pasta - so we had that - they were happy, we were happy!