A ‘what will you do differently next year’ thread

[OMGitsnotgood]

I’ve been hosting Christmas for almost 40 years so generally have it pretty well sorted, but there is always something to imporove on.
This year I had a pretty hectic December for a combination of reasons, some of it unexpected. I did still manage most things but ended up doing a lot of cleaning on Christmas Eve Eve and Christmas Eve, when I’d much rather have just had food prep to focus on them put my feet up enjoying a Baileys.

Next year I am going so make sure I do a deep clean early in December and keep on top of it.

Tell everyone I’m going on a 6 week solo cruise, starting the beginning of December

Try and find a way to make the children sleep past 3:30am. Seriously considering lying about the days so that they don't realise it's Christmas. That would mean missing out on Norad and leaving out a mince pie etc, which they love. Maybe drugs?

I’m taking everyone out for Christmas lunch instead of cooking! Our first year hosting, both recovering from flu, got the timings all wrong, not a huge fan of leftovers. Next year we’ll go out somewhere nice, have a treat of a lunch with zero prep or washing up and back home for games & a later on cheeseboard. Perfect.

We will go away and not host 2 sets of parents over Christmas day & Boxing day

I'm going to remember the red cabbage and double up in the slab of sausage meat stuffing (I might make it myself too )

Either go skiing and skip hosting altogether or, if hosting here again, forget the big roast and just do loads of posh starters and a cheese/charcuterie board, as those are the bits everyone seemed to enjoy the most. Graze and drink my way through the day… 🥂

Just had a turkey pasta bake and that’s it for turkey leftovers-based dinners for this year - phew 😮‍💨

Buy less presents for our children. A couple each off their lists and focus more on the little stocking fillers instead as they always say that is their favourite part! (Was mine too as a child)

Change our Christmas eve beige buffet to something like Bolognese/chilli so we have had a good meal and save party foods for Boxing day.

Buy more bake at home baguettes and sour dough loaves for cupboard to save having to pop out to a shop a little longer.

Save money for outings between Christmas and back to school 🏫

Remember a second bottle of Bucks fizz! 🤣

Oh my! Mine were awake at 4am this year (two teens and 9 year old) they all went back to bed at 7am so I had a quiet breakfast and coffee on sofa 😆 felt like a zombie the rest of the day!

I say this every year but buy less food! I didn’t buy any chocolates or sweets this year but instead have somehow ended up with loads of share bags of crisps. We always get food as gifts too! We end up with so much that I feel like I’m forcing myself to eat it just to get rid of it all.

You could donate some to your local food bank…

My DD kept muttering Miller & Carter all morning while we got the dinner ready for 8 people …. I think she was trying to tell me something!

For me, it’ll be to stop trying to please everyone.

My DM point blank refused to visit me over Christmas this year, so I visited her a couple of days before instead.

DM still got jealous that we had Christmas dinner with my in-laws, even though she was invited, but didn’t want to attend!

I love her very much, but that was extremely frustrating!

This year I cba to start early like I normally do, so I found myself rushing various things at the last minute which led to me making mistakes. I forgot to buy crackers and Baileys. I bought what I thought was a really nice notebook for DH, but it turned out to be an 18-month diary which he already owns😬

A chunk of my shopping order on the 23rd was missing, so I ended up in a supermarket on Xmas Eve, something I haven't done for about 20 years and NEVER want to do again, and I bought a wrong ingredient for dessert whilst I was there, again due to rushing.

I bought less food, but still a little too much and put some stuff in the foodbank.

So: all non-perishables to be bought by end of November at the latest. Buy a bit less treat food. Shop carefully, online where possible, so I can easily check what I'm buying. Do. Not. Rush.

I am definitely going to take a few days off in December to focus on cleaning / preparing gifts etc as I always run out of time for everything
( rubbish adhd time management and relentless pressure on myself and dithering over gifts etc)
Can’t wait ! ( for it all to go tits up as usual ) 😩

Dripping candles on a tree? Have you got the fire brigade on speed dial?

Hahaha , he’s in the spare room snuffling and coughing on his own! Me and Ddog have the main bed😴

In a funny way it all worked out for the best… I was too poorly

to do much other than cook Christmas dinner, he’s done the rest of the housework, and I’ve slept through the crappy war films he loves to watch - so both of us happy! And we’ve avoided going to his Ddads as we can’t pass germs on, he has a slow cancer and is disabled. We’ve ended up staying home & having a peaceful restful time… DP now has the rotten cold - but - I can’t wait on him, as I’m still poorly myself! The Dressing Gown of Doom is on but I’ve got mine on as well😉
We are existing on snacky bits, toast and soup, and we lie around chatting for ages so it’s been a different but nice Christmas!

How old are DC?

my solution to this is just let them stay up late. My 5 and 8 yo didn’t got to bed till 11. They stayed asleep til after 6 - not so horrific as 3.

they ended up having a nap in front of Wallace and gromit at 4pm

Yes this is a good one.

we cut back a lot this year and the kids didn’t notice or feel upset - I’d had a wobble when wrapping it but it was fine

I found some fab sheepskin slippers in the January sales at less than half price so I got them for all the women I buy for. It was a brilliant decision because I only had little granddaughter and a couple of men to buy for when it came to Christmas this year. Will deffo do that for next year. Perhaps scarves rather than slippers though

Be more organised, this year it went to shit with 3 major things going south in the 3/4 weeks before Christmas and it made me so behind. Can’t be dealing with that again.

@BlackCat14
we normally take a black bag into the living room and pop wrapping paper straight in after a present is opened. Helps keep chaos under control.

@Sgtmajormummy
Do you have an air fryer? That can be useful when you are lacking oven space.

Do people really take everything out of their cupboards and clean them twice a year ?

Where to ?

ETA - ignore me - I see you’ve already answered this.

https://www.cunard.com/en-gb/find-a-cruise/H701/H701 😂

I had a stressful few days before Christmas as husband insisted on doing the kids presents this year. I had a look the weekend before Christmas (too late, I know, I know) and then panicked as he had got them basically fuck all. I had to run around getting all their presents in a few days. Stressful and more expensive than it needed to be.

Anyway, this year I will do what I've always done - buy the presents ahead of time in bits and pieces throughout the year.

I also love the idea of buying my own presents and am doing that this year too. Husband and I didn't do presents this year as we are going on holiday instead. But next year, I would like some things to open from "santa" (me 😂)