xmas eve - we normally pick the tree up xmas eve morning and decorate it in the afternoon before going to church. we then normally make some mince pies, cookies, gingerbread and jam tarts. Everyone has to eat either a mince pie or jam tart on each of the 12 days of christmas. It is meant to bring luck for the next 12 months. The first time the lights go on is after the kids go to bed but they think santa has switched them on to show them he has been.
if crib service is on we go to that (sometimes it is on the sunday before xmas) and look at all the xmas lights on the walk back.
Then we have xmas eve dinner, go outside to sprinkle reindeer food so the reindeer can see where to come from the sky, we hear a bell and find a present of pjs and soap left my elves with a note to say they are magic so Santa knows when they are asleep. The children get dressed for bed and watch a xmas film. the kids drink hot chocolate with marshmallows and the adults drink mulled wine/baileys/scotch.
Then we put out water and a carrot for rudolph and one of the above drinks and a cookie/some cake/jam tart/gingerbread for santa and some sweets to take back for the elves. We put our pillow cases in the living room where we would like to sit and open our pressies in the morning.
The adults spray glitter everywhere (magic dust) and leave some chocolate peanuts outside (reindeer pooh)
Xmas day - first person to wake up gets everyone else up and we all go downstairs together. everyone picks one present out of their pillowcases to open and plays with it whilst the adults make breakfast and drink bucks fizz. All the pillowcases have a £1 coin in the bottom cos of the story that father Christmas once dropped some gold coins while coming down the chimney. The coins would have fallen through the ash grate and been lost if they hadn't landed in a stocking that had been hung out to dry. We also do a line of chocolate coins from their bedrooms to their presents and a bit of red felt by the front door that must have been from Santa's pocket.
After our yummy english breakfast we go to church. We come back and open the rest of the pillowcase presents whilst lunch is cooking. we have xmas cds playing non-stop throughout the house all day. we eat at about 2-3pm then we open family/friends presents and watch tv, play games etc. For supper we always have sandwiches and nibbles and then the kids go to bed and the adults stay up and get drunk tehe.