Short cuts for a great Christmas...( sorry, I know it's the start of October:o)

[libranlady]

Hi, I'm due with my third at the beginning of December. I'm expat so no family and not a huge circle of friends around, and I'm trying to get my head around making a great Christmas for my two other dds. It may be the last year they 'believe' so really want it to be special but clearly, am going to have my hands full with the new one. Anyone got any tips or short cuts re. food, decorations, etc?

Hi, food wise if I were you I would buy as many premade products as possible, eg pigs in blankets, sausage rolls etc. For Christmas day I would just say this it is only a big Sunday lunch so other half could do prep and with guidance you could cook it together.

However if it is presents you need help with then I would order as much online as possible and wrap/label them as they come as you will not have the energy at Chrismas!

Decorating wise if you can live with it not perfece - don't put it up until the weekend before Christmas and let children decorate the tree etc - who cares if all the decs are on the bottom or clumped on one side the kids will love it.

Most of all just relax the kids will enjoy time with their parents more and you will have fun and enjoy them more also.

Good luck

Have a look in the Fun and Games topic there is a Christmas Section in there where there seem to be lots of people thinking about Christmas already. I am only thinking about it this year as no. 4 is due 23rd Dec and eldest will be 6 in Jan so trying to plan ahead as like you the older siblings are at the really believing stage.

There are threads in there with peoples family x-mas traditions. In this house just doing craft things would keep my eldest 2 occupied for ages, paper chains, paper snowflakes etc.

Thanks very much for the responses. Will have a look in the Fun and Games section. Did some Xmas shopping today so feeling a bit more organised already. Know its ridiculously early but due to lots of factors, things and pretty complicated where I live, no supermarket delivery, no takeaways etc so best to get organised!
Good luck to you Fresh. Hope you have a really magical Christmas : o )

Good luck to you too when the new arrival comes : )

I would suggest buy and wrap your prezzies now,( DH and I are self employed and very busy at Xmas so tend to do this every year whether pregnant or not !) book your Christmas online supermarket delivery (I think you can from mid November with most of them ) dig out your Xmas decs and check the fairy lights work, write and stamp your Xmas cards and order a few of the non perishable goods for Xmas dinner over the next few weeks. There was a great American online service I found last year where you type in your kids names and various other things such as presents they would like and in a few minutes you get a video email from Santa talking to them. i am sorry I cannot remember the website but I reckon you could find it on Google. It completely baffled some of the non-believing children in my son's class and made them start writing letters to santa !