Chance to win one of three £100 Lidl vouchers by sharing your Christmas catastrophes and/or tips for a stress-free day...NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

Have you ever had a Christmas catastrophe? Have you burnt the brussels and gift-wrapped the Christmas cake? Or are you in fact a Festive Fairy Godmother, brimming with hints and tips and always on hand to help at this time of year? Please share your worst and best Christmas related moments and festive tips - you could win a Lidl voucher.

Lidl say "With fantastic recipes and tips galore, we want to help you breeze through the festive season, and avoid any disasters along the way. We’d like to know your best festive chaos stories, along with any hints and tips to make things more manageable. We have everything you need to help you get Christmas right; from turkeys and all the trimmings, to sweet treats that are too good to resist, so that you can pull off a flawless Christmas with Lidl without having to blow your budget!"

Everyone who comments below sharing how they got Christmas right (or wrong!) with stories, hints or tips, will be entered into a prize draw where three Mumsnetters will each win £100 worth of Lidl vouchers.

Please note that any comments posted on this thread may be used by Lidl in further marketing material (anonymously, of course)

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

Our first Xmas together as I cooked the turkey it starte to develop blood blisters under the skin. After far too long cooking it looked horrendous and we couldn't face trying it as it looked diseased. Now I always pay for good quality.

To ensure a stress free day we get as much prepped the day before as possible and we all chip in and help (failing that we go to the MIL's)

don't let anyone nag or annoy you

prepare the ingredients for Christmas dinner the night before to save time so you can enjoy the day more

Last year the whole area was out of power until Christmas Eve so we lost food out of the freezer etc, luckily it came ba k on in time to cook the turkey as Boxing Day dinner was at my aunts. Their electric hadn't come back so we had to take the leftover Christmas dinner round there with a camping stve and warm it up.

Top tip have Buck's Fizz for breakfast and don't worry about lunch, it will be ready when it's ready :)

4 years ago when we had the 'big freeze' - over christmas - we had no electricity for 3 days, no water for 8 days and no oil for the heating for 11 days as the oil tanker couldn't get up the road - it was the most miserable time of our lives - we braved the roads and went to my mums on christmas day where she had only enough christmas dinner for herself and we sat down to a christmas feast of burgers and oven chips!!!

Buy non perishables well before Christmas, so you don't have to get all the Christmas dinner in one go.

When I was a student, went to the pub as a large group (meeting up with friends from school over holidays). We all got extremely drunk and came back to my parents. We were all having the drinking munchies, unfortunately my mum had cooked the turkey and left it on the side to cool. We hacked at the turkey and made sandwiches. My mum woke up on Xmas morning to an awful mess, two randoms asleep(passed out) in our living room and a decimated turkey.

We had a veg only Xmas lunch and my mum and dad still mention it (especially as now I am so fussy over everything being perfect for Xmas). Twenty years on and luckily they find it funny.

Last year I completely underestinated the cooking time of the turkey my mother-in-law provided. There was a lot of tut-tutting, but luckily plenty of alcohol for the 3 hour delay :)

Prep veg the day before. I leave sprouts/carrots etc all ready chopped and in a saucepan with water ready to go. I also par boil the potatoes ready to roast and keep in the fridge overnight (just be aware they will take longer to roast as they are cold from being in the fridge).

It doesn't take quite as good but microwaving the Christmas pudding saves hob space and time.

Make as much as you can before the big day e.g. cranberry sauce (is it just me that every time I say that I think of 'chanberry' sauce a la Chandler from friends?!) and brandy butter.

Have all the serving plates etc out and ready and organised for what will go in what so there's no last minute rushes to get things on serving plates.

Our catastrophe was once Xmas day a couple of years ago, when the water supply went off.

We were expecting to be 11 for dinner. So, plenty of folk wanting to eat, drink, flush the loo!

I phoned the water company and the whole of our end of town was off - but they had some bottled water available for collection ?

Ended up asking my parents and Pil to bring some water with them. In containers/bottles/various methods.

fortunately after a couple of hours the water was back on - so we didn't get as far as having to worry about festering toilets.

Hosting for 13 this year. Something is bound to go wrong.

festive tip! eat and be merry! it only happens once a year!

Accept that it is not going to be the perfect day. But laugh and enjoy!

The very first Christmas dinner I attempted to cook I left the turkey out to defrost to early and it went off! Luckily my mum only lived across the road at the time so we just asked if we could join her. The next year we had a similar disaster where I had defrosted the turkey properly that time but then OH forgot to shut the door and the cat managed to get hold of it and pull it down! I was so glad we lived so close to my mum because christmas dinner would have been ruined both times without her! xx

Prep the veg the night before so literally all you have to do is put the meat and roasties in the oven, and the veg in the steamer n the day itself leaving plenty of time to enjoy playing with the children, socialising with guests and enjoying the day itself.

cooked the turkey upsidedown by accident and thought it was a deformed turkey! won't rush again!

Plan ahead

Never had anything go badly wrong, the only thing was that it was the first Christmas in my new home and I had never cooked a large meal in an electric oven as the house I lived in my whole life until the new place was always gas, so things didnt time out brilliantly which stressed me out a bit, but I've got used to it now and no problems since.

I try and make sure I get as much ready the day before and when it comes to cooking it itself I write down what's to go in when and set timers on my phone that way theres no forgetting something, no raw food and no stress. I also remember that the day is about being with my family, it's not about a big lavish feast to impress everyone, and with health problems I don't need to be over doing it as is ruins the day for me as I end up in bed.

Top tips, laugh if things go wrong, as my wonderful late Nanna used to say to us, "its only a bloomin' dinner, if it goes wrong, you can always have a sandwich! And, don't argue over sill things that do not matter, there was once a huff ensued, that lasted 20 years, all because of a sausage roll ;)

I never bite off more than I can chew, so to speak.. I buy pre-prepared items where possible, and if having guests I ask them to bring something and also to pitch in with the washing up. I don't want to spend all day in the kitchen!

My tip is relax and remember that you are never going to be that perfect family on the adverts with a groaning table of perfect food and all round smiley faces. Just enjoy it and don't put yourself through too much stress!

Practice what you're going to cook on the day and also how/if it can be frozen (i.e blanching veg then freezing). Saves loads of time on the big day :) My fave for this is roast potatoes and honey roasted veg.

I've always made the mistake in the past of doing too much on the day and ended up extremely stressed and flustered. This year, the joint is all pre prepared and ready to go, the red cabbage is cooked and in the freezer, gravy made and in the freezer, mums nutloaf will be made and pudding ready in the fridge. The only thing to do on the day is peel a few vegetables and get the timing right. As much preparation beforehand is the key! xx

too relax, something will ultimately go wrong but do you know what, it will all be okay :)

My tips, make lists, prepare as much in advance as you can and check that the turkey fits in the oven and the roasting tin well ahead of time or you will have a big problem!

Leave the drink alone, do not invite any family that you don't get along with as the two combined can create nightmares for years to come!

Do try & go on holiday to avoid it all ;-)