What you do on Christmas Eve? Share with McDonald’s - £300 voucher to be won

[EllieMumsnet]

Whether Christmas Eve in your household is the calm before the storm or the storm before the calm, it can be a great day to just spend some quality time with family and/or friends. Christmas Eve is celebrated in a whole host of different ways, with traditions varying from going for a long walk, to having chinese takeaway for dinner, to even guessing what the presents around the tree are. With that being said McDonalds would love to hear what you and your household gets up to on Christmas Eve.

Here’s what McDonald's has to say: "“We know it’s a hectic time of year for families, so if it’s a quick coffee when you’re out shopping or popping in on Christmas Eve for some free Reindeer Treat carrots, we are here to help you get #ReindeerReady on your way to Christmas 2018!”

Is Christmas Eve a time where you stay in your Xmas pj’s all day and watch films? Perhaps you like to go to you the pub with friends and family? What about going for a winter walk around your local park? Are you still prepping the presents and dinner for Christmas day? Do you and your family host an annual Christmas Eve party? Or maybe you have a traditional Christmas Eve breakfast, lunch and dinner that you look forward to all year round?

Whatever you and your family gets up to on Christmas Eve share it on the thread below and everyone who does will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

We spend the evening part working and part relaxing. We always get the meat cooked and all the vegetables peeled on Christmas Eve to allow us to open the presents without rushing.

The rest of the evening is spent opening one present, normally new pyjamas for the children, and then watching Christmas films and if we've got time playing a game.

The final part of the evening is sneaking the stockings into the children's bedrooms once they are asleep, this gets harder and later every year!!

Apart from Panic?
I wrap presents; and if I'm super organised I might get round to peeling the spuds for the big day.

It is a tradition in our family that we all meet in the afternoon at our local pub and wish literally the entire pub a very merry christmas (this is something that stems from my great grandad and has passed down the generations). A toast as such to the old year before getting ready to begin the new one just around the corner. Its a real family affair and everyone looks forward to it.

I always prep my veg and cook ham,mince pies, sausage rolls, quiche etc ready for Xmas and I make sure the Xmas table is decorated and ready for Xmas day.

It’s my daughter’s birthday just before Christmas so I try to make sure I’m all prepared before Christmas Eve! I buy and wrap early so Christmas Eve is chilled with daft tv on and special food

We have a chilled Christmas Eve watching daft movies

The simple answer would be lots of pre-planning. Everyone has a role to play on the lead up to it and the kids enjoy playing their part as they know theyll get rewarded for good behaviour. Christmas eve tends to be very organised and very calm as a result which is great as theres zero stress on the actual day.

Prepping veg for Christmas lunch. A Christmas film on. Used to be a Chinese takeaway before I had DD. Now it's just me and her, and I'm so just looking forward to a snuggly evening (then playing Father Christmas)
May pinch some little ideas from here [santasmile]

Late afternoon we got to the Christmas market in the city centre and see the Christmas lights. We then go for dinner and then home for

Pyjamas, hot chocolate and our favourite Christmas film Polar Express . My DD is 15 and we have been doing this since she was 5 and she still loves it.

We probably celebrate Christmas the most on Christmas eve with last minute wrapping, children's crib service & carols. I think it's my favourite seasonal day.

I have Xmas eve off work this year so we are doing panto for the first time in the afternoon, then it will be home for tea, a Christmas film and getting Santa and reindeer stuff ready to leave out. After that hubby and I will have a drink before having to get the presents out under the tree!

We always watch a good family film normally Elf as the children love this film.

get the kids out of the houe to wear them out as much as possoble. cheese board for tea

We're organised because we keep everything as simple as possible. I try to make sure that there are no chores or errands left to do from Christmas Eve lunch time onwards so that the fun time starts there. Usually we spend the afternoon cooking up our Christmas curry but this doesn't count as a chore because it involves dancing around the kitchen to an excellent playlist and having a beer! Snuggling up with a film or listening to music is just right!

Come Christmas eve the presents have been wrapped and everything is ready for the big day, dd is too young to understand just yet so the normal rules of bath bottle and bed still apply. However she still gets new pj's and a Christmas eve box, just because she doesn't know doesn't mean its not Christmas for her!
Once she's tucked up in bed, I will watch all the festive programs on tv and normally end up watching a film on my own as my husband works until the early hours

We usually just spend a cosy evening indoors together, watching movies and drinking tea. Simple but happy.

Start to prepare Christmas dinner and last minute preps., clean the house, then go to the pub to relax with family and friends ...

PJ's on, takeaway for tea and then we watch movies until everyone is tired!

We visit our local farm where they put on a nativity play and sing carols, they pass around mince pies and gifts for the children. It's a great way of making christmas eve special . The we walk through the country side on the way home and look at the wonderful decorations on the houses.
Then it's a hot chocolate, carrots and milk out for santa and a bedtime story.

Small meal with family then early bedtime for the kids.

Prep for Christmas Day then chill out with a family movie night

Have a Christmas Eve treasure hunt and a nice dinner

Christmas eve is really special to me. As I work in retail i always opt to work boxing day so I can have my special day which is Xmas eve.
In the day I'll always pop to Shirley in Solihull, pick up my veg then go to the pub to give a little Christmas cheer to the regulars. Then I'll get home prep the veg for the big day and watch Xmas eve telly and crack open some brandy with nibbles. Basically it's a drinky day.

We spend the day relaxing, coffee with friends in the morning and purchasing a treat for our afternoon of watching Christmas films, Carol service is normally at 6pm and then home for dinner turkey and all the trimmings, watch tv or another film and open the chocolates.

We have our typical family traditions on christmas eve, first we go to local animals shelters and hand in a donation for both animals and workers, they always take us to go see the animals and tell the kids all about the animals, they are especially interested in the reptiles. Then we go home and make some soup together, go for a woodland walk then home to the kids xmas eve boxes of new pjs and hot chocolate. Get cozy on the sofa and watch christmas films. We cant forget to leave santa and the reindeers their treats before bed time :)