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 read a night before Christmas as a family

Each taking a turn by reading a page each.

We light the fire and enjoy family time

I go to work. All those pantos that families go to see - please think kindly of the actors, musicians, technicians and ushers who are working on them!!

We do last minute organising, pack the bags and car to travel to my parents' house, go for lunch at the local pub with our friends and then watch a Christmas film.

Get dressed up in something red.
Deliver gifts to friends and family at the speed of light.
Drink. Eat. Drink. Eat. Drink. Eat. Drink.
Admire everyone's Christmas trees.
Unapologetically, sing Christmas carols at the top of our voices.
Slump in to a chair with a drink and quietly celebrate the arrival of the 25th December.

If it is good enough for Santa and his reindeer, it is good enough for us.

We will spend Christmas Eve on holiday on a beach and keep it very low key. Just how we like it.

I absolutely love Christmas Eve. A day of finishing touches and anticipation. We wrap, peel, pot and foil as required. Everyone pops to midnight mass for Carols and afterwards we come to drink sherry and eat a mince pie, hang our stockings and nip to bed in the hope that Santa will
Come!

Being Scandinavian Christmas Eve is the Big Day for me. By Christmas Day it's all over; we eat leftovers and lounge around - bliss!

I watch xmas films with family and put out the carrots and biscuits for the reindeer and father xmas. When the kids are in bed I pour a drink and do the last wrapping with more xmas films.

I take my 2 DS down to mums, then I return home and retrieve the Christmas gifts from the loft, and hide them VERY carefully, I will then go down to mums where we all have a job to do in preparing Christmas lunch, (making jellies, peeling and chopping). When I can relax a bit we get the board games out - and the dominoes, until we go home, put out the santa sacks and TRY to sleep.

Every year I say I want to have everything done so I can chill and have a few drinks in front of some Xmas tv. And every year I’m wrapping until midnight 😂😂😂

This year will be different! Maybe.

Do I have to make a purchase to get my free Reindeer Treat carrot sticks? I don't mind, but we have to plan Christmas Eve around it. Maybe lunch in McDonald's.

I am really excited to be starting our family traditions at home this year My son is 18m. We are going to do a Christmas eve box which I know divides mn but I think its a lovely idea :)

We always go somewhere to blow away the cobwebs, the zoo or nature sanctuary perhaps. I always send DH out with dc's for a made up forgotten item from the local shop and I get the presents out and hide them in the boot so I don't need to be so stealthy that night. Then a "party tea" about 5ish and get the dc to bed after leaving a little something for Father Christmas and his helpers. I then have a glass of Bailey's and DH gets the presents from the boot where they were stashed earlier in the day. It's almost more enjoyable the day itself!

A long walk to tire out the kids, a nice dinner, Christmas film (Elf or Muppets Christmas Carol!) with hot chocolate and laying out a mince pie and carrot for Santa and Rudolph before bed!

One of the best days of the year!

We go and have a McDonalds breakfast! Have done this for years and we have taken ds for the two he’s been here for! Then it’s making a couple of visits to get the family’s kids excited.
We watch Elf and I’ll warm up some mulled wine while we sort out presents and wrap up any last minute bits. Also go and grab any last minute food things we need. This year hopefully ds will get it a bit more but next year will probably be more like it.

Christmas Eve is my favourite - I just love it. There’s excitement and magic and fun. It’s just great.

A take away curry for dinner. Then presents put under the tree. Then a Christmas Eve photo of the kids in front of the tree. Then sleep!

Take away, movie, anxiety over gifts..
Is it enough?
Will DD like them?
Will DD be happy with them?
Will she be disappointed her pile isn't very big?
Are they wrapped well enough?
Did I spend enough?
Was she expecting something she hasn't got?

Etc etc etc.

Then collapse in a big heap in bed and weep softly till morning.

Yay! Christmas... And I mean that most vert sincerely I does...

Christmas films especially Arthur Christmas, stollen nibbles, cider, most of the day spent indoors and everything already wrapped. It's no good me waiting for the kids to fall asleep, so Santa takes the stockings in v. early next morning (ideally) before they wake.

Treasure hunt for the kids in the evening, small gifts which is a selection pack, pjs, a A stocking filler gift, settle down watch the film in our pjs eating chocolate 🍫

Food would be party bits - onion rings, chicken bites ect with some fizzy pop.

Might have a glass of red this year as I'm not pregnant at Xmas for once haha!

Panto and then the local for lock in
Stumble home or to midnight Mass,
Try to remember whose presents are whose to go in stockings... Fail miserably.. Give up and take hip flask down to the beach with dp and sloppily tell how much I love him and Christmas and santa... Have to be put to bed about 3am.

Can you tell I don't have young children?

We all go to a carol service in the evening - wrap up warmly then walk home and have mulled wine and mince pies!

We celebrate Christmas eve as an extended family. We have many nationalities and many of these have been mixed into an incredible and unique meal. Over the years we have also agreed a tradition of choosing and opening one present each from under the tree. It just extends the magic of Christmas out even further!

We always get all the wrapping done before Christmas Eve so the whole day is very relaxed, After a long afternoon walk with the dog we are home for the rest of the day. DS and I will make lebkuchen biscuits to take to MILs on Christmas Day, although we will probably eat some of them watching Christmas movies that evening. Dinner is cheese, biscuits and nibbles as MILs Christmas dinner is substantial! DS has a Christmas Eve box with new pyjamas, a Christmas book, hot chocolate and a candy cane then after his book we get Santa’s plate ready with a mince pie and Baileys for Santa and carrots for the reindeer, then after DS has gone to bed we will watch something corny like Die Hard (with the rest of the mince pies and Baileys) and sort out DSs stocking.

Always have plans for a lovely stress free morning and then drive to the in laws.. but it always ends up being stressful last minute wrapping (even though I try to be organised!), packing up the car and then driving after dark.. hoping this year will be different as it’s the first Christmas in our own home (fingers crossed.. exchanging next week hopefully!) so I’m hoping we can have a lovely day and then drive to inlaws on Christmas morning!

On Christmas eve we take the kids to Dobbies centre to see the lovely displays and buy extra bits & jobs, then we have a Chinese whilst sitting around the Christmas tree and singing santas coming to town. Then we hang up our stockings, watch home alone and the adults drink Baileys (the best Christmas drive) we leave santas macDonalds including carrots for the reindeer, read the kids the night before Christmas then off to bed to let Santa work his magic ;)