How will you be spending Christmas

[miguel81]

Traditionally here the Christmas decorations go up on 8th December and come down on 8th January as the main Christmas celebration here is 5th/6th January. I have done my decorations and all looks good. Normally I have a less than traditional British Christmas meal BUT this year I am off to try and find a two-rib of beef to roast along with parsnips and potatoes, parsnips courtesy of my sister who bought me a bag which I have peeled, blanched and put in the freezer,as they are not available here, along with Yorkshire puddings, creamed cabbage and carrots cooked with pastis and a rich gravy made with half a bottle of Bordeaux mixed with the beef juices and the caramelised onions on which the beef is placed to cook. My sister also bought an individual Christmas pudding which I shall have with brandy butter. It will all be done alone (not that I'm complaining) as Christmas here is an intense family affair. I think however that what I'm really looking forward to is the numerous cottage pies that I will make with the leftover beef - and there will be a lot of it, except for two slices that I will braise in the leftover gravy for Boxing day - along with some fried potatoes (patatas bravas).

 

[grainger]

Well mine will be overexcited and probably result in an overtired 3 yr old - but hopefully a happy one.

Morning will start whenever he wakes up with stockings being opened in bed and breakfast in bed too...
Church at the church I grew up in where we’ll pick up my Mum before heading home
Presents/cooking lunch - tapas this year all cooked in disposable foil trays so I have next to no washing up!
Tv, games, playing with presents
Collapse in heap on sofa watching some Christmas movie.

Will be a sober one for me this year but Christmas Eve I’ll have a glass of champagne in memory of my brother like we do each year.

More family days will occur during the week.

 

[Beck S]

I go down to my parent's for Christmas, where I spend a week or so with them and my brother. We have a quiet Christmas, up, stockings (yes I'm nearly 40 but we still have stockings!), then breakfast, presents, get lunch sorted, eat lunch, nap in front of the tv and go through presents. There's a walk in there too but it depends on the weather. Boxing day is a similarly lazy day, but with leftover lunch.

 

[Robin]

With the drawbridge firmly up! Once my son and daughter have finished work and arrived home, that's it! Just the four of us, and yes, I still do stockings ( OH thinks I'm mad). It's a reaction to the days when extended family came to me, and I regularly cooked Christmas Lunch for 12 people at lunchtime so I'd be juggling cooking with watching kids open presents etc. So now we get up at our leisure, have smoked salmon and bubbly at lunchtime, and Goose in the evening ( and as Eggy said, it's only really a Sunday roast)

 

[Amigo]

Well my quiet Christmas plans have been turned on their head and I’m pleased. My brother and his clan are now coming to us for the day so I’ll now be feeding 6 hungry guys. Will be nice to have a family Christmas again. Better get the beers stocked up! 😛

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

We will do the same things we always do. We visit my Mum some time in the week before Christmas, to swap presents, and then we'll have Christmas week on our own. We all like being alone so it works for us (though we did invite Mum here this year as it will be her first Christmas without Dad - she refused, she wanted to stay on her own).

On Christmas eve I will put up the decorations while listening to 9 Lessons and Carols from King's on the radio. R will disappear at this point with the scissors and tape, and will not be seen for some time (unless he suddenly realises he has forgotten to buy me a card and comes down to get the wherewithal to make one, which has happened once or twice 🙄 ).

On Christmas day we will open our presents, make a couple of phonecalls, go for a walk down to the nature reserve at some point (if it's not raining), read some of our books and watch something, probably on a DVD. Our meals won't be that different from usual - I don't eat meat and R doesn't like turkey, so he'll cook himself some beef (I think it's beef - he already got it from the farm shop and put it in the freezer). I'll have a baked potato with smoked salmon or tinned tuna, and I might get some runner beans (my favourite). R will have Christmas pudding and I'll be jealous because I'm allergic to citrus and alcohol - I'll probably have a baked apple (my occasional bad-diabetic treat). He has bought himself a Christmas cake for tea and I've ordered myself some smoked cheese.

We give each other wishlists at the end of November, get presents from them and then pass what's left on to family, so we won't have any unwanted surprise presents, only things we actually want. Both of our wishlists always consist of mostly books and DVDs. We've already written and sent all our cards so we won't have any last-minute rush to do anything.

Boxing day will be more or less the same as Christmas day, without the presents and so will 27th, with the presents because it's R's birthday (awful for him, he gets hardly any cards - even his Mum tends to forget - and he spent all his childhood having joint presents). After that we'll use the rest of the holiday to do something useful. The decorations come down on 5th January - they are just up for the traditional 12 days. R is very bah humbug about decorations, or about anything which breaks his routine really, being autistic, but I love Christmas, so those and the carols are our compromise 🙂

 

[Mark Parrott]

It will be a quiet Christmas for us this year, though we don't really do big family Christmases anyway. Just me & my wife & the cats. Stay in our onesies all day. Bucks fizz for breakfast & crumpets. Dinner will be a lamb crown with all the trimmings & Christmas pud. Cheesy telly will take up the rest of the day & maybe a few games of Scrabble or some alcohol related game.

 

[Lucy Honeychurch]

My two eldest, their partners, my grandson and my mum will be coming over Christmas eve for presents and nibbles, my mum will be staying for a few nights.
On Christmas day OH has to go to work (after he has watched the twins open their presents) then we will go to his mum's where I will cook the dinner, whilst my mum and his get giggly on sherry 🙄

 

[eggyg]

Every time I switch on the tv or look at a magazine or newspaper, I see idyllic Christmas Day scenes of loving, harmonious, beautifully dressed families of several generations in huge immaculately decorated houses with a romping Labrador and tables groaning with food that would guarantee me hyperglycaemia well into Boxing Day night!

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m no Christmas Grinch but I wonder if this is the reality for most folk?

Our Christmas Day is likely to be quiet with too much repeat tv, an absence of tins of chocolates and more cooking than I’d like and sadly many loved ones now missing.

How will you be spending the day? Hats off to anyone having to work. Hope it’s a lovely one whatever you do 😛

I hope you aren’t watching Kirstie’s Homemade Christmas Amigo, talk about making us “normals” feel inadequate! Flicking channels til Masterchef comes on I came across this, she was making table place settings with sprigs of rosemary and little tinkling bells! OMG! Give me strength! You would have to do it on Christmas morning, whilst you are opening presents, stuffing the turkey and making sure the pigs in blankets haven’t burnt, cos they would be dead otherwise! My lot always sit in the same seats why on earth do they need place settings made from herbs! Well you’ve got to laugh haven’t you!

 

[Amigo]

I hope you aren’t watching Kirstie’s Homemade Christmas Amigo, talk about making us “normals” feel inadequate! Flicking channels til Masterchef comes on I came across this, she was making table place settings with sprigs of rosemary and little tinkling bells! OMG! Give me strength! You would have to do it on Christmas morning, whilst you are opening presents, stuffing the turkey and making sure the pigs in blankets haven’t burnt, cos they would be dead otherwise! My lot always sit in the same seats why on earth do they need place settings made from herbs! Well you’ve got to laugh haven’t you!

Absolutely Eggy. The woman needs more to worry about and she wouldn’t be faffing with bits of twigs and making all her own cards, decorations and presents! All this superwoman malarkey is intended to make lesser mortals feel inadequate. Individual place settings? Most people are dragging chairs out of the shed to sit on because there’s too many round the table! Anything that comes ready made won’t shame me either even though I do most of the cooking from scratch 🙄

 

[topcat123]

I agree with eggyg and amigo with kirsty homemade christmas. I watched a bit of nigella lawson christmas programs over the years and feel the same nice to watch but too much fuffle for christmas day. When i was not long married (years ago) i decorated the table and cooked from scratch for my inlaws for christmas it was not appricated they were over an hour late and drunk because they didnt want to leave their club the food wasent burnt it was cinderised (they were told in advance when dinner was served to arrive a bit before) and couldnt understand why i was going mental and in tears. a few years after that it was bought premade from the supermarket just to shove in the oven.

 

[Maz2]

My Dad in Law has just gone into a Care Home so we will be having lunch there. Hubby is at work after Boxing Day which we will spend at home relaxing and probably going a walk. He is at work the rest of the week; I am retired so I will either relax or go out somewhere. Over Christmas I love cooking, watching TV, having people round and generally just relaxing although I like adding some walking in too.