Christmas 2020!

[prinnygrace]

I always enjoy the days around Christmas more so than the actual day. Don’t get me wrong, we have a nice day too but I enjoy the things we do either side mainly.

I always do the kids an “activity” advent calendar. Mainly for my son but to also include my stepchildren/the whole family at weekends. It’s more of a challenge this year for sure!

Christmas Eve, me and my son go to my mums for the day, swap presents, play games and have nice food. We come home early evening and my partner has the Christmas Eve box out ready (as the Elf leaves it when he goes back to the NP!), do the bedtime routine of leaving things out fo Santa, get the boy in bed and once he’s asleep, we play Santa duties and then crack open a bottle with either whatsevers on TV or a film. We always swap presents that night too so we can look at them properly and then give our all to the kids on Christmas Day.

I absolutely bloody love it. Can’t wait for this year!

Love the idea of swapping presents the night before so the kids don’t have to sit through it I don’t have children (yet lol) but I remember when I was younger being so bored by my mum opening some perfume and my dad some socks

 

[nbt]

Love the idea of swapping presents the night before so the kids don’t have to sit through it I don’t have children (yet lol) but I remember when I was younger being so bored by my mum opening some perfume and my dad some socks

It’ll be interesting if we still do it when the kids have all grown older. But we’ve done it at least the last 5 years and I really enjoy it. The other half is the best present buyer for me so I love looking at each thing properly!

 

[coconochanel]

I always enjoy the days around Christmas more so than the actual day. Don’t get me wrong, we have a nice day too but I enjoy the things we do either side mainly.

I always do the kids an “activity” advent calendar. Mainly for my son but to also include my stepchildren/the whole family at weekends. It’s more of a challenge this year for sure!

Christmas Eve, me and my son go to my mums for the day, swap presents, play games and have nice food. We come home early evening and my partner has the Christmas Eve box out ready (as the Elf leaves it when he goes back to the NP!), do the bedtime routine of leaving things out fo Santa, get the boy in bed and once he’s asleep, we play Santa duties and then crack open a bottle with either whatsevers on TV or a film. We always swap presents that night too so we can look at them properly and then give our all to the kids on Christmas Day.

I absolutely bloody love it. Can’t wait for this year!

What does an activity advent calender consist of?

 

[prinnygrace]

It’ll be interesting if we still do it when the kids have all grown older. But we’ve done it at least the last 5 years and I really enjoy it. The other half is the best present buyer for me so I love looking at each thing properly!

My brother and I are both early twenties and until last year we still both opened all our presents first and my parents was just like the runner up event last year we decided to swap it round since we’re both able to properly buy presents and spoil my parents which was nice! This Christmas will be the first year my brother has his own house with his girlfriend though so things will be slightly different

 

[nbt]

What does an activity advent calender consist of?

Well I’ve done it the last few years and we’ve done a range of things whether it be bigger things or easy little things.

The Polar Express train ride
Winter Wonderland
Panto
Christmas film nights
Seeing the Coca Cola lorry
New Christmas books
Puzzles
Ice skating
Christmas art/crafts

This year will involve a lot more that we can do at home!

 

[coconochanel]

Well I’ve done it the last few years and we’ve done a range of things whether it be bigger things or easy little things.

The Polar Express train ride
Winter Wonderland
Panto
Christmas film nights
Seeing the Coca Cola lorry
New Christmas books
Puzzles
Ice skating
Christmas art/crafts

This year will involve a lot more that we can do at home!

This sounds great fun.

 

[gingerteacup]

I always enjoy the days around Christmas more so than the actual day. Don’t get me wrong, we have a nice day too but I enjoy the things we do either side mainly.

I always do the kids an “activity” advent calendar. Mainly for my son but to also include my stepchildren/the whole family at weekends. It’s more of a challenge this year for sure!

Christmas Eve, me and my son go to my mums for the day, swap presents, play games and have nice food. We come home early evening and my partner has the Christmas Eve box out ready (as the Elf leaves it when he goes back to the NP!), do the bedtime routine of leaving things out fo Santa, get the boy in bed and once he’s asleep, we play Santa duties and then crack open a bottle with either whatsevers on TV or a film. We always swap presents that night too so we can look at them properly and then give our all to the kids on Christmas Day.

I absolutely bloody love it. Can’t wait for this year!

An activity advent calendar sounds lovely

 

[bunnyboo]

I still live at home and Christmas can always be tough in my house, my parents lost three children to a degenerative disease (the kids were very young when they passed away) so usually my mum will be a bit sad/cry for a bit upstairs because it feels like there's people missing. But they always do their best to have a normal (idk if that's a good word to use) day.

But I'm excited to give my mother her gift this year! This is the first year of me finished with my studies and having a decent paying job. My mother is the type that if she has any money, she'll spend it on something for the family/or myself and my teenage brother. So, I saved up for a while and bought her a 60 inch, 4k smart tv for her sitting room she's been saying for ages that she'd love to have something to watch netflix/tv-on-demand with... I can't wait to to see her face when she gets it

 

[1001 others]

I really don't like the Christmas period. It's just so stressful - expensive, emotions are heightened, stress is off the charts.

I've pretended to be on holiday for a few years running just to get out of family events but I have to go this year and I'm already dreading it. It usually starts with pleasantries but within an hour or two there's a verbal altercation, someone will storm off in a sulk, someone will cry, tempers will flare and voices will raise ... I just don't want to do it anymore but it's probably the last one for a couple of very elderly relatives, so I'll have to suck it up.

 

[MindyLahiri]

I really don't like the Christmas period. It's just so stressful - expensive, emotions are heightened, stress is off the charts.

I've pretended to be on holiday for a few years running just to get out of family events but I have to go this year and I'm already dreading it. It usually starts with pleasantries but within an hour or two there's a verbal altercation, someone will storm off in a sulk, someone will cry, tempers will flare and voices will raise ... I just don't want to do it anymore but it's probably the last one for a couple of very elderly relatives, so I'll have to suck it up.

I'm in almost exactly the same boat, would rather stay in my own house in bed all day pretending it wasn't Christmas

 

[coconochanel]

Does anyone give selection boxes as gifts?

 

[TwooTwooTwitTwitTwoo]

Christmas with the Cranks or Miracle on 34th Street for me

I love Christmas with the Cranks! I went to the cinema on my own to see that when it came out. Sat there chuckling away to myself, full of Christmas cheer

What’s everyone’s favourite Christmas tradition?
My family always eat Christmas dinner, clear away the table then play some kind of game whilst we let dinner go down before pudding. It always always ends in tears of laughter. Such a small part of the day but it’s all of our favourite!

I always read the book 'Santa Claus has a Busy Night' to my children on Christmas Eve. It's a book I had as a child and is cellotaped to within an inch of it's life!

Christmas breakfast is always chocolate croissants followed by smoked salmon. We did it one year and it just sort of stuck.

 

[coconochanel]

People doing stockings do you wrap the gifts or just out them in the stocking?

 

[Gggshh]

People doing stockings do you wrap the gifts or just out them in the stocking?

We’ve always wrapped but this year not going to as it’s such a waste

 

[Lovegossip2020]

People doing stockings do you wrap the gifts or just out them in the stocking?

We wrap the "main" stocking pressies, as in the expensive ones - perfume etc. But smaller ones loose. Me and my husband only get each other stocking pressies and have a limit of £100

 

[prinnygrace]

We wrap the "main" stocking pressies, as in the expensive ones - perfume etc. But smaller ones loose. Me and my husband only get each other stocking pressies and have a limit of £100

Same as me and my boyfriend but he has been so difficult to buy for this year I have bought a “year in dates” box from a small business which I love. There’s 52 colour coded envelopes in it, each colour corresponds to whether you want to stay in/go out/do an activity etc so you can pick what you fancy then the envelop tells you what to do. Hopefully he’ll like it because I’m well excited to not have to come up with date night ideas

 

[Lovegossip2020]

Same as me and my boyfriend but he has been so difficult to buy for this year I have bought a “year in dates” box from a small business which I love. There’s 52 colour coded envelopes in it, each colour corresponds to whether you want to stay in/go out/do an activity etc so you can pick what you fancy then the envelop tells you what to do. Hopefully he’ll like it because I’m well excited to not have to come up with date night ideas

Oooohhhhhh that's a fab idea!!!

 

[coconochanel]

We wrap the "main" stocking pressies, as in the expensive ones - perfume etc. But smaller ones loose. Me and my husband only get each other stocking pressies and have a limit of £100

What do you buy each other? Im stuck for ideas.

 

[Lovegossip2020]

What do you buy each other? Im stuck for ideas.

He usually gets me some sort of make up I need, maybe a new jo malone perfume or candle, i usually get him tools or the latest gadget, after shave, it's usually the same sort of presents each year as we also run out of ideas. We have done red letter day vouchers in the past and used for a nice meal out, massage or spa day.

 

[nbt]

People doing stockings do you wrap the gifts or just out them in the stocking?

Stockings are my theme this year! Before I’ve done the brown paper with coloured ribbon, hampers... this year is stockings. I have wrapped the presents I’ve put inside.