Who wants a perfect Christmas? I don't

flickety I'm just like you. I do my best and commit the rest to faith that the Universe will deliver.

Every year for the past 5 years or so husband is given a £50 M&S gift card by one if his clients and he hands it straight over to me Fir some reason that £50 feels like a million dollars and I head straight off to go poo w it on food treats, making sure I check out the specials. One year someone pinched his gift card (it comes in a Christmas card and he had left it lying around in the office). He never heard the end of it!

ANother year we had guests from the Southern Hemisphere, and the boiler packed up on Christmas Eve - no heating and no hot water. Now that was a memorable Christmas

To go poo with it on treats!! Lol. DAMN Kindle! Spend it of course.

I always loved the story of Christmas in the Diary of Adrian Mole, when his mum is frantically trying to defrost the turkey under the hot tap in the bath. I wouldn't want a perfect Christmas either, just as well as I've never had one yet

Christmas will be my idea of perfect this year as I am going to be able to see Treasured Smallest Grandson open his presents- as for the rest our usual chaos probably so that will be lovely.

Love the chaos! Remember one Christmas when farming, the cows got out just as everything was on the table for dinner. We rushed out and someone or somehow the dining room door was not firmly closed. Came back to two well-stuffed dogs and a very green looking cat who'd scoffed pretty much all the food....... Ended up with egg and chips and Christmas pud!
Think was same Christmas when one dog ate all the chocolate tree decorations and poo'd foil for week - no ill effects although chocolate toxic to dogs!
Have learnt to go with the flow.........

DH and I will be on our own on Christmas Day for the first time in our marriage and I am really looking forward to doing a special candlelit meal, watching a bit of TV and generally chilling after a fraught few weeks. There will be a nice bottle to help the chilling.

We are going to DD on Christmas Eve for a meal and presents and they are coming to us on New Year's Day.We have just had a weekend mini-Christmas with DS and family before they go ski-ing at the weekend and over Christmas. So I feel very contented that I have had, or will have, some time with my lovelies and then can relax a bit!

Whatever you are all doing over Christmas and the New Year may it be a Happy, Healthy and Peaceful one. Cheers everybody!

Gagagran that sounds idyllic to me, enjoy! cheers!

We have the children from 22nd Dec to Boxing Day so Santa is coming this year. Yay!!!! Well actually Santa comes every year because I still believe in him

My perfect Christmas includes chaos, cooking disasters, over excited then tired, irritable children, terrible television and indigestion. I can't wait . I love Christmas.

Vampirequeen

I dont want a perfect christmas.

Nor do I want a "different" christmas.

I did 4 years ago, wanted a bit different from the routine. Family slightly mocked, but went along with it.
Ha! The joke was on me and a son.
He went to the doctors christmas eve with a stomach pain, and was in hospital over christmas.

The family never tire to remind me not to wish for a "different" christmas ever again!

I don't think mine will be perfect! For the last 12 years or so we have gone to my sister's for Christmas Day. My daughter has asked if they (DD, SIL and DGD) can come to us this year. I was taken by surprise as they have always wanted t 'do their own thing'. I haven't cooked Christmas dinner for so long I have gone into panic mode Hey ho, I'm sure it will be fine (she says hopefully).

Our Christmas tends to lurch from perfect to chaotic and back again. There will be nine of us this year but as the DGCs are all teenagers I'm hoping there will be some peaceful moments when they all disappear with their electronic gizmos.

The DGDs will lay the table and everyone will pitch in with the washing up as our diswasher broke down months ago and we're not replacing it until we move into the annexe next year.

We will also have five dogs to keep an eye on so I'll be shouting, 'Shut the dining room door' quite a bit I think.

Asking for anything to be 'perfect' is a recipe for disaster. Its the imperfections that make things memorable and delightful as well as much more personal. Nothing more unhinging than one of those computer generated perfectly symmetrical portraits! We all need a little wonkiness in our lives.

The Grandchild yelling 'I need a wee' in the quiet moment of a wedding.

Falling over on a dog walk and being 'rescued' by a daft concerned dog who though you needed a big wet kiss to recover.

The lopsided gingerbread house that just would not stick properly.

The bunch of winter greenery tied with last years ribbon on the front door that everyone thinks comes from a n upmarket florist.

I could go on but you get the picture. Expecting perfect will always disappoint....life is how we react to the unplanned....those are the best bits.

Ours will be perfect because it will by 'our' Christmas, the same as every year (except that DH plans to be OIC in the kitchen!) and we all know what happens next at any point in the day. We have all our own traditions which have only once been changed but the problem is no longer part of our family so that won't happen again. If anything gets over or undercooked it won't make any difference to our perfect time.

I think the articles about "perfect Christmases" generally feature spending a lot of money.

I think hankering after perfect anythings is bound to lead to disappointment. All I want is a relaxing couple of days with family and friends and no major disasters. This year my son is cooking the dinner. It's the first time for about 30 years that I haven't had to cook Christmas dinner so I'm happy about that.

I agree Eloethan, and possibly leads to disappointment sometimes. Here's to a calamity-free festive season! DS cooking a goose (never had goose before) so hopefully between him and DH I won't need to cook (that's the plan at the moment) while I play with DGS, and catch up with DD and DIL........

I used to laugh at those lifestyle magazines which implied that provided the house was decorated in the latest style Christmas would be perfect. And as for those television ads - yuck.

As long as the turkey turns out reasonably okay and everyone is relaxed and enjoys the day - that is perfect as far as I am concerned.

I know this is evil but my Christmas would be perfect if there was a heavy snowfall on Christmas Day and the children couldn't be collected on Boxing Day. Then we'd have even more time together

Ours would be perfect if everyone was in the same place but its not to be, we shall be just 4/5 for dinner instead of 15/16 with everyone else spending half the day in one place and half in another... its not ideal and there will be tears, so no ours won't be perfect either. I just wish the reasons were laughable but they aren't.. .

Defrosting the turkey in the bath is more or less what we ended up doing when the turkey was off. DMiL raced to the local butcher and managed to buy a brace of pheasant, we raced back to the dairy where we bought it, fortunately only a short distance down the High Street from us. They were just closing and were desperately embarrassed. They had bought a batch of frozen turkeys from a new supplier and several had been 'off'. They had one uncollected turkey in the shop from a different supplier, so gave it to us and we rushed home. The replacement turkey was considerable larger than the one we had bought originally.

We stood it in the sink, bottom up and ran hot water into it until we opened up its cavity and removed the giblets, then stood it in a bucket, end up and poured boiling water round it and into the cavity. Every half hour we emptied out the now cold water, poured more boiling water around the outside and into the inner cavity and kept this up for hours. It worked. We had the traditional turkey roast on Christmas Day - and roast pheasant on Boxing Day.

We're having a bit of a different one this year. Bit sad really. DD and SiL and GSs are abroad visiting SILs parents so we're booked into a country house hotel. Looks lovely. All open fires and turrets etc. V luxurious but I'd rather have the usual messy time with the family. DS doesn't want to join his uncool parents so it will just be us and the other saddoes. Och well we can have another Christmas day when the travellers return

My Christmas would be better if there was an enormously heavy snowfall on Christmas Eve which lasted right over the weekend. It would mean we couldn't drive to where we can't get out of going to (grammar not brilliant there) ....can't say any more...

As long as I'm with my family that's enough for me.

Know what you mean Marelli sometimes it's nice to be snowed in! As long as there is plenty of food of course.
FlickeyB I do agree with you, Christmas sells magazines and magazines sell Christmas. Do this, do that, be creative, be decorative, be brilliant etc
Charles Dickens started all this!
All we need is good company and some nice food and a drink or two.