A Christmas-lovers' thread!

I 've done that too Witzend, cooked a small turkey and a small ham.

Thanks Witzend for the solution to not having any leftovers. We are going to our DDs this year and will now get a small turkey crown so we too can enjoy "leftovers" after Christmas !
love a turkey sandwich on boxing day.

I hadn’t actually thought through the implications of going out for Christmas dinner. What will we do on Boxing Day without our traditional fry up?

Hilly, when we were away for Christmas one year I bought a very small turkey and put it in the freezer, to cook a few days later. Must have Christmassy leftovers to eat up in the run up to New Year! My freezer is only a titchy, under fridge one, so I was worried it wouldn't fit, but it did.

I love Christmas, no longer have to cook as I go to DD's. I start my shopping early to spread the cost. Christmas cards are written about 3rd week in November ready to post 1st December. Presents are wrapped from mid November onwards.

My tree now goes up around 1st December & stays up until 6th January, every-one where I live puts their decorations early December.

I detest the tv adverts but like to see the shops all decorated, love to see Towns looking festive.

I forgot to say- I also adore cold turkey. Shame we won't be at home for Christmas this year, so no leftovers!

I love Christmas. I always manage to shed a tear for the ones no longer with us, can't help it. Always feel guilty when I go to one child or the other, but I can't be in 2 places at once and the only other alternative is to stay at home alone. My Son lives close by but my daughter lives over an hours drive away so I don't see her as often, not too fond of driving nowadays, but she has invited me the last couple of years and I have had a lovely time, even going to the pantomime on Boxing Day. Been getting ready for the tree going up. i.e. new lights, baubles etc and of Friday I intend to make the first Christmas Cake (I make 2) and get the vinegar ready for making the pickled onions Love , love, love it.

I love buying Christmas presents for people. Unfortunately my DH thinks it is all a waste of money and has struck 'deals' with most of the adult family that we won't buy for each other; so I have very few gifts to buy (mostly for GCs) and receive even less.
To be fair, my DH has everything he wants, so he's very hard to buy for. On the other hand I always have a long gift list!

In my childhood Christmas in Wales my memories are of the chapel Nativity concert and the local market in Neath full of holly and mistletoe, turkeys, geese and rabbits hanging from the butchers stalls. Buying a local Christmas colouring book and the Christmas edition of 'Look and Learn'. Sending my letter to Santa up the chimney. My socking had some coins a tangerine wrapped in white tissue paper and some nuts at the bottom. Christmas tree was put up a week before.
Had children in the 80''s, and loved going to their school and Sunday School nativities, once the Sunday School one was at 4.30 on Christmas Eve, that wasn't very popular. Loved dressing the tree with them and putting out a carrot for Rudolf and a sherry for Santa.Santa arrived by lifeboat in our seaside town. Still put a tangerine in their stockings and loved reading ' Lucy and Tom's Christmas' with them and watching all the cartoons, their favourite was Tom and Jerry's " 'Twas the Night before Christmas"
Nowadays it is me and DH at home but son, daughter in law and daughter still come on Christmas Eve for hot pork and stuffing sandwiches and turkey etc on Christmas Day. Make my own cake and mince pies and enjoy it all even the sprouts. My trusty recipes come from Delia's Christmas Cook Book which will make a reappearance very soon. Don't eat much chocolate but love milk chocolate brazils. I get out Rosamunde Picher's " Winter Solstice" and "The Christmas Carol" and have a good read.Loved reading all your Christmas likes and stories. It is a bittersweet time too when I think of lost loved ones but our toasts are to them and absent friends and especially to my Dad who said one year " The Queen won't have better than this in Buckingham Palace!"

I enjoy Christmas, but not for another two months please!!

I, too enjoy all these things, but often made to feel a little odd by the few non-Christmas lovers. Let me be the first to wish you and yours a very Happy Christmas.

I love Christmas time and always have. I find it magical. I buy "Christmas Fayre" as we call it and put food bits and pieces in a special cupboard on the run up to Christmas. We start in the last week of November on mince pies then it's full steam ahead to Christmas from then on for us.

I love to decorate the house and make it festive using lots of greenery and wreaths and candles and twinkling lights. I don't tend to do garish or OTT, but now we have GC I do reserve one end of the conservatory for full-on tat/grotty (er grotto ) stuff which delights children including a singing mouse, elf, and Father Christmas and revolving trees with bright lights.....Strangely adult guests always take their drinks there and have a laugh.

Christmas Eve I have a tradition of having the fire lit, a large glass of brandy and listening to carols in the candle-light. OH, not religious, joins me and has since I have known him, and he too says that now he feels it's the special part of Christmas.

A beautiful peace descends and all the tacky trappings of Christmas are meaningless.

I meet my friend later and together we go to midnight mass at church. The walk home, no matter the weather has me feeling full of love, counting my blessings and feeling so grateful for all I have. It sets me up for the day ahead...

I say I am not into religious dogma but I love going to church and singing (whenever) and firmly believe there is more to life than we know, and celebrating the birth of a special baby is just wonderful and what Christmas is all about, to me.

I am itching to start playing my Christmas music - I have quite a collection, for every mood.

Christmas morning - Bucks Fizz, scrambled eggs and smoked salmon for breakfast and dinner all prepared the day before. Music playing as I cook, usually with a sherry in hand. Everyone entering the house has to wear a paper hat, for a while at least...

Then collapsing after lunch and the nothing days which follow, brisk walks, family films, snoozing and using up the leftovers.

It's a good time of year, imo, but I am aware for some it can be the loneliest and bleakest time of the year, but that is for another thread.

I love Christmas.

Reading all the posts I am really getting excited about Christmas. Our family is small and my son with 5 teenagers has Christmas at home with gf and bf invited, also invited but its such a squash we go a day or two before. This years its with friends and I am really looking forward to it.

I do like Christmas.

I appreciate it can be very hard time for some people and many people can feel pressurised to buy into the hype and I do feel sad for people who struggle with the season but I do like it.

I like the school nativity, Midnight Mass, seasonal food and hearing Carols, especially from Kings and the Salvation Army playing carols in town.

But most of all I love seeing the lights, so cheerful, brightening up the dark nights, bringing light and colour into winter. I think lights and illuminated decorations are my favourite bit of the Christmas Season.

One of my best Christmas memories was of driving through Scotland with DD1, SIL and OH on our way to Orkney to see DD2. North of Aberdeen seeing little pools of sparkling lights. So pretty and a real welcome change to the endless dark.

I like getting the family together to decorate the tree. We agree a date and have a day where both girls, SIL and DGD are here. We have a fun time with lots of reminiscences, it's my big family time.

I don't want DD1, SIL and DGD to feel pressurised to be with us on Christmas Day so tree dressing day is the big one for me.

SIL's Mum is on her own so I like knowing they have time to spend with her and then they also like to have a Christmas Day on their own as a family.

Also DD2 is often abroad. If we've had our family day I'm not too bothered about the day it's self.

We've had to celebrated Christmas in many different parts of the world so have never had the option of exactly the same routines but I do like have some Christmas traditions and wherever we've been we've always had a tree dressing time.

When DD1 lived in NZ she even waited for us to arrive on Christmas Eve before dressing their tree :-)

I am looking forward to DGD dressing the tree, she told me a couple of weeks ago she is going to come and stay so she can help me get the decorations out of the loft.

"Because Granny, if we have them all downstairs on Friday night we can put them up on Saturday and Grumps won't worry about you doing too much in one day". These grandchildren do came out with some crackers :-) Bless 'em.

Enjoy your Christmas however you make it special and if there are any mince pies going spare send 'em my way

I love Christmas our way that we celebrate. Late October shopping and wrapping begins. Mid December up go the trimmings window lights etc. A week at least before Christmas it's the Christmas Dinner for sons daughter DIL and DGC. Around 22 /23 December up goes the large real tree. Christmas morning visit the DGC then back home light the open fire and relax with cold meats, salad gateau chocolate log alcohol etc. Boxing Day visit sister and BIL for open house party. We had Xmas lunch once on Xmas day for son's new GF. She ended up trying to eat 3 Xmas lunches, one at ours, one at her mum's house and one at paternal grandparents lolololol

What a lovely idea, JanT!

Mention of St Nicholas Day (Dec 6th) reminds me of years ago, when we were living in Abu Dhabi, and coincidentally my sister and family were also there. There was a sizeable Dutch contingent there too, and so on 6th December St Nicholas sailed into the harbour in a real old dhow.

At the time (I have a feeling it's been stopped now, and no wonder) there was always a Black Peter with St Nick, who IIRC would take naughty children away. We didn't go, but my sister did, and my nephew, who was still small and had apparently been a little b*gger all day, was nervously hiding behind my sister in case Black Peter came to get him!

We later lived in Oman, where one memorable year the English Speaking School where dds went, had been kindly lent a ceremonial camel by the Royal Oman Police, for Father Christmas to arrive on at school, on the last day of term.
He told the children he'd had to leave his reindeer at the airport, because they didn't like the sand!

All lovely, wish I could still do it but enjoy everything vicariously, even TV...

I also like Christmas but don't love it, to cold for me. Love the lights to bits and the outside Christmas decorations. Christmas pudding I could eat everyday along with drinking mulled wine. The fire is lit almost everyday and we cosy down, its such a change after being away for the last 11 years but one on Christmas day. But come January 2nd its a different story everything has to come down and I start to look forward to the nights opening up a bit.

When my grandchildren were very young their Daddy left the family home, so my daughter and grandchildren came to stay. On Christmas Eve when my granddaughter was asleep I sprinkled glitter dust on her duvet and around footprints leading from her bed. She really thought the Christmas Fairy had been to check if she was asleep! The delight on her little face more than made up for the vacuuming I did for several days after!!

I do enjoy Christmas, right from the Advent Darkness to Light service up to Midnight Mass, Carol singing round the village and the school carol service. I am not a cook at all but do manage a Christmas cake, everything else is bought but I don’t cook dinner, or anything else for that matter, nuts, oranges, chocolate and Turkish delight, real once a year treats. Lots of walks, books and fires, catching up with friends and family, a real wind down in the darkest days.

Me too! I adore the Christmas baking and cooking, buying or making presents, choosing the tree and putting it up on the 22nd. Some of our tree decorations are from my great-grandparents' home, and I have a glass cello that hung on every Christmas tree my father could remember. We limit ourselves to buying one new glass bauble a year, now.

I make my own advent wreath each year, one or two days before the 1st Sunday in Advent, and this year we shall go to Flensburg on Dec. 6th to see St Nicholas sail into town!

I have always enjoyed Christmas but now I don't have to do the cooking even better! Fingers crossed should see eldest DD which will be lovely. Shopping about half done. I shall miss going to the DGC Christmas plays - to big now.

I blooming love it, every bit! I've just got all the ingredients in for the cake and mincemeat. No pud to make this year as it's our turn not to have the whole family, who'll be descending on their respective inlaws. The big family Christmasses are the best, but we have to share the love! There'll just be four of us this time, and we're booked in at the local pub for lunch instead of my doing the turkey, so it'll be quiet, but there'll be no stinting on decorations (I have more than John Lewis, and can't resist adding to the stock every year), tree (to the ceiling, and as usual we'll be squeezing round it from the week before the big day till 6 January), the mince pie and brandy left for Santa, the Christmas morning sherry, and all the usual traditions. I've already booked some festive events for December, including a brass band concert and visits to Chatsworth and Warwick Castle when they're decorated for Christmas, and made a diary note of special church services, local Christmas events, etc. I always wrap my presents and write the cards with a mulled wine to hand, to a background of a Christmas film. And best of all, sharing the grandsons' excitement, having a bit of fun hunting that Elf on the Shelf, reading the Christmas books with them, going with them to a panto or a local Christmas Fair. Love it all!

Love Christmas, though I liked it even more when I was still teaching full time and children actually performed a Nativity. Lights and trees in others houses make local trips more interesting. Rather unkindly the grandchildren label them tasteful or tat and they get more picky each year.
The services in the run up to Christmas add to the excitement as does the buzz in the shops (including the muzak).
I love buying presents where I’ve spotted something exactly right for a person, though mostly my older grandchildren ask for money towards something “if you wouldn’t mind”.
Then the visitors, extra chairs and unfolding beds and deciding who gets the really furry blanket in case the duvet isn’t warm enough.
The smell of Christmas dinner and as someone mentioned, the couple of days off cooking as we eat the leftovers.
Not really fond of long trips to visit distant family, but it’s great when we get there. One thing I avoid is the flow of questionnaires about what I bought, where I bought it and how old I am. Simply delete.

Yes, and the Greek 'p' is our 'r', so that 'Chr' makes perfect sense as an abbreviation.
'Xmas' doesn't really bother me, except when people actually say it! I used to know someone who did - it really grated.