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Well it's finally December so i can pretend to not think it's all a load of shit.
In Oz it's typically pretty warm as it's mid summer, so most years we pack up and head off camping somewhere not too hot for a week or two.
The rest of the country seems to do the family thing at home and then come Boxing Day all hell lets loose and every National Park is full of people ruining my view.
Fortunately my wife has no interest in traditional Christmas and neither do her family, so we aim to be driving home on Christmas Day to avoid the traffic, and have a random Christmas lunch in a park somewhere. Over the years this has been:
- pasta cooked the night before and eaten in a park in a random outback town
- sandwiches in a park in a random outback town
- a Korean cafe in a in a park in a random outback town (superb hospitality)
- the worst coffee i've ever had from a BP... in a park in a random outback town
Anyone else developed a non-standard Christmas celebration?
We usually head to one of the smaller beaches in Sydney after breakfast/kids stockings, then something approximating a standard Christmas lunch in the afternoon
Although this year we are heading back to the dystopian hellscape of the UK for a more traditional experience - so maybe queuing for black bread/a turnip at a foodbank, while trying to avoid getting stabbed/bitten by a bullyxl..... if the papers are to be believed.
Wow, that's pretty brave! Will you be helping out in a soup kitchen?
Seriously I can't imagine heading back in winter with my family. They wouldn't be able to handle the cold or the dark, or any of it really. Shame it's not practical to fly in for two days and then come back.
something approximating a standard Christmas lunch in the afternoon
Suitably garnished with prawns, presumably... although you probably need a small fortune to buy them at xmas in Sydney I guess.
Eat Christmas dinner on random day between 23rd and 27th dependent on shift patterns. This year it's the 24th so not bad.
Won't see my partner on Christmas day as she's working dayshift and I'm working backshift but try and make Christmas Day a little bit Christmassy for my son as all his pals do family stuff so not around to play football or Xbox.
Suitably garnished with prawns, presumably… although you probably need a small fortune to buy them at xmas in Sydney I guess.
Fortunately we have a decent fishmonger at the end of our road - I have long since ruled-out going anywhere near the fishmarket in the run-up to Christmas.
Wow, that’s pretty brave! Will you be helping out in a soup kitchen?
Seriously I can’t imagine heading back in winter with my family. They wouldn’t be able to handle the cold or the dark, or any of it really. Shame it’s not practical to fly in for two days and then come back.
Yeah - it's quite a production, and I'm dreading the flight to be honest. The kids are now 5 and 7, so in the sweet spot for Christmas with the grandparents I recon. We are splitting our time between Farnham and Poynton - so are packing a lot in, and (back on topic) experiencing 2 families worth of Christmas traditions. Anyones Christmas traditions except the ones from your own Childhood just feel weird tho, right? Says the man who goes to the beach.
Good luck with it, hope you feel like you’ve had a holiday at the end.
Anyones Christmas traditions except the ones from your own Childhood just feel weird tho, right?
Yes indeed, although creating your own family ones are nice too.
I had a girlfriend whose dad lived in an (ex)lighthouse. They were complete bohos which was equal parts fun and infuriating. Christmas involved drinking and arguing over who was actually making lunch… leading to midnight turkey.
I worked most christmas days. However the rare occasions when I did not Julie and I would have a cooked breakfast, go out for the day walking or cycling and have normal dinner. Only 2 meals. The money we would have spent on a christmas dinner went to hunger charities instead.
I utterly loathe christmas. The worst of capitalism putting huge stress on families mainly women, increase in domestic abuse and so on as a result of excess alcohol etc. People are made to feel like failures unless the spend vast sums on tat and a midwinter feast that has lost all meaning
<br />I refuse to take part in it at all. the last 2 years have been spent quietly on my own. I am perfectly happy with that. I haven't had a conventional christmas day or meal for 35 years
I utterly loathe christmas. The worst of capitalism putting huge stress on families mainly women, increase in domestic abuse and so on as a result of excess alcohol etc. People are made to feel like failures unless the spend vast sums on tat and a midwinter feast that has lost all meaning
That's a pretty broad brushstroke right there TJ.
The thing that amazes me about Xmas day is that cinemas aren't open!
I've long since been an advocate for starting your own Christmas traditions, and not feeling obliged to buy-in to the stressful/expensive bits of Christmas.
Applauded the M&S advert's message this year (which I think was just that) - only to chuckle when it was rejected as wokery by the great British gammon. "give us sprouts or give us death!"
A friend of mine chooses to spend her christmas day volunteering at a homeless shelter/soup kitchen, has done for years. She is awesome though and this is what I have come to expect of her.
The only tradition we have here is the cookie breakfast that started when my GF was a kid and has continued throughout her adult life. Every year I have been in Sweden we've shared Julafton with her mother (and previously her stepfather as well), which is fine, but does more or less force me to be social in a time of the year that I have come to really dislike.
My wife and I got into the habit of having a quiet Christmas by ourselves when living abroad (tried coming back to UK one year, cold/dark/generally miserable experience so didn't do again). We've managed to keep the habit since returning to the UK, which we enjoy. A lovely roast dinner, a couple of phone calls to relatives, a generally peaceful and relaxing day. I do enjoy a good midwinter feast 🙂
That’s a pretty broad brushstroke right there TJ.
Indeed. But I stand by it. I find the whole spectacle loathsome. I know folk who go into debt in a vain pursuit of " the best christmas ever" I have seen the aftermath of alcohol related violence and abuse
When I was working Julie would take it as a day just for her to do nothing but what she wanted, eat cheese and chocolate in the bath, turn the phone off etc. When women friends would ask what she was doing and they were told the universal reply was " that sounds amazing, I wish I could do that"
When we lived in a time of shortages the midwinter feast made sense. Now we live in a time of plenty it has no meaning.
Not really. Well be trying to squeeze my half of the family into our small 3 bed mid terrace home. My two young boys and their cousin will be running around like little Tasmanian devils. My parents will be asleep somehow shortly after dinner. We'll over eat but won't get pissed up. Gifting cut back this year a little. Watch shite on TV. Standard stuff!😃
Anyway, not everybody beats thier wife and sells thier souls for Christmas TJ. Boycotting on that basis feels a little sad, at least treat please yourself a little in honour of your late wife.
as a family, prepare food together, just sit in the warm and relax with little expectations of anything outside our four walls for one day. My daughter wants to cook this time, we shall encourage with caution - she’s 11 - on an education basis although this year it’s the in-laws turn so it’s a Caribbean Christmas.
Christmas Eve we shall attend her school church Carols, help feed soup and hand out food parcels to those less fortunate.
I do agree with tj about the terrible "best christmas ever" stress. The last "family christmas" we did, my wife and I went to visit my parents a few years back, it was my sister's last Christmas, my father's dementia had taken hold and it was basically stressful and difficult for everyone. It would have been much worse had my brother attended so perhaps I should be grateful for small mercies.
NO Kryton they do not as individuals but across society its abhorrent what it does to people.
Its just another day to me and always will be. Its neither the midwinter solstice or the new year. I have zero desire to treat myself on that day and nor did Mrs TJ. she would be disappointed if I started celebrating it now
Its not sad - its being true to myself and my philosophy but I know my position is unfathomable to many. Its 35+ years since I last had a christmas meal
We don't have a family argument
Aren't you lot full of cheer this morning 😉
I enjoy the Christmas period, it is a few days off work and school where we try and see friends and relax, have some walks and bike rides. Last year on christmas day we went for a bracing walk along the beach before the kids convinced me that we should swim so we did.
None of us are big fans of turkey so we cook something different, last year was steak and chips, year before was slow cooked lamb on the weber.
When we lived in a time of shortages the midwinter feast made sense. Now we live in a time of plenty it has no meaning.
For you perhaps. Christmas dinner is really special for us. Often the only time I have all my family around me at the same time. Laughing, joking and catching up while preparing it together. The prep is a real joint effort. Not drinking excessively or overindulging on food.
Whilst we could eat the things in it at any time, we don't. There is something magical in that meal that is far greater than the sum of it's ingredients. We all absolutely love leftovers too, so between the bubble and squeak, curries and turkey and ham pie over the following weeks (we freeze some) nothing will be wasted.
My elderly parents will be with us, they are getting frail and travel is difficult so possibly for the last time. They love Christmas with us and we love having them.
Usually both my kids come but my daughter will be in the US with her Californian partner. They're coming here next weekend for a 'pre Christmas' so they don't miss out. My son will be here and he's going through a very rough time at the moment. We hope a family Christmas will be a real boost for him and we are looking forward to providing that refuge and respite.
I'm really looking forward to it.
We don't particularly over do Xmas, my wife makes a wreath from local foliage for the door, not always a tree, and a few presents. None of us like turkey or Xmas pudding, so we just have an Sunday dinner type affair with whatever meat we fancy.
Though this year my in-laws are coming up to stay near us and we're being forced into being more xmassy as my MiL is panicking over this that and the other food and things that we really dont think about... I'll probably go for a walk, ride, swim or all three and then have a bit of a nosh up and a snooze until they've gone.
this year it’s the in-laws turn so it’s a Caribbean Christmas.
That sounds interesting- what does it involve?
20 years ago I spent Xmas in New Jersey/New York with a mate’s new wife’s Cuban family. Lots of chicken I seem to recall. I took crackers and a Xmas pudding … then realised I didn’t know how to cook it and had to call mum in England 🤣
I respect your opinion TJ.
That sounds interesting- what does it involve?<br /><br />
Imagine Christmas dinner with the following additions and exceptions
- Fried flying fish starter
- Rice as well as roast potatoes
- Mac and cheese carribean style - basically with chillis
- Chicken and jerk seasoned Pork instead of Turkey
- Black cake - dark Christmas fruitcake where the fruit has been soaked in rum and fortified red wine since last years Christmas.
- Port and Rum.
Needless to say I won’t be driving. And the in laws always have thier heating set to 25 which adds to the atmosphere.
Nothing really, Will get the days off (now that I'm in primary care) so that's nice. Will do a walk or ride in the morning and probs a nice meal for the two of us for the evening, Neither of us is bothered with turkey 'an all that so it'll be something else but 'richer' for a mid-winter feast, maybe a bit more spent on wine, and a wee bottle of sherry or port for after; I always make an Xmas pudding, and as my wife doesn't like it, well more for me! There's pretty much always a film that we've not seen on the tellybox to fall asleep in front of.
I like the Xmas holiday, everyone seems bit quicker to be nicer to each other, few friends have a get together, and a few days chilling off work.
Kryton do you want a new son?
Keeping it traditional. Got my mum and dad round for Christmas day. Just got that feeling it may be my mum's last one.
TJ - I understand your position regarding people getting stressed about Christmas but without wanting to over-generalise, are these the same 'people' who get into debt for Black Friday, Easter and every other marketing sell? Why do they do this when most other people don't?
The alcohol abuse and domestic violence increase seems to be caused more by the change in routine exacerbating existing situations. People start drinking in the morning when they normally only start after work but keep going until the same end time. Suddenly they are more drunk and do more stupid stuff. Domestic violence increases as the abuser spends more time with the abused due to holidays, cold weather and family gatherings which all ramp up the issue without giving any external vent for it.
So, not Christmas's fault but a focal lens on a number of social problems. for those lucky enough not to be so burdened it can be a time of joy, happiness and a celebration for the family.
Happy Christmas however you choose to spend it.
For as long as I can remember the tradition in this household starts the week before the big day with the setting out on a 1200 mile journey around the UK, sleeping on the floor of relatives houses in exchange for mediocre food and gifts. The climax of the season of goodwill is a half circuit of the m25 followed by a chilly boxing day sandwich somewhere around Darlington services.
Brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it
The only thing missing is a newborn babe and some livestock specialists
WCA - its not just the stress but the rampant consumerism that upsets me. Thats why I will not participate at all.
It's entirely possible as a grown up to enjoy the best bits of Christmas without participating in rampant consumerism. A tad harder if you have young kids, granted.
its not just the stress but the rampant consumerism that upsets me.
Not much evidence of that on this thread though. It absolutely does happen I agree, but most folks I know don't celebrate (if you could call a couple of days off work in mid-winter a celebration) like that either. It's entirely possible to ignore all the shiny bits of tat, and ridiculous "Pomegranate and Mint Xmas pudding" nonsense that the supermarkets go in for, and spend it with family and friends without being a curmudgeon
Although, if it takes some ghosts to visit Elon/Jeff to scare the beejesus out of them and make them pay their workers properly, I'm down for that.
pretty low key here. Starts 24th eve, few drinks in the local then home for nibbles with our grown-up nieces while I do 3/4 of the cooking for next day (traditionally dhosas, biryani and a couple of side dishes).<br />25th a few pressies (10yo only gets pressies from us, half a dozen things max), they go to visit her mam and I have a long run in the hills. Xmas dinner usually served at about 10:30pm after another couple in the local 🙂
I'm going to break a Christmas tradition and not drink at all.
I'm pretty sure I'll be in an icy loch first thing. That seems to have recently become a tradition for us.
Other than that I'll be looking forward to a day when neither my wife nor daughter will be working and we'll all be together for a change.
I'm currently envisaging some sort of Xmas pie for dinner, just not started on recipes yet.
Nothing unorthodox here - one of the few 'traditions' we fully embrace
I absolutely respect and understand TJs position - I've felt (parts of) like that in the past....but
I love Christmas and especially looking forward to it this year.
Wife and I both work in construction so we get a forced full 2 weeks off and (mostly) everyone else in our industry is off so you don't come back in to a mountain of emails/urgentguff. The one time of year I feel I can completely turn off from reality.
Christmas morning will involve bacon butties and bucks fizz before 9am whilst listening to a classic Christmas playlist, years gone by and whisky would be on the go before noon, I'll still be drinking all day no doubt but as we now have a 2yo it'll be reined in whilst we play with her new balance bike.
For lunch we've got both sets of parents round, wifes recently single sister and mother-in-laws friend whom I've never met but has sadly just lost her husband.
Wife will do all the prep and all the cooking and fortunately she actually loves it, hosting and taking care of the people she cares about. My job is to keep the guests and myself lubricated 🙂 Fortunately I don't tend to beat my wife when I've had a drink.
I've never really thought of it as a mid-winter feast, more just one of the few times a year when we all get together for a good laugh over a great meal, wear daft hats, play charades and finish off with an intense game of Rummikub.
On paper that might sound like hell to some people, but to us it's bliss:)
We do our meal on the 24th, so Christmas day itself is usually pretty chilled. Home smoked salmon and bucks fizz for breakfast, open presents, go for a walk, eat leftovers, play games. Beer is brewed and should be ready to drink by then.
I reckon I can manage these things without assaulting my wife or having my house repossessed. 🙄
"Christmas morning will involve bacon butties and bucks fizz before 9am"
Cracking Idea!
I haven't eaten bacon for a few months, so I'll let myself go in the true spirit of Christmas...
Our unorthodox christmas tradition is my wife asking what I want to do for christmas, I reply and say I would like a quiet day with the kids, maybe go out somewhere for a walk or perhaps even lunch would be a nice change. She ignores me and invites her whole family round much to my annoyance. I spend most of my day chopping wood or something similar.
Ransos where do you get your salmon and how do you smoke it.? Only done mackerel myself
Scotroute madam did a pheasant game pie. It was roadkill (optional) but utterly delightful also for days after or cold
[i]WCA – its not just the stress but the rampant consumerism that upsets me. Thats why I will not participate at all.[/i]
Rampant consumerism is for life, not just Christmas.
It is something that some people choose to get involved in, a bit like Morris Dancing, so try not to get stressed because other people choose to live differently to you. My wife gets annoyed with how I put bin bags into the kitchen bin because I do it differently to her. How people choose to enjoy Christmas is much the same as different people do it differently.
Just because someone is different, it doesn't mean they are wrong.
Growing up we had a tradition of my father announcing that he and my step-mother would be getting divorced over Christmas dinner.
Pretty much every Christmas like clockwork. But we still had to sit around the table together because it was Christmas!
30 years later they're still together, although I haven't been to a Christmas dinner in a very long time.
Needless to say I have a lot of sympathy for those who dislike it immensely. The pressure that is put on people to conform is immense.
Funnily enough lockdown made my Christmases a lot better. We had various friends and elderly neighbours who weren't able to make themselves a Christmas dinner, so in 2020 we started a takeaway.
We've done it every year since, 1 elderly friend who lives alone gets picked up and brought round with his napkin and knife and fork, we deliver another couple to two elderly neighbours who live across the road, and a friend who prefers to spend it alone with her dogs pops over and picks hers up and continues the takeaway tradition.
It makes Christmas day much more stressful, and a lot more fun.
I’m really looking forward to Christmas this year; we have a 1yr old so this will probably be the last year where he’s not batshit crazy excited about the whole thing. <br /><br />We’ve booked a leg of lamb from a farm up the road, my parents will bring some nice wine, my inlaws will bring the starters and a cheeseboard and we’ll set up a comically long table for all 10 of us to sit around. <br />
We will all enjoy some great food, some good wine and the company will be alright too. <br />
furthermore, I’ll probably manage to complete the day without beating my wife nor any of us spending obscene amounts of money on gifts either. 😎
No unorthodox traditions here. I do miss going to the beach on Xmas day though.
Not sure why people are trying to convince TJ to enjoy Xmas their way. I too hate the way Xmas has become commercialised but do enjoy the family get togethers.
Let TJ do Xmas his way and you do it yours. Leave us bah humbugs alone 🙂
Agreed Uggski - I refer you to my earlier answer : Just because someone is different, it doesn’t mean they are wrong.
I have to say that I was very much like TJ until quite late in the game Mrs anagallis and I had a kid ..it kind of make sense then. He loves having his aunty and two grannies over for a few days. Me, not so much, but I try for him. He is 13 now so it's not "magic" like it once was but he still likes it so I keep trying...
I utterly loathe christmas. The worst of capitalism putting huge stress on families mainly women, increase in domestic abuse and so on as a result of excess alcohol etc. People are made to feel like failures unless the spend vast sums on tat and a midwinter feast that has lost all meaning
That's not Christmas, that's commercialism.
What we'll be doing is getting the family together to eat and drink to excess, and have fun. That's all it needs to be. As with most things in life make it your own, don't follow what the others are doing.
Been very anti Christmas for years, gave in and went around to my OHs family last year, I’ve managed to avoid it for years.
It was unorthodox in that there was zero arguments, it was relaxed, and no getting excessively drunk. Really enjoyed it.
to eat and drink to excess,
Exactly - you make my point. why eat and drink to excess?
I do acknowledge I live in a black and white world but by partaking in any of it then I condone it. I hate the huge meals full of meat with everyone trying to force more food on you. I loathe the idea you have to drink all day, I cannot abide the waste of resources. I hate the plastic tat that ends up in landfil. Its my stand against the world
Last time ( mid 80s) I spent a family Christmas I ended up puking all night having been pushed ( not just by family but by neighbours we went to) to eat far too much far too rich food. I already disliked it but that was the last time
the money I would have spent on christmas goes to charities who feed folk or towards christmas for the homeless and poor.
damn good job I never had any kids 😉
This just says to me that you have no idea how most folk spend Christmas. I would say that you've fallen for some heavy marketing but I know that advertising doesn't work for you.
scotroutes - almost everyone on here is saying they have a special meal and extra booze plus gifts. I also saw first hand the stress it used to put my colleagues under. I have seen the results of too much booze while working in A&E
Yours does sound fine to me I will say.
Ransos where do you get your salmon and how do you smoke it.? Only done mackerel myself
Local fishmonger fillets a whole salmon. I dry cure it for a few hours with a mix of two thirds salt and one third dark brown sugar. Wash very well, changing the water a few times. Leave to dry uncovered in the fridge overnight.
I have a fisherman's smoker which is essentially a biscuit tin over a meths burner. I use a mix of oak and beech, smoke it for 30 minutes or so. Remove the pin bones with tweezers, and you're done.
tj - I have a "special meal" on Ne'er day too, a steak pie 🙂 Then there's Burns Evening (usually involves some alcohol), even sometimes on birthdays and the like. I believe that various religions and cultures have equivalent celebrations?
Not possible any more - but for a good few years mine was having an italian meal of some kind with friends at the local(ish) greyhound rescue after having cleaned/walked the hounds and sorted them out with a proper christmas dinner!
Based on most Christmas discussions and very fortunately and somewhat tongue in cheek
Not getting smashed by breakfast time
Eating an overall approximately normal amount of food
Not falling out with anyone over lunch/dinner or having to deal with randomly objectionable relatives that only appear at Xmas.
why eat and drink to excess?
Because it's fun. And by "drink to excess" I don't mean drink all day and get hammered.
I loathe the idea you have to drink all day,
Who's been telling you that? It's not a universal thing. I do what I want to do, which in my case is eat a lot, have a good time and drink no alcohol. You seem to be feeling a lot of pressure on this issue that I don't recognise.
Extra booze doesn't have to mean violence. My wife might have three whiskeys which will make her very squiffy as one a fortnight is the usual.
If people are getting hammered and beating their partners, that's not because of Christmas.
Its not that I am feeling pressure at all. It that I have seen this pressure in others and have seen the results of it.
Its also the conspicuous consumption and waste I see
Not sure why people are trying to convince TJ to enjoy Xmas their way.
Because he pretty blanket labelled anyone who enjoys any aspect of Christmas as a wife beating consumeristic chauvinistic drunken gluttens?**
It's the onetime of year I knock all that on the head and I find it offensive.
**I don't actually think that Jeremy.
MIOlgrips - domestic violence and abuse and alcohol related crimes all peak at christmas
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/domestic-abuse-christmas-stresses-b1956631.html
Plenty of other links available
MIOlgrips – domestic violence and abuse and alcohol related crimes all peak at christmas
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/domestic-abuse-christmas-stresses-b1956631.html
Plenty of other links available<br /><br />
well that makes solving domestic abuse easy then; just ban Christmas and domestic abuse will end over night. 😉
MIOlgrips – domestic violence and abuse and alcohol related crimes all peak at christmas
I'm not religious, but laying that on the birth of Christ seems a tad unfair.
No family traditions here, no family to have traditions with, now. My brother and S-i-L go to friends because S-i-L isn’t in the best of health, previously I’d go down to theirs for Christmas, or Salisbury for Christmas Day to have dinner with Joey’s mum and daughters, but her mum is going to New York to spend Christmas with her daughter, Joey’s sister, and her daughters will be with their dad. I have other relatives, but none I’m very close to, so I’ll be on my own at home with the telly and a microwave meal, or i might work up the enthusiasm to cook something. There will be drink on hand at least, but otherwise on my own. 🤷🏼
MIOlgrips – domestic violence and abuse and alcohol related crimes all peak at christmas
Bloody hell, TJ knock on the head mate, I get that you want to spend it cutting slices of cold porridge and eat it standing in the rain with a sour look on your face - like any true Scotsman; you're absolutely entitled to spend the break how you want, but you're not entitled to tell everyone else that they're enabling domestic violence FFS
Which is not what I have done at all. Why you feel it necessary to invent things you claim I have said I do not know but here we are. What I have done is explain my reasons why I loathe christmas a part of which is the stresses it puts on people.
Nice racist stereotyping as well.
I like to make a big pile of all the threads that start out interesting and become single issue back and forths within two pages. We use the generated heat to warm up grandad so he's got enough energy for one more rich sausage and brandy slammer.
you’re not entitled to tell everyone else that they’re enabling domestic violence FFS
Jesus Christ (see what I did there 😜) people really do struggle to understand English in the written form don't they. It's not hard to understand what TJ is saying and you are entitled to disagree but if your comprehension skills are that shit maybe just shut up.
count zero - you have a PM
Which is not what I have done at all. Why you feel it necessary to invent things you claim I have said I do not know but here we are. What I have done is explain my reasons why I loathe christmas a part of which is the stresses it puts on people.
No, you haven't, I agree. But could you look back over the thread and reflect on whether it's necessary to bang the rest of us over the head quite so much? I'm sure you agree that it's possible to have a celebration, over indulge a bit, enjoy ourselves, without falling into violence and destitution. In fact it's what most people do.
@sirromj
A mate and I did go and do one of the classic V Diffs on Tryfan one year. I think it was Boxing Day, though, not 25th Dec. And we didn’t take any ironing kit.
TJ genuine question for you actually ... Two. I'm not trying to pick a fight, you are perfectly okay in my book to do as you please and I and I would say most people here hate the bits of Christmas you hate but I can see some very lovely parts of it aswell. Surely you can see that the job you had you are seeing the very very very small sample size which os a perfectly valid reason to not partake yourself.
1. Do you drink? Because surely if you have seen the damage Christmas does you've seen the damage alcohol does all year round and you completely abstain?
2. You must also hate rugby because people drink to excess watching that?
None of that has any relevance to the point I was making. Shame I thought you had got it.
I have upset enough folk so I am not going to continue. If you really want to discuss further then PM me
We get up late, I make coffee and then we open presents. They all bugger off to mass and leave me to prep the veg, goose and stuff.
I might have a cheeky beer before lunch whilst I'm getting the BBQ going.
There are BBQ bits (black pudding in puff pastry etc), to keep us all going (MIL & SIL show up) until the main event then after I do a wash the rest of the organisation get done by the ladies.
The unorthodox bit is that I and the kids play minecraft. We have a Xmas world we keep adding stuff to, it's always a giggle to see how their building style has evolved year on year (especially as the world hasn't got all the latest updates so they have to get inventive). It's an ace family evening.