Nightmares about Christmas

I’m still wondering who the heck Santa Claus is ?
Seems to have taken over and control of what Christmas was meant for!
Roll on spring !

A dear friend and I were bereaved within two months of each other. Neither of us have children and no longer have elderly parents so we now spend Christmas together. We get on famously so it works very well. We go to a lovely hotel for the Christmas period where Christmas is low key. No visits from Santa or panto trips arranged. We eat delicious food, drink, talk endlessly and laugh together. We wrap up and go for walks on the beach and look at the Christmas lights on the harbour. We have a fabulous time and this will be our sixth year of spending Christmas together.

We had my parents & recently divorced brother joining us on Christmas morning, so together with our family of four, I'd got everything ready but I'll never forget my dear Dad's face when they arrived and I told him that the oven wasn't working! Luckily our next door neighbours ran a residential home nearby so were out all day and kindly let us use their kitchen for the day. DH & I took it in turns to attend to the turkey by running next door whilst everyone including us drank copious amounts to keep the day going as dinner was late.
A Christmas we'll never forget!

That sounds an ideal way to do things Applegran
We are a Christian family and do enjoy Christmas Day very much.We have what I call gentle Christmas Days, which does not mean quiet at all, as we always have extended family visiting.It means we do not become stressed by anything, there is no need in any case.After the church service we have a relaxed lunch with soup, sandwiches and so on, then do our present opening.I will cook the Christmas dinner for about 5.30 to 6 pm, and my daughter will help, along with my husband and anyone we need to peel vegetables will be called into the kitchen.It is unfair to expect only one person to do everything, or to expect Christmas to be magazine perfect.
Yes, the dog has a present too although last year he was in disgrace for stealing sausage rolls from the table when nobody was looking.

Namsnanny

I've had a few Christmas disasters.
But I'm not sure what is the worst nightmare, the hard work, exhaustion and (sometimes) the deflation of hosting Christmas lunch.
Or being left on yer tod!
Christmas, I both love and loath it?

Being on your own at Christmas is heaven. I’ve only managed it once. Oh, the peace! You can eat what you like when you like, and watch whatever TV you like. There is the phone to keep in touch with friends and relations, but otherwise - total relaxation.

I like to start buying presents early to avoid the last minute panic and last year I had a houseful for several days and got everyone to cook - I did some of it, and then relaxed while others did the cooking. Everyone enjoyed it!

I have cooked Christmas dinner for about 40 years and finally come to the conclusion I hate doing it, mainly because of the pressure of getting everything ready at the same time and having to deal with the leftovers. Now I get alternate years off when my son and family go to his in-laws. It’s my turn for a rest this year so we’re going to the theatre on Christmas Eve and my sister in law’s on Christmas Day.Family will come at New Year which is so much more relaxing with just a buffet to prepare.

I love Christmas in October. By December I’m ready to book a flight anywhere. By Christmas Day I’m usually ill ?

Alioop

No worrying for me. Just my sister and I with the dogs for Christmas lunch. I get up in the morning and open my presents on my own and the sad person I am, show the bloomin dog what I got.

And why not, Alioop?
More than once we had friends with 3 dogs to stay at Christmas - 2 Flatcoat Retrievers and a little Westie. The Flatties were always incredibly interested in everybody’s presents - would watch intently as each was opened!
Needless to say, they had their own presents to open, too. ???

Lizzie44, you are a woman after my own heart. Your Spanish xmas sounds like heaven to me!

Christmas always causes problems. I remember taking it turns with siblings to have our mother at Christmas. I always said I would not burden my children with that. As soon as I realized it was happening I put a stop to it... I just said I am staying home... Christmas is just too commercialized now. People get themselves into debt and spend months paying it back. The simple life for me...

I've had a few Christmas disasters.
But I'm not sure what is the worst nightmare, the hard work, exhaustion and (sometimes) the deflation of hosting Christmas lunch.
Or being left on yer tod!
Christmas, I both love and loath it?

My take on various Christmas meals and organisation. So anyone really disliking all the hassle, and can afford it , go on holiday to a basically Moslem country where you can have a pleasant time without the rackets etc. Then going back to the actual christmas day. We had a pattern where the women and girls did one thing and the men and the boys another, but this was not sexist attitude by the men. No , in the days long past with no oven timers and boiling pudding for a long time, on christmas morning Dads first job was to go down and light the oven and make tea for my mum, whilst we,, of course were racketing around shrieking and messing about with presents. Then before we set off to church Mum would be putting the pudding in the top of the steamer and if the service was running late there would be much glancing at the watch and one or other of my parents would usually have to just call out Happy christmas to friends as they beat a hasty retreat to rescue the pud and baste the roast!
So later when we had a whole mix , I was married, my next sister had boyfriend and the younger ones were still at home, so women and girls sorted out the cooking of the meal, with men and boys peeling spuds or doing brussel sprouts or whatever. The men and boys under instruction, laid the table moved wrapping paper cleared a safe path to the table, moved chairs etc and kept small children safely out of the way. After the meal men and boys cleared the table and washed up and put away, whilst a clean cloth was put on the table and women and girls put out trifles, desserts, christmas cake, chutney etc etc and piles of clean plates etc. So after the christmas meal the house rules were you now helped yourself whenever you wanted anything and no one was expected to do any more serving etc. The one thing that usually happened and we all joined in like a chorus , was about 4pm my father would say, well I think I could just have a cup of tea and a nice plain piece of fresh bread and butter! Boxing Day my dad used to say he almost enjoyed it more than the christmas meal as we put out all sorts of cold meats etc, with a great variety of pickles and sauces and then it was bubble and squeak and cold meats and salads. I have never liked breast meat, much prefer dark and legs etc, much better flavour I think, and we used to have 3 sorts of stuffing of which my great favourite was chestnut, hot or cold. This scheme seemed to work out well and of course these days with timers and microwaves much easier. Now we never cook the christmas pudding until we all agree we could fancy some now and ping in a few minutes there we are.
Another tip I pass on to avoid arguments and hassle. I have been a keen gardener for many years and at some point on christmas day announce I am going for a walk round my garden. I do the same on new years day. I walk slowly round the garden making a note of what flowers are in bloom, these days of course people take pictures. I walk all the way round, then turn and walk round the other way. You would be surprised at how many you can miss just going one way. So the timing will be decided by , feeling too full and needing the walk, an argument brewing, a sudden sense there are too many people about or whatever. So you get a bit of fresh air and a break. Also these days we gardeners have been able to provide convincing information re climate change. So for example I lived just over 20 years in my previous house, being able to check through my gardening diaries year by year, can see the overall changes in flowering times , not just over a couple of years. As a singer, I am always very busy with rehearsals and concerts so another little tip I have is this. I get something like Anton Berg box of sort of posh Jaffa cakes , which are chocolate covered and have liqueur inside . Wrap it in good paper and put a label on it but dont write it . I also get a book token. So now I have two gifts at the ready for the unexpected or forgotton guest. They dont hear you rustling wrapping it up which is a dead giveaway! So if you need them there they are. If all goes well and you dont need them, I used to save the chocolate biscuits for middle of January when my son was at school and used to organise with 3/4 other mothers that we would need the first week they were back at school to sort out the wreckage and catch up and then they would come to my place for fresh coffee and these super biscuits. A well deserved treat for having survived. I would award myself the book token, on the grounds that it might get lost or be out of date if I left it and I reckoned end of january beginning of february it was a well deserved treat to look forward to. Money is tight then and if it was actually money you would feel you must put it towards the bills etc . My last tip that some may find useful. I have always been a woman of champagne taste and beer money! In the past we have known smart hotels and michelin star level restaurants have offers for christmas and then for new year . Way outside my price levels if I even wanted to go to them , but sometimes they will offer a cheap 2/3 days arriving on the 27th and leaving morning of new years eve. They have to keep the staff for the whole time especially if out in the country and so those three days are usually a loss so if they can get you to go then everyone wins . We have had some lovely times like that . Friends of mine ran a very good cafe along a walking route, and all over the christmas and new year holday period they served absolutely NOT christmas food or connected things like curry which often is used for leftovers. So a lovely beef shin casserole and jacket potatoes was very popular and a fish chowder etc. so if I am expecting visitors, I make a beef shin casserole with loads of veg especially celery and carrots which I think go well together . Because of my back problems cant stand for ages so I might prepare all veg in the am, have a break then loads of onions - which must be fried in a little oil for me - they taste totally differently than just cut up fresh and added. So good old pressure cooker keeps cooking time down and is safe and works well. So I do all that and make usually twice as much as I need , then split it up and freeze half and then , on the day they are coming I put the oven on and do jacket potatoes - always with a couple spare and put the beef to sit on the bottom of the oven and reheat. I think it improves the flavour and it is all ready whether they arrive early or late . Well I had better go and organise something to eat myself now. Have listened to DID and now Private Passions. The rain is pouring down and it is grey and miserable outside so am pleased to be dry and getting things done. Hope one or two of these things might be helpful for someone

Sorry to introduce a "bah humbug" note but I find Christmas a nightmare from the start of the commercial circus in October to the obsession with food, drink, parties and presents. These days I don't get involved with it apart from sending cards to friends around the UK and abroad (not to people we see regularly). Present giving (mainly money) restricted to immediate family. Last three Christmases rubbish thanks to illness and pandemic restrictions, one year involving tearful handover of turkey to DD in a carpark half way between her house and ours. Most relaxing Christmas was 20 years ago when DH and I spent it walking in Southern Spain. We sat on top of a mountain on Christmas Eve in warm sunshine and thought of all those rushing round Tesco....

Gosh, what a miserable lot you are! It’s just so easy to make it all work for you, and, as one GN said, it’s ONLY a Sunday lunch with sprouts! As for presents, why not suggest a secret Santa with a price limit, and ask everyone to help on the day? Some people just make e so unnecessarily difficult.

Sandynan

My Christmas nightmare is what presents to buy for grown up children and partners. They never say or give me ideas. I only have a small budget too so extra stressful.

We just don't. Presents for very immediate family only - that means daughter and partner and son and his partner, who all usually get a gift voucher for a night away at a hotel or special meal out, grandson aged 5 who gets a present and my very elder inlaws, who get a hamper made up with foods I know they enjoy. That's it. Done and dusted.

I loathe Christmas with a vengeance and always have done, even as a child. With grown-up children who all work shifts, I don't yet know if they'll be coming to ours for Xmas dinner or not. If it does end up just being the two of us, I could quite happily not bother with the whole thing.

Witzend

Don’t do what I did one year, Grannygravy13 - drank so much Buck’s Fizz (a Christmas morning essential in this house) that I completely forgot the potatoes - hadn’t even put them on to parboil.

So dinner was at about 5, rather than 3 ish*. but TBH since everybody was that much more ready for it, we’ve had it at 5 or 6 ever since.
*The turkey did keep nice and hot, well wrapped up in foil and tea towels.

So dinner was at about 5, rather than 3 ish*. but TBH since everybody was that much more ready for it, we’ve had it at 5 or 6 ever since.
*The turkey did keep nice and hot, well wrapped up in foil and tea towels.

When I was eleven, I was in hospital to have my appendix out just before Christmas. I was sent home on Christmas day after the hospital lunch. Mum didn't want me to miss out so did the family lunch for mid-afternoon. It was so successful we ate later every year after that, and I still do now nearly sixty years on!

Youcantchoosethem shepherds pie for Boxing Day, make it now and freeze it

Nainijo, I'm having my THR on November 8th....snap...ooh excuse the choice of word..
Hubby and I are going to our daughters which is only a couple of miles away for Christmas Day.
Good luck with your surgery.

Meggymoos I think there will be many in the same position this year.

Last year was a nightmare but not a dream ! DD and family invited me for Christmas -for the first time ever I wasn’t cooking ! DS and family along with extended aunts uncles and cousins invited for Boxing Day at DD .I arrived Christmas Eve to find DD not feeling too good but putting on a brave face . Christmas morning she tested positive for Covid ! As I was already there and would probably catch it I stayed, cooked Christmas dinner as always, during which SiL went to bed ( Covid) and the two children and I played mad games. Boxing Day was cancelled of course so freezer groaned under the weight. I never caught Covid despite the DGC getting it three days later!
This year we are back to good old mum cooking but I have said I need help and everyone can bring a dish .

Bilboben that’s pretty much what Mr. B and I do and we love it

I love Boxing day, peace and quiet and a chance to enjoy my presents!!

No worrying for me. Just my sister and I with the dogs for Christmas lunch. I get up in the morning and open my presents on my own and the sad person I am, show the bloomin dog what I got.