Christmas - who are they kidding?

If one person in 100, no, 1000, takes any notice of what these articles say I would be amazed.

Most people of any age spend Christmas the way they want to, a few do not want to know, a few think money solves the problem and the rest of us just go on enjoying it in our own accustomed fashion.

Rich Auntie Pam sounds like a clever sort!

Rich Aunty Pam couldn't cook

that's the way to do it!!

Faff, faff and more faff! Our kids have moved to foreign climes so now there's just the two of us and we live too far away (thank God!)from other family to either visit or be visited! Bah humbug!

But when my kids were at home, I used to have the Christmas dinner timed to perfection. Turkey & trifle. The turkey stuffing was an old family recipe so that was a faff but worth it then the trifle, just sponge, fruit, jelly & custard. Everyone enjoyed it. We got out the best china (ma-in-laws handed down) but that was it.

Christmas was for enjoying being together and having fun or quiet depending on the day/time.

When I was a child we got dragged off to rich Aunty Pam's for Christmas dinner. Rich Aunty Pam couldn't cook so got all the aunties & grans to get stuck in doing their different 'specials' in the kitchen. Too much sherry resulted in tired and emotional aunties & grannies fighting over space in the kitche. It was a nightmare and put me off having a faffy Christmas when it came time to do my own.

Those newspaper/magazine articles for How to Have a Stress-free Christmas are just dreamed up by 'journalists' asked to fill a column. I bet if you asked them, they just slump down with a drink in front of the tele on Christmas Day and don't lift a finger - or go out to eat!!

I have 12 people coming here this Christmas and also on Boxing Day. I do not have time to fiddle about with decorating things that do not need to be decorated. The whole thing is about 'family' not decorations and table settings.

Life is too short Daphne! :-) Much as I appreciate the effort some people will go to there is so much preparation to be done I would suggest that you do not go overboard unless you enjoy being stressed out.

I love doing Christmas dinner for my family (we have it on Boxing day because my daughter, her partner and their 2 boys prefer to stay at home on Christmas day, and she is very much NOT a hostess!!). This year there are 8 of us (me, my husband, my daughter, her partner, my son, my mother and the 2 little boys). Place names? People sit where they want (as long as my mother gets first choice and I'm nearest the kitchen!). I love laying the dinner table and making it look pretty, and there will probably be holly from our garden. I don't serve the dinner, I plonk all the dishes of food on the table and tell everyone to dig in. There isn't room for fancy centre pieces amongst the 2 types of meat and the veggie pie and the roast potatoes, parsnips, onions and carrots, the green veg and the 2 types of stuffing and 2 types of gravy and pigs in blankets (meat and veggie) and bread sauce and every type of condiment you can think of, not to mention red and white and sparkling wine and beer and pop and water. We have cheap crackers with bits of plastic tat in them, because no-one wants the stuff inside crackers anyway even if you get those 'luxury' ones with nail clippers and stuff in, they just like the pulling and the bang and the paper hats and awful jokes! Crackers go on the plates, and paper napkins go in the glasses. And who needs a little chocolate on their dinner plate?! We've probably all been eating chocolate since dawn anyway!! The table is wrecked witihn 5 minutes anyway isn't it?

I would be appalled if I had to set about this table laying and food preparation. Why don't you insist that your staff and housekeeper do it all?
Haha - back to the real world with a crash! I only do decorations and trimmings that please the little ones. The rest, as everyone seems to agree, is about love and happiness and a nice meal with those dear to us.

One of my most enjoyable Christmases when I still lived in England involved inviting some Danish friends who were temporarily living nearby and some of their relatives, who were visiting, for drinks and nibbles on Christmas morning. One of out closest friends from London was staying with us for a few days and the plan was for me to cook a goose and do all the festive meal bit in the evening. However, we all drank and ate so much throughout the morning – and then the afternoon – that none of us could face roast goose in the evening. We ate it on Boxing Day and all agree that it was one of the best Christmases we have ever had.

Dim the lights and light lots of candles, would be my way of fuss-free Christmas preparations. You can even leave out the dusting.

However, I do enjoy fiddling about with bits of twine and dangling things from every possible hook, bannister and door frame. I prefer to take a couple of days off work before Christmas to do a bit of shopping, pre-cooking and decorating, and then work between Christmas and New Year, when things are quieter anyway, work isn't so stressful, and I can leave earlier.

This year will be an exception because my eldest is over from America only for the Christmas period, and I want to spend time with him.

Whitehair123 I agree that the people are the most important thing. But there are those of us who enjoy the 'faffing' as you call it. We do it together as a family and enjoy the planning and the fun we have together.

I get in a nice sherry as the aperitif and some port for after dinner. clean plates, napkins, wine and good wholesome food and a cracker each is all that is needed.

It's the people that count, not the pretentious table setting or anything else materialistic.

Enjoy it, whatever that means to you and forget the mind blowing faffing!

Dinner party with Kirsty and Giles, wonderful, all hand made place settings and microwave meals, lots of of course and some great conversation

I'm so glad I don't have to do all the "Christmas" thing now - tree is up & decorated. Christmas Day over to DD's earlyish so DGS can open his presents & show me what he's got. Nice Lunch prepared by DD & her OH - "thrown out" at 3 so they can have a relaxed rest of the day.

Drinks Party at neighbours, invite for other meals over Christmas if I want, so no fancy table decs. etc for me. I love my Christmas - the days of hosting are long gone (thank goodness!!!!)

I like to set an attractive table with vintage damask cloth and napkins (mum's), Christmas runner ,crystal glasses and best china and cutlery. And a small centrepiece which will feature holly . DH hates crackers/funny hats so we don't have them . I do use place markers , simply because I have some nice ones, although I think the four of us could manage ...
I know some people who buy 'table presents '. tYe another thing to stress about IMO
Does anyone actually cook all the fancy dishes the magazines feature for months prior? Everyone I know does the standard Turkey roast with the usual trimmings , roast potatoes and parsnips ,carrots, sprouts and red cabbage . Followed by Christmas pudding and brandy butter (both bought). I no longer do a proper starter. We have blinis with smoked salmon and cream cheese as we open presents . Otherwise everyone is too full
Admittedly I'm not cooking for hordes but I find Christmas dinner quite easy
As long as DD2, a midwife, is with us at some point I am happy

I understand that macaroons are the 'in' thing, so perhaps a different colour for each guest would be a nice touch?

I'll get the housekeeper on to it.

annan I agree, and why should there be a frenzy to get to the sales on Boxing Day when they have already started before Christmas?

This hour by hour 'stress free' advice we are given makes me laugh! DH and I prepare the turkey and peel the veg the night before, I also make stuffing in advance. He always lays the table and I put a centrepiece and napkins on , and crackers. All on Christmas eve. Then Christmas day all I have to do is turn on the oven for the turkey. We then have time to go to church then come back and do veg and warm up stuffing. Simple. Pud has been made Months before so no prob.
More recently GC have written place names for everyone which is sweet, esp the phonetic spellings!
Family always insist on washing up. Present opening is after lunch over a cup of coffee.(Only stockings opened before lunch!) Family protest vehemently if any variation is suggested! Then a nice walk, back for a cup of tea . Evening is family games - no TV is allowed on. (But secretly we record anything worth watching!)
Couldnt be bothered with rosemary, bits of twine etc!!!

Years ago I won a book in a raffle: Vogue Christmas, full of crafts and things to do to make Christmas beautiful.

Sometimes I even take it off the shelf, look through and sigh at all the lovely things, then put it back again.

Well Daphne I have done exactly this sort of place setting in the past, without the sweet/biscuit. I enjoyed doing it over the years when I had ten for Christmas lunch.
These days I'm the one going to family for the day so I just help with some of the cooking and leave the decorations to the hostess.

Spare a thought for the retail, Internet warehouse staff, delivery drivers, hospitality and hotel catering staff and every other worker who may be working till 9pm or even later Xmas Eve then up again early Boxing Day to keep the whole show going. The era of bring paid double time or time and a half is long gone; these days you pay for your own taxi to work boxing day as no public transport, bosses don't pay for these anymore either it seems. Last year DD who works in retail and SIL, a chef only got Xmas Day off, the year before he had to work Xmas Day, they have a two year old as well. There is a petition on change.org you can sign to give retail staff Boxing Day off - surely you can survive two days without shopping.

By the time you've faffed around with string and brown paper and bits of holly etc, you could have cooked dinner!
I wouldn't bother with crackers at all but my kids (aged 30-39) all like them so we have cheapie ones these days. I did try more expensive ones so that there were gifts worth having - but they still got left behind when we left the table.

I have forsaken table "gifts" for a lottery scratch card. It provides some amusement Keepsthe guests occupied while I set up dessert and generally one person at the table wins £100 plus!! No difficult personalisation thinking, I just buy 20 Christmas scratch cards at the Supermarket with the Veg and lay them out with the Napkins and cheap crackers.

My favourite part of Christmas is the decorating of my home the week before Christmas, including the Table decor, as I'm a crafty person and it gives me the chance to work on my creations and at the same make my house Christmassy.
I normally hate cooking, however, because the Christmas lunch is such an important family get together, I absolutely love this sort of meal and the decorating of the table is part & parcel to making it special ( no name tags though as they are family and can sit where they like). I also help out at our villages senior citizens Christmas lunch and do 40 handcrafted table favours every year. My children are all grown up, but I commute to a full time job everyday, so I have to manage my time well.

Yes I hate all the magazine articles that start thus..7.30 prep turkey....blah blah ?Time for love peace family friends..NOT stress and cordon bleu!!!