For those miserable sods who hate Christmas, here’s roughly how it will go for me.

Finish work whenever I want, as I work for myself, but it will probably be a Thursday lunchtime drive home.

Thursday evening, enjoy a tipple with my good lady, maybe watch something Christmassy with the elf. Elf in bed, finish wrapping pressies.

Friday (Christmas Eve) – visit my parents briefly. That’s 50% of the family duties out of the way. Off to local town to catch up with old workmates, business associates and friends – usually bustling pubs and a good atmosphere. Evening tipples again with good lady, excited elf gets mince pies & glass of sherry ready for Santa. Elf in bed, the pile of pressies gets spread out, with ‘Santa’s’ additions. Mrs TAFKASTR probably just about as excited as the elf. This will probably be the last year she believes in Santa – we’ve got her to 10, so not done bad. Sending her to Secondary school with the belief would probably be a bit cruel.

Christmas morning – probably a 5.30-6am get up (it doesn’t get too late before the mrs is poking the elf to wake her up if she isn’t already). A nice strong Irish coffee comes in handy to start the day, Christmas songs on the radio/tv. Lots of pressie opening, assembling, playing family games sees the morning soon gone.

Dinner is prepared and the turkey gets shoved in the oven before we wrap up to go out. Off up to see some friends whose parents dote on the elf and look forward to seeing her every Christmas day. Here we drink mulled wine with the neighbours & friends as the brass band comes down the street playing Christmas carols (maybe we’ll get some snow too this year)

12 o’clock and the pub’s open for a couple of hours, so a couple of pints round a roaring fire with good friends, before back home to finish off making the dinner. Queens speech hopefully avoided and probably a little snooze (if I make it to this point without being a bit pissed it’s an achievement). No ‘family’ today apart from me, the mrs and the elf. Rest of day spent playing/relaxing/watching films – some good, some bad.

Boxing Day – this is the day for the other 50% of family duties, the turn of the outlaws. It’s our turn this year to accommodate, but at least I don’t have to drive (and can drink – see theme developing). Some buffet snacks will do the job and it’s only the mrs’s parents and her two sisters & other halves, who are all pretty sound.

All over for another year, but a week or so of relaxing to look forward to and maybe some sort of decent night on New Year, but all in all a pretty damned enjoyable holiday and festive period.

I finish for Christmas this Thurs 🙂

Mucho food/beer from then on in.

Finish work at 1pm Xmas Eve, get home & start the cooking/drinking etc. MsDwarf finishes at 6pm (retail) so will be looking forward to a nice drink as soon as she gets through the door.
Eat, drink, wander up to local pub, drink more.
Get home, attempt to prevent MsDwarf from opening pressies, drag her to bed 😉
Get woken up by MsDwarf bouncing on the bed telling me what i’ve bought her for Xmas (???????)
Nice breakfast, quick visit to her parents before a meal booked at a nice restaurant (Indian actually).
Poor MsDwarf has to work Boxing Day so i’ll go for a ride & pop in at my dads in the evening.

I do love people who are charitable at Christmas, such as yourselves, giving Elfnsafety somewhere to go this Christmas – good on you 🙂

Thanks for the detailed schedule. Perhaps one day my life will be that pre-organis-ised. 😯

I just heard “george and Andrew” by The Boy Least Likely to on 6music, a really good xmas song I thought, made me smile anyway.
http://www.legalsounds.com/download-mp3/the-boy-least-likely-to/christmas-special/george-and-andrew/song_3510930

No doubt it will deviate sharply at some point Kev, but just a general feeling for how enjoyable, relaxing and ‘in the spirit’ our couple of days will be/usually is.

Is elf “excited little f*****”?

Mine will go-

3pm-3am Xmas eve/day- undo all my good work and get staggeringly drunk down the local with my mates.

10am-1pm- Mum and dad time.

2pm-6pm- dinner with the extended family, around 30 of us if we’re not all there.

7pm- family decamps to my uncle’s, boozing, telly, games and merriment pursue. I might get wazzed this year since I was designated driver last year.

2am- go home, chat to the woman on the otherside over skype.

probably the most bizarre opening post ever

probably the most bizarre opening post ever

And quite premature, but then I am a christmas denier. Thats to say that I don’t believe in christmas and not that my tights are calibrated to yuletide.
Anyway, if you got that far there was a reference to a brass band and the rest of post is mentally soundtracked with the hovis ad music. Charming it was.
I’m not leaving the cave until it’s all over.

I’ll finish work on the 23rd, lounge about on the 24th, then it’ll be just the three of us on Chrimbo day until maybe lunchtime when my folks will arrive (weather permitting). There will be eating and drinking and presents.

Finish this friday then off skiing for 3 weeks.

Done.

Is it just me or is it an odd thing to do – get wasted on Christmas Eve? It is the one day of the year I have always avoided it.

I suppose technically, I finish work at 5pm on Christmas Eve, In reality I shall be in the office from approx 8am doing sod all until about 10, at which point we may wander to the nearest establishment serving beer and a full English, where we will stay for and hour or two and then return to the office to pick up our stuff and then go home.

Once the trains have been negotiated, it’s time to meet and excited household and (depending on the weather) go for a walk somewhere to get some air in the kids (well teanager and a nearly teenager) lungs followed by a takeaway.

Then it’s staying up ’til god knows when O’clock so we can sneak into their rooms to lay out the pressies (Mrs Feet always has to arrange them quite precisely, a point that is completely wasted on the kids!) before going to bed.

Then it’s lying awake in bed wondering why the kids haven’t woken up yet on Christmas morning. Eventually we get up & wake the kids up and present opening begins. Mrs Feet will then go and pick up her brother, his girlfriend & the M-I-L to bring them back to ours. it is about this point when I start to get quite drunk!

Is it just me or is it an odd thing to do – get wasted on Christmas Eve? It is the one day of the year I have always avoided it.

me too. Couldn’t bear to have a hangover on Christmas day itself. Once witness a full on vicious fight on a Christmas Eve lunchtime. It was very nasty and involved people being kicked in the head. Turned out the main pugilists were brothers – god only knows what the conversation was like over Christmas dinner with bruised football shaped heads the next day What on earth posseses people to do this?

Working 8-8 on Xmas eve, then 1-4 on Xmas day…

me too. Couldn’t bear to have a hangover on Christmas day itself. Once witness a full on vicious fight on a Christmas Eve lunchtime. It was very nasty and involved people being kicked in the head. Turned out the main pugilists were brothers – god only knows what the conversation was like over Christmas dinner with bruised football shaped heads the next day What on earth posseses people to do this?

Madness really. Never seen anything like that but I have witnessed some very ill people around the table on Christmas Day (ie my brothers). It used to really upset my dad – spending hours making a really nice meal for everyone just to have people push it around the plate. I used to work in a pub on Christmas Eve so I could join in the fun without having to drink (and always made a good load of tips too).

New Year’s Eve was a different matter altogether….

I’m looking forward to the OP’s round robin…

For those miserable sods who hate Christmas, here’s roughly how it will go for me.

Spare a thought for those that dont have such a perfect life as you maybe, some people may not hate Christmas, but may have no choice in being alone and miserable?

Thursday evening, enjoy a tipple with my good lady, maybe watch something Christmassy with the elf. Elf in bed, finish wrapping pressies.

I din’t know I was invited. How beautifully kind. 😥

Christmas cheer…

To me that inferred that you were wishing others good cheer at christmas, when in actual fact all you seem to have done is be smug and gloat.

smug and gloat

I’m trying my best to see the reason for the OP, but I can’t.

What am I being smug and gloating about exactly – enjoying Christmas?

It’s only my perception of enjoyment – could be hell to others.

Just a snapshot of why I enjoy it, without getting deep about ethics, materialism, or faith – in response to the other Christmas thread with it’s detractors.

Could have been posted in that thread I s’pose – wouldn’t be as much fun, erm…. cause so many inflamatory reactions if I was sober and thought rationally every time I posted on here though.

Finish current job on the 22nd. Start new job on the 4th of January. Nice time off in between!

Plan to drink, eat and be merry. Oh, and shoot some small fluffy animals and chase some others across the country on Boxing Day (Waits for moral minority to arrive 😉 )

Christmas eve is the biggest night out of the year for us. It’s because we all reunite having not seen each other for a long time- our local has a lot of people I’d not normally see coming out of the woodwork on Christmas eve. We won’t be seeing them on Christmas day so I think we make the most of the opportunity to cram in a year of boozing into one evening.

BAH HUMBUG!I ll be working this christmas same as every christmas. I will be off for 4 days over New Year same as every New Year . Slainte 🙂

Finish current jobGet made redundant on the 22nd. Start new jobSign on on the 4th of January.

Waits for moral minority to arrive

I truly believe it’s just that nobody cares where your employer takes you beating for him.

🙂 @ Darcy, as ever!

Redundant? No, not this time! Have had a very good year with a superb employer. I didn’t want to leave, but new job is so perfect it hurts!

As for the beating piece, I do beat on occasion for some local shoots, but prefer to be with gun in hand. Looking forward to a few for the pot!

Gun in hand…polishing it for him eh?

Is that a euphemism for something? 😉

Redundant? No, not this time! Have had a very good year with a superb employer. I didn’t want to leave, but new job is so perfect it hurts!

Thats not what i heard flashy 😐

xmas eve: 1 hour commute to work to arrive for 0830. normally we get sent home around lunchtime but I wasn’t taking any chances, booked the afternoon off with my remaining half day’s holiday, so 1230 I’m out the door regardless. 1 hour drive home. Hopefully not much snow.

then it’s pick up mrs_d, go home, have lunch, load up the car for another 2 & a half hour drive up to the Newcastle area. Unless it’s snowing, like it did on Xmas eve 2009:

2-3 days with the inlaws & the 5yo neice, then back home. no more work until 4th Jan. I do like working in the manufacturing industry, guaranteed christmas off work 🙂