I come from a close, rather large-ish family. Christmas day for me is usually a cocktail fuelled shit storm of screaching aunties, mental cousins, men cooking meat, too much food, intensely competitive card games and embarrassingly enough the day usually ends with a weird loungeroom disco where we all dance like we’re Beyonce’s backup. There’s rarely less than 25 of us and it’s fabulous. However Mr Smaggle and I have often fantasised about sneaking away and having a little Christmas, just the two of us. It’s not a huge stretch for him because he comes from a tiny family with no cousins but I suspect it would be rather strange for me. There’s so many people who spend Christmas alone, with one other person, with their tiny immediate family or even with just a few friends so I thought I’d throw together a list of lovely things to do for Christmas when you don’t have (or won’t be around) a giant family.
How To Celebrate Christmas When You Don’t Have a Giant Family
Why don’t you…?
Make a big fuss with table decorations? Make beautiful place cards? Have a giant vase of fresh flowers? Get a gorgeous new table cloth? Really put on the ritz?
Plan activities? Start the day with cookie decorating? Have a serious game of Monopoly in the afternoon? A stroll around your suburb? A Game of Thrones marathon to doze off to at night?
Ditch the turkey or other giant chunks of cooked meat that will go to waste after Christmas and get creative with your meals instead? Make decadent tacos with different toppings? Fancy oven pizzas? Serious nachos?
Go out to a restaurant for lunch? Have a long, lazy indulgent meal and then head home for an afternoon snooze?
Start traditions? Have a treasure hunt where you hide gold coins around the house for your litter of loved ones to find? Have an after dinner dance off? Champagne cocktails with breakfast?
Dress up? Really make the day special by wearing your favourite duds and making a super special effort with your appearence?
Stay in a hotel? Why not leave your home for a few days and stay somewhere fancy? Perhaps in the country or by the beach? Or even overseas if you can manage it?
Volunteer? Visit hospitals or nursing homes to hang with people who don’t have any family? Serve food at a shelter or help out at a pet sanctuary with walking the dogs?
Have a picnic? Head to the park with a yummy basket full of treats and sparkling drinks and spend the day reading, playing bocce and snoozing under the trees?
How do you celebrate Christmas? Is it a big affair with lots of people? Or an intimate party for two?
8 Comments
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I LOVE volunteering on Christmas! To be fair, I am Jewish, so it’s not quite the same, but I would recommend it if you can swing it – it’s a win win for everybody – the staff can go home and spend time with their family’s and they’re always say appreciative event though I’m like: Dude. It’s Wednesday. I don’t mind at all. I usually volunteer at the Emergency Women’s Shelter and there’s always loads of kids who will teach us Christmas songs and games and it’s a good time.
So yeah. Volunteering. 110% recommended.
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Oh what a gorgeous soul you are! It does make a difference though it Christmas isn’t a huge deal for you… My mother would have a heart attack if I tried to not be around for Christmas lunch! Have a lovely Christmas day volunteering love.
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haaaaa most of my family live interstate…..so every year my sister nephew and I relish a super chilled out Christmas. Its in contrast to the madhouses of divorced parents we use to contend with (although we do miss it a tiny bit). Our standard little family of three xmas has become….. NO rushing, NO changing houses halfway, lots of presents for the little one and plenty of relaxing and games (i.e. playing with all the presses) Actually last year we did indeed have taco’s but fancy fish tacos whilst camping at the beach – totally memorable!!
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That sounds brilliant! Exactly I what I fantasise about!
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Christmas Eve dinner with friends who are expat New Zealanders and don’t have family over here. Spouse’s family come to breakfast (time limits enforced). Phone call to Mum, who lives over 8ookm north. And that’s it, although I could happily opt out of the lot. So two enforced traditions because I care about the people involved. I think I just prefer a very low-key life!
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That sounds like bliss! I’m always trekking in a car to a relatives house trying to transport fancy salad and cake! I’ve never had Christmas in my own house as an adult!
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Since all of our family is interstate, there is just the two of us so a bottle of Veuve Cliquot, seafood on skewers cooked on bbq and I make a champagne sauce to serve with them. We usually finish of with a special DVD marathon – one year we watched the entire series of The Sopranos. Haven’t decided on this years viewing but a strong tip is Downton Abbey. Or maybe Broadchurch,
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Have you done Boardwalk Empire??? It’s THE BEST! Latest obsession. But Downton is also amazing. Oh and Firefly!!!!
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