1. Being awake.
When you’re an adult, things get extremely boring once everyone has opened their presents because in this day and age, you’re probably getting practical gifts like clothes. Hardly worth denying yourself a lie-on on a day off.
2. Christmas mass.
Once the kids in the church start acting up (which is usually before mass even begins), you begin to wish you had just gone the evening before.
3. Trying to de-escalate conflict between relatives.
Regardless of whether you’re in your own home, your grandparents’ home, the home of a cousin or uncle – there’s going to be killings. All of the passive aggressive comments throughout the day build up and before you know it you’re at each others throats over whether or not something actually happened in an episode of Kenan and Kel.
4. Eating
The entire day is spent eating for the sake of eating. You wake up, you find that someone in your family has gotten you some type of food as a gift, so you eat some. Someone kindly offers to make a fry for breakfast, so you eat some of that too. And you might have some Roses or Quality Street while you’re waiting for it.
Between breakfast and Christmas dinner, you’ll probably have a handful of Pringles or sweets every hour or too and ruin your appetite, but you’ll still eat your Christmas dinner regardless, because it’s Christmas. Then a few hours after that’s settled, someone offers you a sandwich made with the turkey and Christmas ham. Sure it’s Christmas, you might as well. It’s sleepy work. Thank God we only have to do it once a year.
5. Cooking
It’s supposed to be a day off but a serious amount of work goes into it.
6. Drinking
All of the above, but with some glasses of Prosecco and Baileys peppered in between. You’re so full of food that you’ve no chance of getting drunk, but that won’t stop you from trying.
7. Television
On Christmas day there might just be one thing that you enjoy on television. For some it’s a Pixar film like Ratatouille or Monsters University, for others it’s the Christmas special of Eastenders and for other members of your family it might be a panel show. You’re forced to sit through hours of the TV shows that you don’t enjoy. At least you can get a bit of a snooze in.
8. Your local takeaway being closed.
This contradicts the previous point about eating, but why do we all get a serious craving for a curry the one day of the year that takeaways close? Roll on 5pm Stephen’s Day.
