🎄 Christmas checklist

Ordered by week, because the only things that truly cannot slip are the postal deadlines and the food order. Everything else is negotiable and most of it is optional.

53 items

1. Early — November
2. Agree who is going where, and say it out loud
3. Set a budget, including food and travel
4. Write the present list with names and amounts
5. Book travel while it is still affordable
6. Order anything personalised or made to order
7. Book the food delivery slotThe good slots are gone by the last week of November. This is the earliest real deadline.
8. Check who is coming and what they cannot eat
9. The presents
10. Buy from the list, and cross names off it
11. Stocking or small gifts
12. Something for hosts, teachers and neighbours
13. Wrapping paper, tape, tags and ribbon
14. Batteries for anything that needs them×8
15. Wrap in batches rather than all in one evening
16. Hide them somewhere you will remember
17. The post
18. Check this year's last posting dates
19. Cards written, overseas ones first
20. Stamps bought in one go
21. Parcels posted a week before the stated deadline
22. Send anything international by the first week of December
23. Two weeks before
24. Decorations up, and the tree
25. Check the lights work before hanging them
26. Plan the meal and write the shopping list from it
27. Order the main course, cheese and anything from a counter
28. Check who is staying overnight and where they sleep
29. Buy drinks, including good ones without alcohol
30. Confirm what time everyone is arriving
31. The week itself
32. Do the big shop early in the week
33. Defrost anything frozen — check how many days it needs
34. Make and freeze whatever can be made ahead
35. Clear fridge space, seriously
36. Write the cooking timings backwards from the meal time
37. Hand out named jobs: drinks, table, washing up
38. Check pharmacy and shop opening hours over the holiday
39. Enough of any regular prescription to cover the closures
40. The day
41. Table laid the night before
42. Breakfast that someone else makes
43. Bin bags and a box for wrapping paper
44. A walk in the afternoon
45. Boxes for leftovers
46. Phone the people who are not there
47. Sit down for at least part of it
48. Afterwards
49. Leftovers into the freezer within two days
50. Recycling — cards, paper, packaging
51. Thank-yous, especially the ones children owe
52. Take the decorations down before they become depressing
53. Note what to do differently, while you still mean it