Ah, Christmas. That special time of year. But how do you celebrate the big day? In our biggest ever survey, we asked you all about your favourite Christmas traditions, and you didn’t disappoint us!

Read on to discover what you voted as your number one traditions – what’s on the menu, how you feel about Christmas crackers, whether or not the Queen’s Speech gets a look in, and what exactly it is that makes this time of year so very magical.

1. Where do you spend Christmas?

Where to spend Christmas, and who you spend Christmas with, is a big decision, and the vast majority of you opt to spend the day with family in some shape or form.

Nearly a third (30%) said everyone came to their house, and 53% either went to visit parents, met the in-laws, stayed at home with their partner and the kids, or enjoyed Christmas Day at one of their children’s houses.

Just 4% spend the day with friends, and a tiny 1% decide to fly away somewhere hot and sunny.

2. Eat, drink and be merry

When’s dinner?

Without a doubt, you like to eat late, but not too late, on Christmas day. Nearly half (48%) voted to sit down for dinner between 2pm and 4pm.

What are you eating?

This probably isn’t a big surprise, but the centrepiece of Christmas dinner is, of course, turkey! A huge 65% like to keep things traditional, with a few among you, (10%) who like to mix things up with dishes such as pizza, goose or gammon.

And if turkey is on the menu, there’s only one side dish that could possibly go with it – roast potatoes! Potatoes won your vote with 51%, with brussel sprouts a distant second as your favourite side, with 15%. Did you guess right?

Time for dessert

Tradition is a hard thing to resist, and why would you want to? That’s right, Christmas pudding was your number one dessert of choice – winning with 46% of the vote.

Christmas tipples

Your Christmas tipple of choice was clear – bubbles! And why not, Christmas is a time for celebrating after all – champagne and prosecco won the vote with 28%, followed by white wine, with 12%.

3. To hat or not to hat

You’ve pulled the cracker and out drops the paper hat – do you wear it? Why of course you do! A resounding 58% said ‘Absolutely!’ to wearing your Christmas cracker hat, with nearly a quarter (23%) taking it off as soon as dinner is done. Scrooges!

You also couldn’t decide what was your favourite Christmas cracker joke from our list of ten classics – you split your number one vote between two. Are you ready? Here are the winners…

– What do you call a penguin in the Sahara desert?
– Lost.

– What is Santa’s favourite pizza?
– One that’s deep-pan, crisp and even.

4. The Queen’s Speech

Once essential viewing at Christmas, it seems these days the Queen’s Speech has dropped off your list of priorities, with 39% of you saying you don’t really care about watching the Queen in action. With the speech starting at 3pm, perhaps it’s because everyone is still at the table eating dinner!

5. Time for presents

You’re an impatient bunch, aren’t you? 54% can’t wait to open their presents and do so as soon as they wake up on Christmas morning – 4% even open them the night before, on Christmas eve!

And what about stockings? It seems that stockings these days are only for the kids, with 45% saying they used to get a stocking when they were young but not anymore.

6. One last thing…

We asked you – is Christmas the most wonderful time of year? Your answer, ‘Yes, it really is!’ 54% of you love Christmas, and you told us exactly what the best thing is about this very special day:

“Seeing its magic through my children’s eyes.”

 

“The ambience in general, the fun, the excitement of watching everyone open their presents, the jokes, the lovely food, the weather and hopefully those with issues, letting them pass and not spoil an otherwise beautiful day together. Wow, I love it all…..”

 

“The build up – christmas eve, stockings, carols, films, no excuse needed for prosecco!”

 

“All the traditional things – the build up and preparations, getting together with all the family, everyone enjoying the day, having a good lunch then sitting by the fire to open presents and enjoying each other’s company.”

 

“Gathering together with all of my family, eating far too much delicious food, and drinking far too much nice wine.”

 

“For me it’s the decorations, the twinkly lights, scented candles and all those wonderful christmas adverts”.

 

“Having my family all together, having fun and laughter”

 

“The excitement of the grandchildren and their faces when they open their presents. Snuggling up in front of the log fire eating roast chestnuts and drinking mulled wine”

 

“People seem to care about each other a little bit more than usual.”

 

“The magical feeling it gives you.”

 

Merry Christmas!