25 ways to countdown the 25 days to Christmas

How to have a cool yule in London...
©Tristram Kenton

1 OUT OF DOORS

It’s time to prise open the first door of your Advent calendar! Don’t get sidetracked by inferior versions — here are the three calendars you need. For an easy chocolate fix, crack into Hotel Chocolat’s Supermilk calendar (£12.50) or, for a luxed-up cocoa treat, splash out on Prestat’s salted caramel Rocking Horse calendar (£22.50, right). If you need something stronger to get you through the next three weeks or so, Drinks by the Dram’s Scotch Whisky Advent calendar (£149.95) will make all the emergency shopping, work drinks and enforced jollity seem much more manageable.

2 BREAK OUT

Take a break from the hordes of shoppers, blaring music and snaking till queues, and get tipsy at these convenient watering holes.

• Round off late-night Xmas shopping Wednesdays on Columbia Road with a whisky at The Royal Oak.

• After stocking up on silky pyjamas at Liberty, sink a pint at John Snow off Carnaby Street.

• Refuel after a Matches Marylebone spree with a seasonal G&T at The Grazing Goat.

• Stop yourself from getting harried at Harrods with a Shaky Pete’s Ginger Brew at Hawksmoor.

3 SHOPPERS DELIGHT

Get going on the gifts at Petersham Nurseries. With the sprawling new site in Covent Garden, as well as the original one near Richmond, it’s a lifestyle emporium of all things festive and fabulous. If you’re still stuck after visiting the florist, deli, wine cellar and homeware departments, head over to east London to visit the Craftacular Market — a bright American export popping up at Bethnal Green’s York Hall for all those Etsy-enthusiasts out there. (petershamnurseries.com) Craftacular Market, 3 December (bust.com)

4 BASKET CASES

Time to think beyond the bird and Brussels sprouts. These niche hampers have serious gourmand appeal.

• LINA STORES Grande hamper (£120). Panettone, pasta and prosecco — this one’s for the Italophiles. Molto bene.

• BERRY BROTHERS Heritage Hamper (£350). The best festive plonk from the Queen’s fine wine merchants.

• LA FROMAGERIE Regional France Box (£100). Did someone say cheese? A neat selection of the best French varieties.

• DAYLESFORD Daylesford Crate (£200). A brilliant all-rounder bursting with fresh farm produce from the organic supremos.

Daylesford

5 WHAT A SHOW!

Catch the Royal Ballet’s bright young things in their annual spectacular of The Nutcracker — with principals Yasmine Naghdi and Francesca Hayward both dancing the role of the Sugarplum Fairy to Tchaikovsky’s score. For something a little less trad, try Matthew Bourne’s twinkling production of Cinderella at Sadler’s Wells, or the bad boy of ballet, Sergei Polunin, in Satori, a mixed multimedia programme at the London Coliseum.

6 WREATH LECTURES

Doors need to be decorated too. Instead of a plasticky number resurrected from the attic, do a Kirstie Allsopp and make your own. The renegade east London florists Grace & Thorn are hosting evening workshops (from £90) on how to put together a fresh foliage wreath. Short on time?

Here are our top three ready-to-buy:

• FOR THE ONLINE SHOPPER Flowerbx medium outdoor wreath (£95). Scots pine, holly and berried ivy.

• FOR THE FLORAL FAN Scarlet & Violet bespoke Christmas wreath (£125). Pine, hydrangea and dried fruit.

• FOR THE BEAUTY JUNKIE Jo Malone London Christmas wreath (£95). Boxwood and foliage.

7 CAMERA, ACTION!

What better way of getting in the Christmas spirit than watching a celebrity switch on some lights? Bad news is you’re about a month too late for Rita Ora’s button-bashing turn on Oxford Street and Emma Bunton’s quick-click at the Royal Exchange, but the good news is you can still catch John Cleese doing the honours in Shepherd Market next Friday. And the other displays are still there in all their glory, of course.

Oxford Street
Getty Images

8 ANTI-RAISIN BRIGADE

Christmas cake is divisive. Chocolate is not, especially when it’s slathered over über patissier Dominique Ansel’s Bûche de Noël (£35), the chicest Christmas pud out there. Those who do fancy the fruits of tradition should try The Christmas Cake company’s sultana-studded beauties — not a dry crumb in sight (£72). (dominiqueansellondon.com; thechristmascake.com)

Dominique Ansel Bakery
Ray Tang/REX/Shutterstock

9 BUY YOUR CHRISTMAS TREES

We’re officially declaring today the perfect day for purchasing your Christmas tree — not so early that you’re wading through needles come Christmas Eve, but with ample time to show off your tinselled topiary on Instagram. Buy your towering pine from The Christmas Forest, which has stores in Islington, by the cricket club in Dulwich and in Putney Leisure Centre — or get philanthropic with We Tree Kings, who work with learning disability charity Newlands Bishop Farm. (christmasforest.co.u; wetreekings.com)

10 GET YOUR SKATES ON

Somerset House’s 18th-century courtyard (left) and the Natural History Museum’s now-12-years-old rink are the capital’s best known spots for tumbling onto your arse during the festive season. For an alternative backdrop, both Hampton Court and Alexandra Palace carve out a place in the capital’s classiest rinks. Those less bothered about skating around in the environs of awesome architecture, meanwhile, should head east to the neon-drenched Canary Wharf ice rink. (somersethouse.org; nhm.ac.uk; icerinkcanarywharf.co.uk)

11 ALL WE WANT FOR CHRISTMAS....

Is to be serenaded by Mariah Carey (right) in all her festive glory. Good thing, then, that the American singer is fulfilling our fantasy by taking over the O2 for one night of Christmas tunes and 1990s classics. It’s going to be emotional… Tickets from £60. 11 December (tickets.axs.com)

WireImage

12 THE ADVENT OF CINEMA

Elf? Love Actually? Die Hard? Whatever your fave festive flick, there are plenty of special places to watch it over the next few weeks. Backyard Cinema’s Snow Kingdom in Borough has multiple screenings of all the above and more (erm, GoldenEye anyone?), One Aldwych has its Festive Film & Fizz season, while down on St Katharine Docks there is the Floating Film Festival. And don’t forget Prince Charles cinema’s ever-fun quote-a-longs. All together now: ‘Santa! I know him!’ (backyardcinema.co.uk; onealdwych.com; skdocks.co.uk; princecharlescinema.com)

13 TURKEY TIME

She’s the MVP at your Christmas lunch — and no it’s not your gran. Truth is, finding a superlative bird needn’t get you in a flap. Source your free range bronze turkeys from a butcher that’s a cut above.

• WEST: HG Walter Last order 16 Dec; £14.90 per kg (hgwalter.com)

• EAST: Hill & Szrok Last order 18 Dec; £18.50 per kg (hillandszrok.co.uk)

• SOUTH: The Ginger Pig Last order 18 Dec; £15 per kg (thegingerpig.co.uk)

• NORTH: The Hampstead Butcher Last order 12 Dec; £10.95 per kg (hampstead butcher.com)

Getty Images/iStockphoto

14 GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT

Time for a Dickens update. The Old Vic opens the festive season with a new adaptation of A Christmas Carol by Jack Thorne (of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Woyzeck fame). Rhys Ifans (left) treads the boards as Ebenezer Scrooge and Matthew Warchus directs. Tickets from £39 (oldvictheatre.com)

Helen Maybanks

15 KNIT PICKING

It’s Christmas Jumper Day! This year, it’s all about high fashion, so swap those Rudolph sweaters and political slogan knits for pullovers that are super-chic.

16 FULL MOOMINS

Borrow a child from a weary parent in order to legitimise a trip to Dulwich Picture Gallery, where A Moomin’s Winter Days is on 16 and 17 December. There are Moomin puppets on hand to say hello, as well as Scandinavian folk tales, immersive theatre and entry to creator Tove Jansson’s exhibition.

Tickets from £7; children free (dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk)

17 BOO AT BADDIES

Practice your best ‘Ohhhhh no he didn’t!’ and spend the last Sunday before Christmas laughing at some genuinely brilliant topical jokes at London’s best pantos.

• Puss in Boots. Hoxton Hall.Tickets from £12.50 (hoxtonhall.co.uk)

• King Tut: A Pyramid Panto. King’s Head Theatre. Tickets from £17.50 (kingsheadtheatre.com)

• Cinderella. Hackney Empire. Tickets from £11 (hackneyempire.co.uk)

• Dick Whittington. Palladium. Tickets from £22.50 (dickwhittingtonpalladium.com)

•Jack and the Beanstalk. Lyric Hammersmith. Tickets from £15 (lyric.co.uk)

(©Tristram Kenton)
©Tristram Kenton

18 SLEIGH BELLS RING

Father Christmas is in town throughout December. Find him here: • Hanging out with the lions at London Zoo’s Meet Santa at ZSL. Tickets from £12 (zsl.org) • Roping your kids in to help make Christmas presents at The Ministry of Christmas at Ragged School Museum. Tickets from £22.50 (raggedschoolmuseum.org.uk) • Swapping sleigh bells for sail boats on City Cruises’s Sail with Santa trips down the Thames. Tickets from £16 (citycruises.com)

19 POST IT

Thoughtful analogue types, take note: today is the last date to send homemade Christmas cards by second class mail. So dash off that message to your spinster aunt Jean before prices shoot up. À L’aise card, £3.95 (a-laise.co.uk)

a-laise.co.uk

20 WINTER RETREAT

The struggle is becoming real. You feel like you’ve been gargling with prosecco for a month and you’ve chomped your way through the entire Pret Christmas menu with alacrity. It’s time to book a New Year’s escape. Yeotown, in North Devon, has been hailed for its transformative five-day detox programme which promises to reverse the effects of a Christmas filled with excess. From £1,870 (yeotown.com)

21 THAT’S A WRAP

Don’t get stuck in a Sellotape nightmare — outsource your present wrapping for beautifully ribboned packages with neat, razor-sharp edges, and bask in the admiration. Try That’s a Wrap for gorgeously simple packages, Wrapsody which uses Japanese scarves to parcel your presents, and Rebekah Chol for crystal gift wrapping that’s so splendid you won’t want to remove it. (thatsawrap.me; wrapsody.co.uk; rebekahchol.com)

CAMERA PRESS/Madame Figaro / Joh

22 WAITROSE WAITS FOR NO ONE

Supermarket Sweep has nothing on the annual sprint to swipe the best Ocado delivery dates. Loyal customers got first dibs on the 9am, 24 December slot back in October and Mumsnet is awash with tips for December releases. But today is the unofficial final delivery date for last-minute lemons who’ve left it late.

23 CAROLS BY CANDLELIGHT

Today is your chance to belt out half- remembered words to ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’ at St Martin-in-the-Fields’ Carols for Christmas by Candlelight. If you’re reading this guide in advance, however, and feeling like a keen carolling bean, get thee to the chicest carol service of the season: the champagne- and mulled wine-fuelled St Paul’s Knightsbridge Foundation Carol Service in collaboration with The Berkeley on 5 December.

Getty Images/AWL Images RM

24 LAST MINUTE SHOPPING!

Somehow, in between the first glass of mulled on the 1 December and the work drinks that turned very messy last week, you’ve failed to finish buying thoughtful gifts for your beloveds. Don’t panic! Our favourite department stores are still here for you today.

• Liberty (10am-4.30pm)

• Selfridges (10.30am-5pm)

• Harrods (11.30am-6pm)

• Harvey Nichols (11am-5pm)

• Fortnum & Mason (11.30am-6pm)

Liberty
Getty Images

25 WHERE TO HAVE CHRISTMAS DAY LUNCH IN LONDON

In town on 25 December? Avoid earsplitting fire alarms set off by smoking ovens, and industrial levels of washing up by heading to one of our favourite restaurants.

• The Bull. £100 for five courses — veggies luck out with a stupendous main of wild mushroom- and Gruyère-stuffed Yorkshire pudding. (thebullhighgate.co.uk)

• Bistrotheque. £95 for five courses — hello, cheese gougères, turkey with confit leg, potato cake and truffled mash and trifle. (bistrotheque.com)

• The Rye. £65 for three courses. Turkey haters can opt for vegetarian haggis or the 28-day aged rib eye with dauphinoise potatoes, green beans and caramelised roots. (theryepeckham.com)

• The Thomas Cubitt (above right). £85 for three courses. Two words: potted goose. (thethomascubitt.co.uk)

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