This post is a collaboration with TV Licensing (a trademark of the BBC), but all thoughts and experiences are my own.
Life moves so quickly these days, especially as the kids are getting older and everyone has their own plans and routine, that’s why it’s so important to carve out a little time to spend together, to relax and recharge as a family.
One of the easiest and most enjoyable ways by settling in with some live TV. It’s a simple treat that helps you all connect, unwind, forget the stresses of the day, and take a well-deserved break.
We all need those moments to just sit back and let the world pause for a bit, don’t we?Whether with Christmas Day films on TV or watching live sports, it’s a great way to spend family time together and enjoy each other’s company.
That’s something I’ve loved doing with the kids since all of them were little. You can’t beat a family Christmas movie night, with the Christmas tree sparkling in the background, festive snacks and some of our favourite Christmas movies like Home Alone or Elf.
When they were a little bit smaller, we loved the short Julia Donaldson movies on BBC iPlayer like Stickman, which is perfect for Christmas time, or the Gruffalo or the Snail and the Whale. The CBeebies Christmas panto was of course another highlight for the festive season.
This Christmas, we’re looking forward to watching the Gavin and Stacey Christmas special which will be shown on Christmas Day, or available on iPlayer. Hopefully my sister will join us so we can watch it all together.
Some of our best memories are the TV nights we used to have every Saturday when we lived closer to each other, and she would come around every Saturday to order Pizza and watch the X Factor. Now as we all have kids and live further from each other, that’s not so easy to do weekly so at Christmas it’s our opportunity to make up for lost time and get some quality time together with both our families.
And of course, we have to watch a festive movie on Christmas Eve late at night while we are wrapping the last of the presents and putting them under the tree. Most years, my husband and I watch and rewatch our favourite classics which are Love Actually and The Holiday. It just gets you in the perfect mood for celebrating Christmas.
Sometimes we subscribe to Sky Cinema during Christmas time to get access to even more great movies over the Christmas holidays since everyone has more free time during these couple of weeks. Plus, it’s a great way to spend time together, relaxing and having fun.
If you have football lovers in the house, as we do, then Sky Sports is also great for Christmas because there are going to be 25 live matches of the festive season, starting with the Manchester Derby – City Vs United, and then Liverpool Vs United so those are some great matches that we’re going to enjoy.
Another live sport we often enjoy watching is UFC, and since it tends to show so late in a US time zone then the Christmas holidays is a great time to watch this, when the routine is a bit more relaxed since you’ll need to stay up late watching.
There are so many fun ways to spend time together relaxing with Live TV this Christmas with the family, whatever you’re into and whatever stage of family life you’re at. TV is something that can bring everyone together.
When Do You Need a TV Licence?
If you have any confusion about when you need a TV licence or what type of TV it covers, hopefully this useful info will help to clarify. Some people think it’s only for BBC channels but that is not the case.
Your TV Licence lets you enjoy a huge range of live TV. It covers you for:
• All TV channels, like BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Dave and international channels – but you don’t need a licence if you only watch non-BBC channels on-
demand
• Pay TV services, like Sky, Virgin Media, and BT – but these are platforms that could have both live and on-demand services
• Live TV on streaming services, like YouTube and Amazon Prime Video
• Everything on BBC iPlayer.