For those who haven’t heard of it, The Christmas Gooch refers to that bit of time between Christmas and New Year (it’s a really gross term, we’re sorry!), it's on urban dictionary so it must be a thing, right?Horrible name aside, the time between Christmas and New Year is always a bit weird. What are you supposed to do in that time!?

Obviously the temptation is to just spend a few days lying around gorging on left-overs, but we thought we'd offer a few suggestions of stuff to do that might make you a feel a little better about yourself.

Help the homeless

With around 2,800 people sleeping rough on any one night this winter, it’s a cold, lonely and difficult time for many people across the country. Your help even for just a day can be so valuable so look up your local homeless shelter and find out what you can do, from volunteering to food donations, to make somebodies day just that little bit better.

Donate unwanted gifts

Let’s face it, you will have gotten at least one gift you totally didn’t want this year from some relative you don’t know that well. So rather than it gathering dust at the back of your wardrobe why not donate it to charity, someone out there will want it! Then at least it’s doing some good in the world even if it’s not for you.

Get active

Stop staring at that festive belly of yours and get up! Come New Year’s Day when you’re making unrealistic resolutions involving cutting out chocolate and other yummy stuff that you’re obviously going to eat within about a week, you’ll feel a lot better if you’ve done at least one small bit of exercise beforehand.

Visit an elderly relative

The holiday season can be a lonely time for the elderly. If you’ve seen the John Lewis Christmas ad (of course you have) you’ll know what we’re on about. So while you’re on a break from your busy life of doing whatever it is you do for the rest of the year, why not pop round to an elderly friends, relatives or just a retirement community for a cuppa’. They’ll love it and so will you!

Get Knitting

Knitting may sound old fashioned but it’s the perfect lazy day activity and between Christmas and New Year is the laziest time there is! Battersea Dogs & Cats Home are asking for donations to help keep our four-legged friends warm this winter, we don’t know about you but the thought of cold cats and dogs makes us want to knit about a thousand blankets. So pick up those needles and get knitting (if you don’t know how there’s bound to be an elderly relative knocking about post-Christmas who’ll show you).

Help your Christmas tree live on

By now your tree is probably starting to look a little worse for wear and it’s nearly time for the saddest part of Christmas, getting rid of the tree. But never fear, there’s a way your beautiful tree can live on! Climate Stewards will twin your tree with a new tree in Ghana which absorbs carbon dioxide, restores biodiversity and helps to improve the livelihoods of the community in which it’s planted. Hurray!

De-clutter

Just after Christmas is the perfect time for getting rid of all that stuff you really don’t need. Now that you’ve got lots of shiny new presents to display oh so proudly, it’s a good time to get rid of the older versions of those presents that you’re obviously never going to use but want to keep anyway, for some reason. Whether it’s that horrible jumper you got for Christmas 6 years ago or outdated tech ready to be replaced, it can all be donated to charity so get clearing!