Don’t Let WordPress Ruin Your Christmas

Christmas should be about switching off, not logging into wp-admin while everyone else is off having fun and opening presents.

And yet… every year, WordPress has a habit of choosing the worst possible moment to throw a wobble. A plugin update gone wrong. A checkout that mysteriously stops working. A “quick change” that turns into a festive disaster.

Here’s how to stop WordPress (and WooCommerce) from ruining your Christmas.

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🎅 No “Quick Updates” Before Christmas

“I’ll just update this one plugin, it’ll only take a minute…”

Famous last words

Unless it’s a critical security fix, don’t update WordPress, themes, or plugins right before Christmas. Updates can conflict, break layouts, or knock WooCommerce checkout offline – and suddenly you’re debugging instead of watching TV repeats and eating chocolate.

Do this instead:

• Run updates in early December.
• Test key pages (homepage, contact forms, checkout).
• Freeze updates until January.

WordPress can wait. Your Christmas can’t.

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🎁 Backups: Because Christmas Miracles Are Rare

If your site breaks and you don’t have a backup, Christmas is officially cancelled.

Before the festive break:

• Make sure backups run automatically.
• Confirm they’re stored off-site.
• Check you know how to restore one (future you will panic).

Backups are boring – until they save your entire holiday.

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🛒 WooCommerce: The Real Christmas Stress Test

For WooCommerce sites, Christmas is when everything gets busy and fragile.

Before you log off:

• Test checkout, payments, and emails.
• Check stock levels and out-of-stock messaging.
• Add clear last order dates for Christmas delivery.
• Update shipping times and holiday closures.

This stops customers emailing to ask where their order is… on Christmas Day.

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🎄 Set Expectations (Before Customers Set Fire to Your Inbox)

If you’re taking time off, your website should say so.

Simple things help massively:

• A festive banner or notice with holiday hours.
• Updated contact page.
• Auto-replies on support emails.
• Order confirmation notes explaining delays.

People are generally reasonable – if you tell them what’s going on.

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🔒 Lock the Doors Before You Leave

Hackers don’t respect public holidays.

Before you disappear into turkey-induced bliss:

• Make sure security plugins are active.
• Enable login protection or 2FA.
• Remove old admin accounts.
• Delete unused plugins and themes.

Think of it as locking up the office before the Christmas break.

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☕ Bonus: Do Future-You a Favour

If things are quiet:

• Clear spam comments.
• Schedule January blog posts.
• Check forms still send emails.

January-you will be very grateful. Slightly tired, but grateful.

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🎉 Final Thought: WordPress Is Great – Timing Is Everything

WordPress isn’t the enemy. Bad timing is.

A little preparation now means:

• No emergency logins.
• No panicked client messages.
• No “the site’s down” texts during dinner.

So take an hour, prep your site, and don’t let WordPress ruin your Christmas.

🎄 Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and may all your plugins behave themselves. 🎄

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