Carols on Christmas Eve, Adam and Joe on Christmas Day and a selection of Kenny Everett on Boxing Day
Christmas Eve
If the festive spirit is still proving elusive, tune into Merry Christmas Morris Minor! (Radio 4, 11am), one of the sweetest radio offerings over the holiday. The Guardian's Martin Wainwright celebrates the car's 50th birthday in this affectionate tribute, which includes a rendition of Jingle Bells played on a chorus of Morris Minor Horns. That moment really is enough to melt even Scrooge's heart.
Scrooge pops up again in Marley Was Dead (Radio 4, 8pm), a ticklish spoof retelling of A Christmas Carol that begins with Jonathan Dimbleby introducing a starry cast including David Tennant and Ian McKellen but soon falls into disarray. Charlotte Green, Chris Evans and Richard Madeley make appearances too.
Radio 1 is doing what we'd all like to today: getting someone else to do the work. Guest presenters take over an hour on the station, with James Corden kicking things off at 7am, followed by Doctor Who's Matt Smith and Karen Gillan (8am) and Tinie Tempah from 9am. More serene, and a must-listen with a glass of something and a mince pie, is A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols (Radio 4, 3pm).
Christmas Day
There can be no finer cookalong company than Adam and Joe's Christmas Special (6 Music, 10am), though the gift fans will look for under the tree is a regular return for the pair. Other morning options as you multitask wildly include 5 Live's Chart of the Year (10am), with Richard Bacon looking at the year's 20 most talked about moments and Paul O'Grady (Radio 2, 10am) being grumpy about the whole festive malarkey but funny with it.
Two crackers after lunch: Pat and Margaret (Radio 4, 3.15pm) is a radio remake of Victoria Wood's bittersweet comedy about two sisters reunited after 27 years on a live television show. One is a toxic Hollywood star; the other works as a waitress in motorway service station. Sarah Lancashire and Imelda Staunton give knock-out performances here, but it's maybe not one to listen to with your siblings unless you all really get on.
Boxing Day
Kenny Everett's Christmas Selection Box (Radio 2, 5pm) is a treat for all radio fans: a new compilation of the maverick and hugely influential DJ's characters, jingles, "fiddly bits" and interviews on what would have been his 66th birthday. The programme includes excerpts from his time at Pirate Radio London, and features characters such as Captain Kremmen and Rock Salmon. It's all done, as his character Cupid Stunt would say, in the best possible taste.
Lots of cheering radio to counter the hangovers and leftovers today. Desert Island Discs (Radio 4, 11.15am) features Sandie Shaw, the barefoot 60s pop princess and Eurovision winner now turned psychotherapist, while on Private Passions (Radio 3, noon), the guest is Pamela Stephenson, the comedian and actor turned psychologist and Strictly Come Dancing star. She talks through her favourite music including performances by Lotte Lenya, Kiri te Kanawa and a Balinese frog song.
Liza Tarbuck's Christmas Wrapping (Radio 2, 1pm) guarantees rousing music and warm company from Tarbuck, the actor turned rather fine radio host, if the weather's not conducive to an afternoon walk.
Women changing direction continues as a theme in French and Saunders (Radio 2, 5pm), with the comedy duo tackling radio for the first time in the first of three specials blending music, chat and humour. There are some promising-sounding features in the show. Someone and Their Mum is self-explanatory and a fine idea: first guest is Miranda Hart and her mum.
If your mum's done all the work, settle her down for Words and Music (Radio 3, 10.45pm), a gorgeous selection of prose and poems about giving and receiving gifts read by Sheila Hancock and Scott Handy, while you do the washing up.