The festive spirit might not last long in England, with reports officials are planning a two-week "circuit breaker" lockdown after Christmas to get the COVID-19 situation under control.
Regulations are being drawn up which would see a ban on meeting others indoors except for work purposes and limit restaurants and pubs to outdoor service only, according to The Times.
Experts who produce advice for government ministers believe there are now "hundreds of thousands" of infections every day in the community, significantly more than what is being reported, according to Sky News UK.
COVID cases are surging in the UK and are at a record high. On Friday, Britain reported its highest ever day of infections with just over 93,000 recorded.
This is up 44 percent on the past week, but the one glimmer of hope for the UK is that deaths remain stable, down 5.8 percent over the past 28 days, according to the UK's government website.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has declared a "major incident" to help the capital's hospitals following a sharp rise in COVID-19 admissions.
"This is a statement of how serious things are," Khan said.
The UK has seen 89 percent of over-12s receive their first jab of the vaccine, while 82 percent have had their second and 44 percent have had a booster shot.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had only just implemented tougher COVID-19 restrictions known as "Plan B" just over a week ago - and this week ruled out locking England down.
The Plan B rules mean people work from home, wear masks in public and use vaccine passes.
But the decision to move to even tighter and tougher restrictions is uncertain, with one government source telling Sky News the impact of the "Plan B" and booster shots is not yet known.
Johnson has apparently not approved the circuit breaker plans and on Friday (local time) insisted he was not "closing things down", according to The Times.
A professor of social psychology at the University of St Andrews told Times Radio "Plan B" won't be enough to curb infections.
"The only way really, or at least the most effective way, we can have an immediate effect is to decrease the number of contacts we have," Stephen Reicher said.
"In many ways, the most effective way of diminishing contact is to have a circuit breaker."
The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) - which provides advice to the Government - said if the aim was to reduce infections and hospitalisations, then tougher restrictions would need to be implemented very soon.
"Delaying until 2022 would greatly reduce the effectiveness of such interventions and make it less likely that these would prevent considerable pressure on health and care settings," minutes from a SAGE meeting said.
