10 websites that are more fun than speaking to your family on Christmas Day

Here's a PhD idea for free: the mathematical formula of exactly when you run out of things to say to your family over Christmas.

We reckon it's sometime after you eat your body weight in turkey but before the Strictly Come Dancing special.

Luckily, there's plenty to keep us distracted these days so we don't have to get involved with all that pesky conversation with your loved ones.

So with that in mind, here are 10 websites you can use to while away the hours until you can drunkenly stumble off to bed.

It's our Christmas gift to you.

1. Brexit Bus.

How can we make ourselves feel better about the absolute nightmare that continues to be the Brexit negotiations?

...we hear you ask.

Easy - turn the whole saga into a fun little game!

In Brexit Bus, you take control of the infamous campaign bus - yes, that one - and traverse the falls and rises in the pound. Your mission is to travel from referendum through to TM becoming PM, then on to the triggering of Article 50 without toppling over.

Just like Brexit, it's a lot harder than it sounds. But unlike Brexit, it's actually a lot of fun. And all you need is your space bar.

2. Spotify's 2017 Wrapped.

This is an absolute must for Spotify users.

Check out the artists, tracks and even genre you've streamed the most while the music service curates your own playlist of your 100 favourite tunes from throughout the year.

You can even work out exactly how many minutes, hours and days you've spent listening to music in 2017 if you're into statistics like that.

As well as your own personalised playlist you can check out the top artists - male and female - groups, and tracks of the year, too.

Relive what's been an absolutely astonishing year in music.

And at least this way you can drown out any banal Christmas conversation by sticking your headphones in.

3. Donald Maroney.

Have you ever stumbled across a website and felt absolutely gutted that you didn't think of the idea first?

Donald Maroney is one such website.

What this Tumblr blog does is take quotes from Jenna Maroney - the egotistical, blonde-haired megalomaniac from the acclaimed comedy 30 Rock - and superimposes them onto pictures of Donald Trump. And it's scarily accurate.

It's true what they say - sometimes the simplest ideas are the best.

4. Find the Invisible Cow.

Exactly what it says on the tin.

Move your cursor around the screen and following the noise to, urm, find the invisible cow and score points.

What more do you need to know?

5. Bouncy Balls.

Exactly what it says on the tin. Again.

Click your mouse to, urm, bounce balls.

What more do you need to know?

6. Here is Today.

An oldie, but still a goodie. If you ever need reminding of the insignificance of existence, space and time, or how little a day really means in the grand scheme of things - a Christmas Day, for example - then this is the one for you.

Particularly good if you've been lumbered with socks and shower gel for Christmas.

Fun fact: did you know it's 3.6 billion years since single cell life forms first appeared on Earth?

7. 100,000 stars.

Speaking of the insignificant and futile nature of existence... This website gives you a visualisation of more than 100,000 nearby stars; letting you scroll, zoom and explore the vastness of our galaxy from the comfort of your sofa.

It's breathtaking and gives you the chance to learn about specific stars that have been discovered throughout the cosmos.

Because what better way to kill time over Christmas than to literally get lost in space?

8. Akinator, the web genie.

This is surprisingly fun, actually. You think of a person or character - literally, anyone throughout history or fiction or popular culture - and Akinator the web genie will ask you a series of yes or no questions before correctly guessing who you're thinking of.

Thinking about it now actually, there aren't many blonde American male billionaires who've been in the news recently, so we think Akinator might've lucked out on this one.

But it's fun nonetheless.

9. Attack of the Cute.

It's a website where you can trawl hundreds of thousands of pictures of cute animals - from red pandas and polar bears to kittens and puppies - and, you know, rate them. Because who doesn't like assigning an arbitrary value to pictures of organic life forms?

Have your say on whether a pair of foxes spooning against a barn door is "cute", "fluffy" or merely "meh".

Although FYI, if you rate anything on this website as "meh" then you don't have a heart and you don't deserve Christmas.

Oh, speaking of assigning an arbitrary value to pictures of organic life forms...

10. We Rate Dogs.

OK, yes, fine, it's a Twitter feed. But it's literally a Twitter feed with the sole purpose of sharing inspiring pictures of dogs and descriptors about how pure and good dogs are.

The dogs are then scored out of 10, but spoiler alert: they always get at least a 12.

Look at Jeffrey. Look at his pyjamas. Look at Jeffrey in his pyjamas. Stop talking to your auntie for a second, pick up your phone and look at Jeffrey. This is the best possible way any of us can spend Christmas.

You're welcome.

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