Christmas away from home

[BitofSparklingPerry]

This Christmas we (me, dh, 5yo dd1, 3yo dd2) will be at my parents house, 200 miles from where we now live.

I am mega excited, obviously, but this is the first time we have done this, and so I have missed a good few Christmas days with my family. I know they have got more 'grown up' rituals now, and obviously we have ours.

I'm not precious about our rituals, although obviously dd1 in particular will want things to at least have some structure.

Also there will be mum, dad, nana (86) and my two sisters (25 and 19). Sisters also don't live at home any more, so we will all be sleeping in strange beds and weird arrangements. After Christmas we will gain a boyfriend for my elder sister (they are both younger than me) too, meaning younger sister will probably end up on the sofa in the granny flat... Plus we have a massive extended family, close friends, etc etc etc

Is this made of fail? Does anyone have any top tips?

[BitofSparklingPerry]

Well kind of at 'home'...

[Murtette]

It will be fine but I'd suggest you have a chat with your mum now about what meals she is planning and when and are your DD joining in with them or eating separately? For example, if she's planning lunch on Xmas Day at 3pm, will she realise that your DDs will need a sandwich or something at their usual lunchtime. And what is happening in the mornings? Will your sisters be expecting a long lazy lie in when they get up around 11am and, if they do that, will they understand that they won't get to see your DD open their presents or will they expect your DD to hold off opening their presents until they get up... in which case, you may need to start explaining this to your children now! Do your children need to be exercised every day? If so, are you going to take them for a walk before or after lunch? Work this out with your mum now as you don't want to be told that lunch is at, say, 1pm so you think you'll take them afterwards only for timings to slip and lunch get pushed back meaning its too late to take them after lunch. Finally, take a DVD or two or get your parents to Sky+ a couple of episodes of their favourite programme this week.

[BitofSparklingPerry]

Thats a good point, I think that the rest of the family have forgotten that young children really do need a decent bedtime and that they get up early etc - we have had clashes before with hungover sisters and noisy toddlers...

[Snazzyfeelingfestive]

Yep, second the DVD and Sky+ plan. I would also plan for some places you can go - parks in good weather or maybe nearby soft play if not - so that you have an escape you can draw on if the DC get cabin fever. Before I became a parent I used to love sitting around eating and watching tv all day at Christmas but have now accepted that this won't fly with kids! (or at least, you may not want them to do that...)

[BitofSparklingPerry]

There is a pln to remove all normal furniture from two rooms, to fit one huge table down the middle. This is clearly madness, but less mad than balancing a huge bit of mdf on a smaller table, which is the alternative... I'm thinking of trying to sit each dd next to an alert adult (that would be either side of me then...) and insisting on sitting on bums, small amount of liquid in cups at a time etc nd having small toys to hand, as a room consisting entirely of a huge table of our nicest food surrounded by people in their nicest clothes s possibly a problem for two over excited young children...