Husband went to the gym on Christmas Day?

All that is fine if you have communicated that in a respectful way. OP hasn't said she begrudges him time at the gym, just that his decision to go without informing her on what is a day she had expected to spend together surprised her. And it's rude. If they had had a conversation where he's said, 'I know it's Christmas but I'd like to go to the gym at some point, when would be a good time in our day?' I doubt there would have been a problem. Unilaterally deciding to go and pretending there's something wrong with the other person if they have anything to say about it (or 'getting upset' if you want to be condescending) is obnoxious.

So you know the opening hours of every single gym in the country?

Are the posters lying that say theirs was open?

I love DH very much but I need breaks from 'togetherness' as well, and I absolutely have to get out of the house or I feel claustrophobic and trapped. I did a walk Christmas Day which helped, but the gym would have been even better.

The gym is not open on Christmas Day.

Don’t think this is wierd at all - when we lived overseas pre children I deffo would have popped to the gym in the am before Christmas lunch… the 24hr ones are often open.

It's like going for a walk, run, swim etc it's fine

I'd advise next year he works his split out better in preparation. Going every day can be counterproductive

I generally workout every day and that includes Christmas. My husband is the same. Taking an hour or so to yourself is normal in a healthy relationship.

OP, you've spent the entire day alone together doing all the usual Christmas stuff. As long as he's not disappeared for hours and hours why begrudge him a bit of exercise? What would it "prove" to you if he skipped a workout and watched yet another Christmas movie instead?

Yeah and in the seaside town where my son lives, there was the 'Christmas morning swim', that lots of people went to.

I went for a run on Christmas Day but I was back before the kids were awake. If he did nothing to make the day happen he's a prick. Maybe there's more going on if he couldn't miss one day.

Good for him. I hope you found a way to enjoy that short time yourself. I walked the dog down to the river for some fetch & swim after lunch myself while DH and my dad helped the DC ride bicycles around the house.

Getting upset about this would be an absolute dealbreaker in a relationship for me. I need regular breaks from togetherness or I simply don’t enjoy togetherness. During times with lots of social and couple time like Christmas this becomes more important, not less. My DH is an extrovert and I don’t think he can truly relate or share in that feeling, but he respects that it’s the same as his need for social time and actively helps make sure I get time to myself, even with our herd of DC.

Why didn't you go to the gym with him if you couldn't bear to be apart?

I went to the gym on Christmas Day. What’s the big deal? It’s 1 hour out of 24.
Tye gym is my social time to see friends, and we all did a workout together on Christmas Day in our Santa hats and Christmas T-shirts.

I don't see the problem. It's his routine and it's healthy. Better than going out on a bender!!!

Hundreds of folk were out doing our local park run xmas day, going to the gym is no different. YABU.

Meh. DH goes most days. He didn't go on Christmas Day as we have DC and spent it with wider family but if we'd had a quieter day I can't imagine I'd have minded him going - I assume it was only a couple of hrs out of the house?

I do celebrate Christmas with the family, DC older now and live in their own homes but are here for Christmas day most years depending on work rotas and we do have a good time but if they did want to do something else on Christmas day I wouldn't be overly upset.

But....
I think if this is the norm for your DH I'd have an agreement that he's either going to limit his Gym time until after the DC open their presents and go for an hour or so making sure he's back just before serving up time or he doesn't get be part of the days celebrations at all and can fix himself his own food during the day.

Maybe that's a tradition you should start and if he's OK with not being a part if it crack on...
If he's not, well, it's not much of a compromise for him to make...

Chill the fuck out, hopefully 🤷‍♂️

And? If it bothered you and you know he goes every day why didn't you discuss your day beforehand and lay out your expectations? You can't just assume someone isn't going to do a daily 'thing' just because it's christmas.

Yes - I know, which is why I said "I'm not saying OP is needy, but I know people who are like that" in response to a PP's post about it

Because they'd opened presents, watched a movie, cooked and eaten dinner.

The gym (like many others) was open on Christmas day so he thought he'd pop along.

Would you have the same problem if he wanted to go for a walk?

But that's not what happening here! There's no suggestion that OP can't 'bear' to be apart from him - it was Christmas Day and he just up and off to the gym without asking - it's not the crime of the century but it IS a bit thoughtless. It sounds like any other day of the year they both run their schedules as they please which is totally normal. But I don't think there's anything wrong with OP being a bit surprised that Christmas Day he just goes out

If your attitude on this thread is anything to go by then he probably wanted to go to the gym to get a break from you.

If you start a thread then I’m assuming you want peoples opinions? Your thread is pretty boring but at least some people have taken the time to reply to you 🤷🏻‍♀️

I hear you OP, you wanted a special Xmas day just the two of you, he decides to go to the gym which is an every day activity and leaves you alone on Xmas day for which you had high expectations.
Different if you are both gym bunnies or it was agreed before hand but basically he doesn't want to disrupt his gym routine even for Xmas day and exercise is a top priority for him .
He probably didn't occur to him how you would feel about it.
I think it's about expectations for the day and communication.
Not sure how much of this applies to DP but some people are obsessed with exercise, it's like a addiction. Clearly this is brilliant for their health but can sometimes make them self absorbed and unaware of the impact on others, particularly if they can't change routine for special days or it takes up a disproportionate anount of time and energy or a partner is left alone for long periods or is left carrying a larger load of childcare or household tasks because of it. Often if they don't get their exercise fix they become grumpy and snappy.
So if he is obsessed /competes/does triathlons etc then you may want to set up some clear boundaries and expectations now.

Oh for goodness sake.