So if Christmas is no mixing of households indoors

[RunBackwards]

What will you do?

We usually have the four of us (two young adult sons) my parents and my sister and her family (two teens). TBH as the children have got older it's been hard enough to make the day special/different to any other day but if it's just the four of us I can't see it being much different to today.

What do you have planned?

Will you comply with the no mixing of households. It's already in play here, although my sister is in another area where it's not. My parents are being very compliant, although my FB feed suggests most of people aren't.

[quote BellaBella84]@Littlepond That actually sounds quite lovely!

@CovidNightmare I am so so sorry for your loss. And as if this wasn't hard enough, there's the forms and the banks and the arrangements. There's a what on earth do I do now guide on age uk web site. Delegate where you can, and find a quite place everyday where you can grieve and feel angry or just sit there with your memories. The bathroom is good. ❤️ [/quote]
Thanks @BellaBella84 I'll check it out.

Been there before with dad a few years ago and there are 5 siblings so plenty of hands/heads to share the load. Just can't all be together as we would like. Sat alone in her house this morning, playing old music, for a bit, so empty without her in it.

I've spent the last 6 Christmas Days alone. I live alone, my DParents live 250 miles away, my DBro and his family live a plane journey away, and I work(ed) in theatre and was always working on panto and only got about 30 hours off.

This year there will be no panto, I'm working in a hospital on a zero hours contract swabbing patients for covid. Staff are exhausted and it's only October. By Christmas the hospitals may well be at crisis point with normal winter illnesses plus covid.

Please count your blessings and look after each other, even if that means spending Christmas apart.

We're all going to DMs house, she's 84 and after self-isolating for many months previously she's now made the decision herself that she wants contact with us. Tbf it's her life, and frankly she's an ex-nurse and sharp as a tack, so who are we to say she can't make an informed choice? Aside from DM there will be myself, Dd, her DP and their DS (all adults worked throughout aside from DGS). I'm in a support bubble (technically I suppose) with DD and DGS, as if I don't provide childcare she can't work her shifts, and that means no pay, no bills paid, no food, fuel, nor car.

Much as I love Christmas, it's only one day. We will have to see what the situation is like at the time but if it means dinner at home and only visiting relatives to shout merry Christmas from outside then so be it. I don't want to be the one to bring covid to their door! But then I don't have any relatives who will be alone if I don't go so that's easy for me to say.

@DriveThroughSwabber

I've spent the last 6 Christmas Days alone. I live alone, my DParents live 250 miles away, my DBro and his family live a plane journey away, and I work(ed) in theatre and was always working on panto and only got about 30 hours off.

This year there will be no panto, I'm working in a hospital on a zero hours contract swabbing patients for covid. Staff are exhausted and it's only October. By Christmas the hospitals may well be at crisis point with normal winter illnesses plus covid.

Please count your blessings and look after each other, even if that means spending Christmas apart.

Exactly this. I would love to treat this Christmas as a normal Christmas. This year we have missed celebrating my mum’s 80th. , my nephews 21st and graduation , my dd’s 18th and her securing a place at an amazing university. This should have been a fantastic year for us all but such is life. I absolutely understand and empathise with posters saying they won’t leave their young adult children/ elderly parents or other elderly relatives on their own but I struggle to understand those saying they will have the normal 11/12 + around the table comprising various siblings and their entire families. Why is their need for a family a Christmas more important than the rest of us ?

I’ll follow the rules. Which means I’ll spend Christmas alone.

@ShortFatandDumpy solidarity and shout if you want a Christmas Day thread!

We are a bubble of 4 anyway, we can make the day special every year without extra people and with the same type of thing as a Sunday roast but Christmas music, decorations, crackers etc make it feel more special. If we had a bigger family we would stick with the rules though. We would like to see our extended family but won’t be for several months

It will just be dd and me, first time ever. In our case, it’s just not possible for us to see our family. I think it might be tough for dd (young teen) but I am hoping we can make it better by checking up on various elderly neighbours and making the day a bit less focused on the fact that it’s just us alone.

This thread clearly shows that most people are essentially going to do their own risk assessment and , within reason, this has to be the way to go. My dd is at University and, no matter what, I want her at home for Christmas. However my dm and df and pil ‘s are all mid /late70’s some of whom have serious risk factors for Covid so we will not be spending Christmas together. It is so hard as I have never spent a Christmas Day without seeing my parents(my brother died very young shortly before Christmas several years ago so it is massively important to us ). I wouldn’t criticise anyone for the choices they ultimately make as long as everyone bears in mind that they have a responsibility not only to their own family but to society as a whole. Undoubtedly people will not follow the rules rigidly( if they try to stop students going home I won’t myself) but if everyone just exercises some caution and doesn’t treat this like every other Christmas I am sure that will make some difference

Gobsmacking. Surely what this thread shows is everyone has circumstances they think makes them special and exceptional to governmental and scientific advice. I’m desperately sorry people find that tough but very angry they think they’re the only one

like i said on the other thread im going to my sisters im in tier two shes in one shes fin with it

i dont work and they work from home

@HotToCold

Will be ALOT of deaths come January with all this household mixing

Nothing new there. Deaths spike every January. Partly from respiritory illnesses spread through increased socialising in December. Partly that very frail people mentally hold on for Christmas/ New Year then slip away.

Christmas without family is just a lockdown with added tinsel.

If there’s such a rule at Christmas I’ll be ignoring it. On Christmas Day we will be 6 adults and one child as follows:

My parents - my father is dying, it’s his last Christmas. He doesn’t want to spend it alone so he doesn’t get Covid. My mother needs support and company.
My disabled BIL whose DW left him in the spring, it will be his first Christmas without his DC and no way should he be on his own
Then there is four of us
My daughter, a young adult - she lives here
My 15yo DS
My DH
And then me

I think we're having it at home but there is no way I'm not seeing my mum and dad. I (along with many) have sacrificed a lot already so Boris can fuck off. I'm seeing them on Christmas.

Cyllie33
Gobsmacking. Surely what this thread shows is everyone has circumstances they think makes them special and exceptional to governmental and scientific advice. I’m desperately sorry people find that tough but very angry they think they’re the only one’

Did you actually read my post ? I won’t be seeing my mum or dad - haven’t actually been in their house since the beginning of March as my dad is currently receiving chemo so didn’t want to take any chances even when his ‘shielding’ period was lifted. You haven’t detailed your own circumstances but you may be one of the fortunate people like another poster with a neat (her word) family of 6 criticising her friend who intended to have 7 people round for Christmas dinner. Alternatively you may be in Scotland where the ‘rule of 6’ or whatever it is now doesn’t apply to children under a certain age whereas in England it does - strange how scientific advice differs depending on which side of the border you are if it is so definitive.
If it was a case of thinking I was the only one I would be having my parents and in laws round as normal so you can stick your sanctimonious judgement where the sun doesn’t shine

It’s going to be a lovely New Years for NHS staff based on this discussion.

Will be having a normal Christmas, which will involve more than 6.

@turnitonagain

It’s going to be a lovely New Years for NHS staff based on this discussion.

The NHS worker who lives next door to me (in tier3) who attends people in their homes, openly said to me just before we went into tier 3 that she had no intention of not seeing her dd, son in law and recently born dgs and has told me this weekend that her other dd and her family will be coming home for Christmas. No criticism from me but this pretence that NHS staff would never dream of breaking the rules is laughable

I didn’t say NHS staff don’t break the rules, and please don’t be foolish enough to suggest your neighbour represents the entire service.

@turnitonagain

I didn’t say NHS staff don’t break the rules, and please don’t be foolish enough to suggest your neighbour represents the entire service.

where was I ‘foolish enough’ to suggest that my neighbour represents ‘the entire service’ ? Just as you didn’t say NHS staff don’t break The rules ( I never suggested they did say this) I didn’t say that my neighbour represented the entire ‘service’ . No doubt whatever happens in the New Year will be due to the decisions made by the entire population - all I was suggesting was that people in the NHS are as likely to make ‘questionable’ decisions as the rest of us

My neighbour is a doctor at our local hospital. He told me today that all non-emergency operations have been cancelled. There are no beds, as the place is full of COVID-19 patients. He said it is dire and will get worse yet.

Wake up people, it’s only this Christmas. Do everyone a favour and follow the rules.

Why worry about it? Christmas is just another day - same shit different day. It's consumerism gone mad.
I will be working (12 hour NHS shift by choice), same as I do every year. I do have a partner and grown up children who will all do their own thing, but 'Christmas day' is over-rated and stressful, not worth worrying about.

We're sticking to the rules and protecting our 70+ parents, so we'll go for a walk with them but nothing indoors. I feel so sorry for my MIL who will be alone, but she is the first to say it's just a day, she'll have some nice food and get through it the same as everyone else.

We might have a second Christmas next year once they're vaccinated... fingers very much crossed!

I'll be at home with DS. We'll probably go for a walk and FaceTime people. and eat a lot

So Boris or any leader came out today to say "right tomorrow everyone go and mix with your family. ForGet everything go ahead." I hope youd think it was f crazy. The virus doesn't know it's Christmas Day. you're basically just going ok let's spread it who cares. The virus doesn't have an inbuilt system that says ooh Its Christmas let's ease up for the day. I can't believe what Ive read on this thread.
Also This risk assessment s*, it's not a risk assessment it's a virus it doesn't care about you risk assessment. It'll kill you if he wants to. And if everyone does what people on this thread are saying it will spread.
So I ask again.if a government today came and said go out and do what you want would you? And if you would then I don't even know why I'm writing this. because you are the problem . and you're why the lockdown keeps going round and round.

Do you think the Government will not see their loved ones or not mix houses over Christmas? No body tells me who I can have in my house, I am dam sick of the lot of them.