If you love having house guests at Christmas, what's the acceptable length of stay?

[Lochroy]

I'm currently feeling pressured for having set a two night limit. Previously guests (all close family) chose to stay for four nights from Christmas Eve. I didn't mind initially but it is a squeeze and makes things hard. DH and I end up with a rack of washing at the end of our bed and another in the shower when the spare room is occupied, for example. The living room has someone on a sofa bed which is open plan to the stairs and on the way to the kitchen so we feel restricted in mornings and evenings. It's just become too much but my attempts to find a new balance haven't gone down well.

If you love hosting and everyone has a happy, merry Christmas, how many nights are your guests staying?

I don't mind folks staying for 4-5 days - BUT I have room. No one is kipping on the sofa, we're not all on top of each other and I'm happy to look up from reading at the kitchen table and say 'Kettle's on if you want to help yourself to coffee'.

I don't mind cooking for folks and would expect them to help clear away and load the dishwasher.

I think the key thing is whether you are crammed in on top of each other and whether people sit there expecting to be entertained and waited on hand and foot.

People on air beds, sofas, sleeping in communal rooms - two nights Christmas night and Boxing Day night.

People in beds in bedrooms - three to six nights depending on travel distance. And tbh depending on how annoying they are!

Grandparents stayed here 11-14 nights over Christmas time
Friends with family regularly stay 2/3/4/5/6/7 nights.

But we love our guests we have what 300 ish nights a year we don't have guests.

We'll miss them when they're gone.

Give them jobs.
Make them feel helpful.
Hang out washing with your MIL.
Let grandma make a turkey curry.

We don't mind it's just a house, we can camp indoors, kids love it. Yes it's hard work but most things in life are.

i'd consider any journey that needs a boat or a plane to come under 'abroad' in terms of visiting length, you're not just relying on your own steam, but their schedules/running times too.

If its just a car journey, i think anything more than 3 nights if you're not a fan of hosting over christmas/new year when holiday/time off is limited is pushing it.

i think as a guest, expecting someone to host you for their entire christmas/new year break is rude.

I’d prefer 2 nights max for the in-laws, but my husband always asked them to stay an extra night.

I bite my tongue, because I want him to be happy.

Two nights would be ideal.

My in laws are quite elderly and coming from Europe so we are having them for I think 6 nights. It's too long and we will all get on each others' nerves by the end. I'd love it a lot more if they came for less time!