to insist we spend every Christmas and new year with my family?

[froken]

I moved to Sweden to live with my dp 3 years ago.we now have a baby ds. We have spent every Christmas in the UK ( apart from last year as ds was less than a week old)

We are thinking about booking flights back to the UK in the next couple of days ( hence early Christmas aibu) dp suggested we go to the UK this year and stay in Sweden next year.

I have always Saud that I want to go to the UK every Christmas as we are in Sweden for all the other celebrations ( birthdays, Easter, midsummer etc) dp has now decided it isn't fair and we shouldalternate.

I feel like culturally ds will grow up feeling Swedish with a dash of britishness so it is important that he is in the UK for a big celebration each year. It also fits in well with time off work, dp only needs to take a couple of days of holiday but ends up with 2 weeks of holiday so it makes it a worthwhile trip.

Lastly they eat pickled fish and potatoes with fish and smoked fish and vodka and it just doesn't feel like Christmas.

Aibu to expect us to spend every Christmas with my family? I have offered dp the option of moving to the UK and spending every Christmas in Sweden, he wasn't keen on that idea.

[ladymariner]

YABU. And very unfair on your dh and his family. Sorry.

[NynaevesSister]

YANBU

No one else not every your DH really gets what it means to emigrate to another country. You are giving up a lot for him especially the little things like the constant familiarity if your home country. What you want to give your children is one thing, one part of their lives where they can feel truly British in the same way that they are going to feel truly Swedish. By spending every Xmas in the UK you can achieve this in a very simple and easy way.

Really talk this through with your partner. In years to come your family in the UK is going to age and you won't be able to be there for the older ones in the same way you would have if you were in the UK. Talk through it all now how you are going to handle those changes down the line. Having this one established tradition will help there too.

[AnyoneForBeer]

Gosh, YNBU at all. You, I presume you have sacraficed your home life ecc to live with your DH in Sweden. It seems a small compromise on his part that just once a year it's guaranteed that you go home.
I live in Italy. I hadn't lived at "home" for more than almost 10 years before coming here. But I made sure that a compromise was made in the very early days that Christmas was mine...........so we go home.
My MIL doesn't like it, and has complained, but tough titty!! We're here this year because I'll be heavely pregnant......it wasn't planned (but very much wanted). From next year we'll be going back to the agreement.

[Ragwort]

I think you need to start hosting Christmas yourself, I think it can be a bit odd to think that you need to go home to your 'family' - you have your own family now and need to start your own traditions rather than clinging on to the old ones. This is such an age old problem and I do feel that people need to 'grow up' a bit about Christmas. We have made sure we never get into a rut about Christmas - we do all sorts of different things, visiting different family, hosting family and/or friends, volunteering at a Christmas shelter, going abroad. I am positively looking forward to spending more 'grown up Christmasses' when DS leaves home and I hope I never become the sort of parent that expects my adult child to 'come home' for Christmas. (NB: my parents are in their 80s and are more than happy to do their own thing as well ).

[alisonm2013]

YABU. You say if you lived in the UK you'd be happy to do Christmas in Sweden every year, but I don't think I really believe you. You want to have your cake and eat it too, and sadly you're going to have to compromise. As long as you go back to the UK for a good long break once a year that overlaps a British tradition that's important to you, why does it always have to be Christmas? Besides, traveling at that time of year is a soul-crushing experience, especially with a baby or toddler.

[froken]

I think the split of opinions is interesting. I am glad that some people can see my logic but I will also bare in mind those who think I am being unreasonable.

was speaking with dp about it this afternoon. He actually prefers UK Christmases in terms of food and father Christmas traditions. He feels he should stay in Sweden occasionally because his family would like to see us but his family are very very unreasonable in many ways so I don't think their feelings should be taken into account ( general feeling from dp's family is that immigrants to Sweden should leave behind their own cultures and traditions and try as hard as possible to become Swedish. They have said about ds "at least he looks fully Swedish" :(

So our compromise is to stay in Sweden when the bank holiday days fall on a weekend, so about once every 5 years.

I'm happy with that!

As an aside I will share British culture with ds but he will be so surrounded by Swedish culture I doubt it will be more than a small part of his life.

[BillyBanter]

Not an attitude we're used to hearing as citizens of Great Britain! This is what it must feel like for many people who come to the UK.

I can much better understand your attitude in that case. Twats.

[CHJR]

Sorry, but YABU. Not just about not wanting to give DH any Christmases (and Swedish Christmas is great as many others here have said!) but also YABU about claiming you can't have other holidays with your family. You've already said you spend a good period of the summer at home. Until DC is in school you can spend any holiday in the UK, and even thereafter you can perfectly easily come over for most holidays. You can get flights on Norwegian for £49 if you book in advance! If DH claims it's too expensive THAT'S where you can start laying on the guilt trip.

Beware this nonsense of alternating by rules, BTW. We live in a multinational family but there are lots of times when you have to be flexible. Some years you may wish to have a nice quiet Christmas with just DH and the DC (perhaps more than one, and older, by then). Some years it is just too much of a pain to lug presents back and forth and back and forth. Some years you may all wish to go to, I dunno, Morocco for a completely different holiday. Some years, even though you'd been in one country the previous year, you want be there a second year in a row because THIS year DB or DS will also be there with his/her DC (your DC's cousins), or Granny is getting on and probably won't be around for another. Don't encourage your families to assume you're always going to be with them by rule.

We tend to decide quite early where Christmas will be any given year, based on all sorts of issues, and then make sure to cover the other DP's justifiable need to see their family other times that year. And yes, we do still (after 20+ years of marriage) disagree, quite often, and quite often each favour going to our own family, and sometimes feel sad. So far, so very normal. But I think you are being a bit selfish if you think it can all be UK Christmases.

Finally, YABVVVU in denying that the 11+ is child abuse. After all these countries we've seen, even my British DH agrees the exam system in this country IS unfair, hard on the children, and really really DUMB. You need to recognise sometimes other countries ARE better.

[MistressDeeCee]

I think sometimes you just have to adapt. Your DH is Swedish and you live in Sweden. You would have had input in choice as to where to live. Whilst its very nice for you to spend every christmas with your parents, you have your own little family unit now that comes 1st - you, your DH, & DC. Youre not living with mummy & daddy anymore. Life moves on. I cant see why visiting your parents at christmas takes priority over being with DH's parents at christmas, to be honest. Its a very special once a year occasion; that being the case divide that special occasion between both families. Let your DC experience both christmases. Sweden isnt that far away some of your family members can travel to Sweden to be with you, if they want to.

[justanuthermanicmumsday]

I know how you feel but I only commute between Scotland and midlands. lol it's a long drive!

I celebrate Eid but we have 2 eids so usually the second Eid we drive down to England. The first one we're so tired after fasting a month we just spend it alone with our children.

So I understand how you feel a bit but you are being a bit unreasonable.its the biggest celebration in the year for your partner too think how he feels all those Xmases (wrong spelling) spent in The uk away from his family

Alternate sounds good, and it's an excuse to invite your family over to celebrate abroad?

As for food why not have the fish and roast turkey too best of both cultures?