to really dislike the Christmas holidays?

[stickysausages]

A week still to go, and while we were in need of a break from the school & work routine, I'm so bloody bored.

Shitty weather, endless tidying up & hardly anywhere open...

Meh.

I'm fed up too. I'm not good at doing nothing, which is what dd and dh like. I feel like I ought to be with them and enjoying it but just want to be out and about and busy.

Thank you CaterpillarCara for the suggestions. He is a bit little for any of them yet. He is four in March but developmentally he assessed at being nearly two.

I could see him enjoying Lego when he is older, he has just learnt to stick the Duplo together and likes making towers till his brother knocks them down.

He loves to sort things but he does it his own way, he doesn't have a level of understanding yet to follow instructions. One of things things that always comes up on his assessment is that he wont do adult directed activities and it is something I work with him on at home and they do a nursery. That is easier one on one with him though, having the baby makes everything harder.

I will keep the activities in mind for when he is older though, my brother (also autistic) would have loved doing those sorts of things as a child.

Thank you Happybubblebrain, they should get easier. Even with a second child they are easier than they were. From September he should be in school and if his statement goes through and he is offered a place in the special school I have requested they do a summer playscheme which would be perfect. It would continue his routine and make him really happy.

Agree that the weather earlier this week wasn't conducive to outside play, but it's been gorgeous today. We took our (reluctant) teens on a very long walk today including picnic lunch, and it was lovely once they stopped moaning . I've got to go back to work in Monday and could do with another few days off....

Weather here in the north was rubbish today too, still windy & showers, DS still not been out on new bike

Jigsaws. Board games. All those things you don't normally get time for.

Board games & jigsaw have limited success with a squirmy five year old

An I quite lucky? Ds is 5 and we've been stuck in waiting for someone to come and fix our heating.

Today we've tidied up, got ds to help to sort through all the new toys, had him carrying it all upstairs putting it in its place, then we had lunch. Then we played, shops, games, race track, superheroes figures, not very exciting for me but in between I've MNEd and browsed the sales online, drank coffee and chatted to my mum on the phone. Dp was off doing jobs, then we watched Peter Pan DVD, had tea and are now all curled up watching The Worlds Strongest Man.

Tomorrow is cinema and will hopefully get a walk in too.

Wasn't referring to Lilacat when I said am I lucky, I meant in general ds is fairly easy to occupy. Perhaps he's inherited my lazy cow gene.

I'm enjoying having ds at home mostly but it is hard work.
He's still totally overexcited no exhausted by Christmas which has resulted in some teary tantrums which we haven't seen for quite a while.

He's played a bit with his toys but can't seem to settle to anything for very long. Took him out to playground this afternoon which seemed to help. Tomorrow we have two birthday parties, Monday is skating, Tuesday is cinema, Wednesday is swimming, Thursday is aquarium and Friday out for lunch with friends so fairly busy after today I guess.

I get torn between thinking it's nice for him to have some time at home relaxing and thinking he needs to be constantly entertained and feeling guilty when he's just sat at home.

Love the christmas holidays. We are all having a great time chilling. I also dont mind the wind and cold, but i love all the seasons.
Will be thinking ahead to holiday in april as soon as we hit january though, as january is a miserable month.

Mix of both here. I'm enjoying the time off but hating the constant housework/whingy children/fighting children/being with DH constantly!! Love them all to bits but can't wait to get back to being more than chief cook n bottle washer...

I'm never that keen on this time of year anyway, and I am a bit of a Christmas and New Year humbug anyway.

For me it is the short days and long nights. I feel as if I ought to be hibernating until at least halfway through January, when I start to wake up again as the evenings draw out and the days get longer.

It depends on where you are as all the museums & tourist attractions are open in London. For the rest of the country, you just need to call ahead and check their opening times. Everybody are off so this is the time that attractions should stay open to make more money.

I love them.

I'm usually off from 20th Dec - 4th Jan.

The few days before Xmas is preparing...getting excited, last minute shopping and wrapping.
Then Xmas, Boxing Day. Then a few days of nothing but staying in and playing with new toys and gadgets.

I love NYE. The dc are staying up 'as late as they want' tonight, meaning they'll crash out by about 10.30pm (they're nearly 6 and 3). We're just waiting for Dp to get home and then we're all having a Chinese and cosy night in. Dp is off for the next two days so we're planning a trip to the beach for ds1 to use his new metal detector and sea telescope and generally a few outdoorsy wood walks in our wellies and raincoats.

Yabu! Make the most of it!

I agree with other posters. It all depends on the age of your kids. Mine are now teens and apart from the occasional scrap the holidays are a piece of cake compared to when they were small. Wet holidays with small kids are hellish!