Does anyone else spend Christmas at home?

[Christmascandle]

Sorry I know this one gets done to death so feel free to ignore.

We usually spend Christmas at home, just the four of us. But I've noticed when people ask what I'm doing and I tell them often they'll look at me like I've got two heads.

These are our reasons.

Mainly the dc want to stay at home, they enjoy it more and hate going out.
My parents aren't big on Christmas, they live in a small apartment and there's no space. They're also not bothered at all after 3dc and several grandchildren my mother is glad not to cook for lots of people so it suits everyone.

My mil is a great host and would love to have us, and some years we do go, but it's her Christmas iyswim, and on the whole the dc find it incredibly boring. In laws don't live close by so we'd have to travel. They are quite formal and not very child friendly, music playing so loud you can't speak, then we all have to sit in silence to watch the queens speech, then fil puts his tv on really loud and falls asleep. It's just not very enjoyable for us but I'm sure that they don't see it that way. Luckily they are laid back and understanding but I'm sure deep down they probably think we are weird for not going but they'd never say anything, we see them lots throughout the year pretty much every weekend.

We have a beautiful home of our own, we're great cooks and have nice presents for the dc, we don't want to leave all that on Christmas Day.

Neither set of parents want to come to us, in laws usually visit Christmas morning to see the dc open their presents.

I keep reading all these threads about people forced into visiting family and everyone hates it.

Does anyone else just do it their way?

As a child who grew up doing this: stick to your guns, OP.

The worst Christmas Day we ever spent was the one where we hauled ourselves over to my Grandma’s house and had to leave our freshly-opened pressies behind and eat her mediocre food in her cold house.

If family don’t want to come to you, so be it. Your children won’t realise it now, but will thank you later.

We stay home and this year I thought let's go to the sis in laws. The kids said noooooooo Christmas won't be the same.

we do
I gave up visiting people when I realised how bad it was for dd(disabled)

YANBU.

We (DH, DD who is 3 and I) stay home Christmas Day and we don't have visitors over.
We enjoy a relaxed day in our PJs, eating what we want, when we want. I don't worry about cooking dinner, it's ready when it's ready. DD gets to play with all her new toys.

Couldn't think of anything worse than travelling on Christmas day or being away from my home and comforts.

We stay at home and my dad comes round for the day. My partners parents have both passed away, my mum has Parkinsons so doesn't often host these days and she and my stepdad usually go to his mum's and sisters for Christmas dinner. My brother and his partner and their newborn will be spending the day with her parents and my uyoungest brother is off travelling the world! We only live 2 streets away from my mum anyway so will go up to see her in the morning with the kids, then back home to sort out the veg and potatoes and dad will bring the meat he's already cooked to go with it!

Yes, I adore it.

I'm a single working mum of 3 and we are out a lot and my kids spend a lot of time in childcare. We look forward so much to the time together comfy in our pjs at home for Xmas.

We stay at home, people come to us, usually my sister, brother in law, her 2 daughters, my mom and dad.

When the kids were little we used to go to my moms, but as they got older they didn’t want to leave all of their presents behind, plus I like to open the Bucks Fizz at 9am Christmas morning and can’t do that if I have to drive to places

I'm a single working mum of 3 and we are out a lot and my kids spend a lot of time in childcare. We look forward so much to the time together comfy in our pjs at home for Xmas.

It's blissful isn't it? This is how I feel, we work hard, there's rarely a day that we are just at home, it's lovely just to have that day to indulge at home.

I always stay at home! I prefer it and hate going to other people’s houses. This year my sister has invited herself though, I would rather she didn’t come tbh but she’s alone this year so feel obliged

We stay at home. It used to just be me and my partner and everyone tgought we were weird being alone on christmas day. Now we have a baby and an excuse not to travel. I so enjoy christmas so much more on our own, no stress, no arguments, no making polite conversation with relatives you don't like.

Yes we do.
People are welcome to visit but we spend the day here (apart from when we go out for a curry for lunch)

We always spend the day at home just the three of us. We invited my father one year when he was between marriages 🙄 we spend Boxing Day with the extended family, but Xmas day is ours. We are quiet and rarely get time all together, so we like it to ourselves.

Obviously we wouldn't see any family member alone on the big day and would invite them, but we prefer it to ourselves

We do too, Christmas dinner in our pjs. We love it

Yes every year since DD was born - she’s now 28!
I’m open to change in future if either of my DC have DC and choose to invite me to join them!

Yes. We have people here. Dd1 is autistic so we can make sure she has food she enjoys and she can go up to her room when she's had enough. We have boxing day to ourselves.

We have most at home. We've done a few at MIL's. We're going to MIL's this year and to be honest I like it as it means I've got less shopping to do!

We're in Oz and will take a lot of nice fruit/desert and MIL has got ham, prawns and salads...she always makes nice roast potatoes as a nod to tradition.

We used to have turkey but sacked it off....it's just too hot for a roast dinner!

At MIL's I can have a drink as DH doesn;t, there's more adult company which I like. At home just us feels a bit boring sometimes...we do enjoy it but I do like an extended family Christmas.

We stayed at home as long as I can remember as a DC - although I believe the year that DF made, assembled, disassembled and packed into the boot, reassembled for Santa in DGMs (170 miles away), then disassembled to put back in the boot, and reassembled yet again once home, a table and chairs set for what was then the 3 DDs under 6 - as well as every other present (large families on both sides on either side of that city) and regular clothes packing for the family, was the year that broke DPs.....I would have been 5, and they have never travelled again since.

DPILs had never travelled, as they live in the same village they both grew up in and used to walk to their own DPs on the day at various points.

DH and I have alternated travelling (170 miles) and staying home in our own house after the 1st 2 years of marriage. The 2 sets of DPs are only 15 miles apart, and eat at opposite ends of the day, so even though there was an agreement that we were only visiting one and eating at the other, we'd end up having 2 dinners....so we gave up, and now rent a cottage on the years we travel and resign ourselves to the stuffing and the chaos of so many people and the demands to spend longer in each house, but make up for that by staying at home at least every second year. We have continued that since DD was born. (We are all so busy that we really need some quiet time out as a family by Christmas, and shamelessly use DD's SNs (ASD/ADHD) as an excuse but even she will say that!! We all need to be extrovert at work and other things, but are all relatively/quite introverted by nature, and DD cheerfully accepts us doing this as she also needs some quiet space which is not properly understood by DPs and DMIL).

We do see some extended family in our city on the day, although the visits are diminishing due to deaths and other moves - but after mass and the "mince pie and glass of wine" visits, we go home and cook a turkey for ourselves and enjoy a relaxed evening at home.

The years we travel, we are rushing from getting up (fast breakfast before mass, and then on to 2 other houses for the day, getting "home" after midnight).

The years we stay home, breakfast is more relaxed as we have a choice of mass times, the 1 visit is casual and timing is not important, and we are home before 3 usually when there is then no timetable.

We have for the past eight years or so. Before that we always went to my parents but as the kids got older they started to resent having to leave the house.

This year is the first year it is literally just us for most of the day, previously we’ve had people over but this year we are on our own until early evening when my sister will be joining us for gin and singing.

We’re having roast beef and will likely stay in PJs. I can’t wait.

We (my son and me) have always spent Christmas day at home just the two of us unless his dad stays for lunch. We don't dress up or even get dressed unless the weather is nice enough to go for a walk in the afternoon or early evening.

It's perfect,peaceful,relaxing and nd no stress at all.

DS is autistic so it works much better for him if we stay home. And me. And DH. And DDog.

We went to my parents for Christmas in 1998 when DS1 was 5 weeks old. Since then we have never left the house at Christmas, it's always just the 4 of us (obviously when ds2 came along). We've always said that family are welcome to join us but that's only happened 3 times in 21 years. We wouldn't have it any other way.

We used to go to ILs for Christmas lunch then my parents (40 miles in opposite direction) for Christmas tea. One, late arising, year, the kids didn't open their presents until Boxing Day.

Best thing that ever happened was moving 350 miles from all family and being able to spend Christmas at home from thereon.

Meant to say also, no-one has ever questioned or asked why and nor has anyone ever been upset by it.

We are usually at home just us. We all really enjoy it as it is so relaxing and it is lovely spending the day together really focussing on each other. About once every 4 years my DPs might be over (live in a different country) and we have Christmas at the hotel they are staying at. My DB always goes to his DMIL and we meet up before Christmas or inbetween Christmas and New Year. This year we are having DP's family over on Boxing day evening for a buffet supper.

A lot of this depends on where you live I think. I found cities and the like have more people just with immediate families, small towns and villages usually bigger family groups. The poorer and more rural ones especially, lots of big farmer families and people who just never move away from the home town.

I agree with the funny looks. Especially from middle aged women. I find the whole thing really stressful now we’ve moved to a small town. Like I’m doing something awful (but I have no control over) to my kids I can do a wonderful Christmas for our family but it all gets stamped on by these women expressing pity at my kids.