To wonder how many people truly want Christmas to be "saved"

[IrkedEssex]

I am no fan of lockdowns and would rather we were not locked down for Christmas. But I think it would be a crying shame if all the privations everyone has suffered are reduced in their efficacy due to a desire to "save" Christmas. Such a move might well involve stricter restrictions in the lead up or aftermath. I am also wondering how many people, in all honesty, absolutely love spending Christmas Day with family.

Most people I know find it at least as much duty as pleasure; traipsing half way across the country to crowd in with relatives, family arguments, restive children, huge expense yada yada yada. In my family it is the older generations who drive the togetherness aspect of it, but they then get the most tantrum-y and ill-tempered. Most people I know mainly love the lead up to Christmas with the fun and the parties and the decorations. Well, we can decorate to our hearts' content and there won't be fun and parties in December no matter which way you look at it. Gifts can be sent. So is it really worth fixating on Christmas togetherness? I'm totally prepared to be in the minority here; am genuinely interested in how others feel about this.

YABU - I and my family love to be together on Christmas Day and are desperate for it to be saved, even if it means stricter restrictions either side of the day itself.

YANBU - Christmas Day gatherings are mostly a hassle at the best of times and it is not worth prejudicing lockdown progress by lifting restrictions purely to save Christmas.

I’m happy to have a small Christmas with just my DH and DS, but I’m worried about my dad on his own - thing is, he wouldn’t come to stay even if we’re not locked down because he’s clinically vulnerable and he’s being really careful. And while the inlaws aren’t vulnerable, I wouldn’t want them to be on their own for Christmas - they have each other but usually see us or DH’s brother’s family.

To be honest, my biggest concern with a December lockdown is that there are an awful lot of smaller shops which need the sales they make in November and December every year stay viable, so it’ll be really bad for the economy is we’re shit for the whole of the run up to Xmas.

I agree with others - so much has been crap this year that one more bit of crap won’t make any difference.

All the good bits will be missing - even if we could meet up with our families I for one wouldn’t be able to relax and would be eyeballing everyone in case they dared to cough or looked in the least bit peaky

If we’re shut, that should be.

@BackforGood

I'm guessing your adult child doesn't have mental health issues enough to be sectioned this year??? Just because they are over 18 we as parents are banned from seeing them yet 20 months younger and they could be passed between parents. My dd is really struggling, I'm not sure she would survive Christmas stuck at university, I'm not joking. I'm fetching her on the 6th December come what may

If 'saving xmas' means lockdown lifting on xmas eve, being allowed a house full on xmas day itself and then going back to lockdown on boxing day then YES! I'd support that.

We have me, DH, our little DC (6yr), our 3 grown up DCs (20s) and their partners. There's a lot of coming and going but they make sure that at some point during xmas day they all manage to be together for present opening and everyone loves it :)

Now - for brutal honesty - the day after boxing day we usually do a 4 hour min (depending on traffic) round trip to see DHs extended family. It's always knackering, boiling hot, utter bedlam, kids screaming round the house, SIL holding court making everything about her - and MIL (who is lovely) slaving over the oven for 6 hours (making a humongous beige buffet) so we don't even see her! i've tried to get her out with offers of help ect. but it's always batted away. Frankly i'd vote for lockdown going back on boxing day so i'd get to skip this experience for just one year

The Winterbottom clan will be spending this Christmas like all the others; not travelling, no visitors and definitely no in laws.

I haven't heard one person mention it in real life.

It's the media pushing the save Christmas nonsense.

I'd rather just spend it just us then I know we're not potentially spreading virus from house to house.

@Toilenstripes

I don’t care but I’m tired of the idea that Christmas can be cancelled. No it can’t! It’s bigger than that!

😀 the wisdom of Dr Seuss! Yes, it will be a nice day if we want it to be, just different maybe. I’m very happy to spend it just me and the dc. I’ve spent Christmas on my own previously ( I was single and wanted a nice break so told everyone I was going to someone else so nobody worried. It was lovely. ). Next year, I hope to have the usual get togethers with friends and family but it really doesn’t seem to be worth the possible negative consequences. Saving a Christmas seems like quite a silly slogan!

Me. I adore Christmas.

I have a big family and we always come together, all different ages. We always chip in and bring food/drink and keep presents to a minimum so no extra stress or worry is caused and take turns at houses.

I’m frontline NHS and have busted my gut since March, this is my first Christmas off in 6 years so I’m genuinely hoping we can have a ‘normal’ Christmas.

I am very passive about Christmas. I go along with most of it because the older members of my family have certain expectations. I'd rather (pre-covid) be far away on my own, tbh.

We would love for everyone to be together. We have a big family and all get on so well. It's going to be really hard if it cannot happen.

I worry about the cost of "saving Xmas". Will it mean more restrictions in January which is long and grim in normal years? It's not worth it for a few days of no rules.

I always host a big family Christmas. I love it. I will miss it if it doesn’t happen but if that’s the price of keeping people as safe as possible I will live with that. There will be plenty of other Christmases.

Christmas Day and Boxing day is usually just the 3 of us (we do see friends for drinks on Christmas morning) and then a 4 hour dash across the country to see MIL (plus BIL & family). MIL is 92 and even she has said she doesn't know why everyone is fussing about Christmas in a pandemic as there'll be other Christmases - a bold statement at her age! We won't be going to see her for Christmas this year so I have treated myself to BBC Good Food and Olive Christmas magazines and am planning my food orders from local farm shops. We will enjoy our food (and drink) and hope that DS can get home from Uni to join us - but if he can't we'll all make the best of it (even though it may involve me having to source and pay for some Christmas treats/food for DS in his Uni City). If we can't see friends then so be it - there'll be other times we can enjoy drinks and special meals with them as long as we all stay well.

Totally agree. Can't we have a year off?

I would prefer to have a rubbish Christmas not seeing family apart from the ones in my house than risk more people being ill or dying.

Of the 10 people I would spend Christmas with , 7 have had a positive cv19 test since the start of October and pretty sure another had it. The other 2 are under 16. So basically every adult in my family has had Cv19 (no linked cases- no-one caught it from a family member)

We will be 10 regardless,

I just want my children

Thats all i want...but if they say not to mix households then i cant have them

Actually, answering the question is quite difficult

We only have a quiet Christmas at home anyway...we dont travel, we dont have masses or people or parties

But this year even the quiet Christmas may be against the rules as ds1 lives with his partner and dd is at ‘uni’

(Obviously depends on what the rules are)

So i dont really want open season with parties and visting everyone we know...but then I’d also like to see my children

I’ve lost both my parents in the last 12 months so Christmas won’t be the same so I’ll be happy just spending it with my husband and 2 boys and some much needed rest from being a key worker.

YANBU.

It seems like the restrictions wrapped around having a "normal" Christmas would involve DS 14 missing a disproportionate amount of education, exercise and time with his friends, for the sake of one day. However we live an hour away from my elderly DPs so we can see them in whatever format seems sensible - even if that's just driving up to wave at them from the window.

We normally spend time with SILs big family and as DS is an only, it's a great family get together. But no matter - we met in the summer when restrictions were lighter and played our Christmas family games then - not because we thought Christmas would be cancelled but because we had duplicates from Christmas ( it's a sort of pick your winning gift type thing).

I think it would be good to know either way, as if we can't visit family then we'll try to go out for a meal just the 3 of us at some point.

I don't think it really matters if Christmas is 'saved' or not I suspect a lot of people will find a loophole or just think bugger it and have their usual gatherings. I'll miss the lead up more than the actual day and feel for those who rely on seasonal trade.

This isn't really about the people who don't want to traipsing to see family, it's about people who haven't seen people they love all year either because of being overseas or having health issues. Unfortunately this saving Christmas crap wont work for us. I cant risk that myself or my kids or dh won't kill my mother, it's safer for me to go on not seeing her

I voted YANBU, but if my Grandma was alive I would have been very sad not to be able to visit her. I moved 4hrs away so Xmas was often the only time I saw her for a year.

Xmas will be just me and my son no matter whether we're locked down or not, and I don't do much socialising anyway - so I'm just planning as normal but trying to do more shopping ahead of time so I can get it delivered rather than going in person.

I am still looking forward to it - Me, son, cat, per rats and a box set of David Attenborough sounds like a mighty fine Xmas to me :)

I think we WILL have a relaxing of lockdown, because no government wants to be "the government that cancelled Christmas" - after all, it didn't work out too well for Oliver Cromwell, did it?

You didn't give a third option - 'I love my family and adore spending Christmas with them but I'm not so stupid as to think we need to 'save' it'
I would have picked that option.