My parents [both in their 80s] and my 2 DSs all live up north. I'm down south.
One DS lives with my parents and the other lives 10 minutes' walk away. As she's single, she's part of their 'bubble', so they can all be together for Xmas Day as usual.
I have always missed Xmas Day with them as we have never been up for Xmas after I had baby #3. Too many people, too much stress; too expensive to get up there and stay for a few days. My choice for moving so far away I guess.
However, now it's the 21stC and we have wonderful things called skype, whatsapp, facetime, zoom, etc, we can all talk to each other and see each other at the same time! How wonderful is that kind of technology? Before you start saying that my parents are in their 80s and what did I expect, they are both pretty tech-savvy, so they have both skype'd before.
Roll on to now. My Dad has become so set in his ways [pretty much OCD] and everything has to be done at the same time every day, and never altered. He won't talk to me now on skype as he can't cope with more than 1 person talking at a time [how he ever brought me and my 2 DSs up I don't know].
I've just suggested to them and my DSs that we make a time to talk via skype to each other on Xmas Day and have been soundly told off. They won't do morning, as they always eat at 12:30; we eat anywhere between 3 and 5pm]. So, I suggest sometime in the evening. No, that's not good enough. One of my DSs then said why don't we do Boxing Day when we are all less stressed. Other DS and parents both leapt to agree to that.
The whole point is to speak to them on Xmas Day?? I don't see them often enough - the last time was 2 weeks before lockdown when I went up on my own. Now that we have the technology to see each other, why won't they just do that?
My parents have never been the doting kind, but my sisters could encourage it a bit more surely. When my YS turned 18 earlier in the year, during lockdown, my Dad couldn't even spare 5 minutes to come and wish his youngest GS a happy birthday. They didn't send him anything to mark the occasion either. Not even a card.
I just feel so angry that they can't make the effort. My sisters see my parents every single day, and I miss them all morethan I have ever told them. Every so often, it would be such a joy to see them all - virtually or otherwise.