We had our first couple of Christmasses on our own, as dh was duty officer for his submarine, and didn't get home til late Christmas day one year, and Christmas morning the other. Thereafter we hosted my Mum or his parents, or spent it just the two of us. A couple of times he was at sea, so Mum came to me, and I had my ils when he was sent to sea Christmas Eve at very short notice.
For the most part, once db got married, we had Mum alternate years with the ils, but always in our own home. When we were abroad, same thing, though once fil died and mil decided we were all the spawn of Satan, it was a year with dh, ds and I, and then a year with Mum. We've had a run recently of having Mum for three years on the trot as logistics have been difficult. Db is posted abroad now, and we are back in UK. It's easy though, as now Mum is only 15 minutes away, and she goes home after 4 days, whereas when we were abroad, I drove to Devon, picked her up, then up to near London, to pick ds up from uni, then over to Brussels, and rinse and repeat when ds was due back at uni, so she stayed the best part of a month.