I feel like this is only an issue if people automatically followed guidelines like robots. We were “told” not to visit our own families over Christmas. Nobody tells me whether I can or can not visit my own family, so I did, and had a lovely and nice normal Christmas last year
In my case we did not visit our own families over Christmas because my husband is clinically extremely vulnerable and after most of the year shielding with him, I was not prepared to risk his life by mixing with others.
One thing I realised early on, was that my husband's life depended not just on our own actions but by the decisions of other people/strangers. Some people, like yourself OP, broke the rules. Others do not follow social distancing or wear masks, others break the rules of self isolation. And as we do not know who has followed the rules and tried to keep as safe as possible and who has refused to follow the rules because they do not like being told what to do, then our only option was to stay home without visitors. You felt that seeing your family was the right thing to do for yourself and them and I am glad you have a lovely time. Potentially however you could have caught and spread the virus, and again the risk involved for you was worth taking. But had any of my family met you, you could have potentially passed the virus onto them, and in turn it could have been passed on to my husband should he have been in contact with them. So the only real safe option for him was avoid everyone, because the decisions of people like yourself could have put his life at risk. Even if that decision was the right thing to do for your family, and even though you seem to look down on people like myself who chose to stay home, I still stand by my decision. However I am not a robot, and my husband most certainly isn't. I disagree with most of what the government says and does. BUT it is our right to make what decisions seem best for us, just as it is for you.
Of course the past 18 plus months have been difficult, shielding for endless months and not seeing anyone, missing them dreadfully and longing to escape. But the hardest thing is to be looked down upon by people like yourself. I do not understand why you could make your own decision on what to do at Christmas, and I would never look down on you for that or call you names, but you appear to think others who make different decisions are somehow lacking. I am an intelligent and independent person, and stand by the choices we made last Christmas, please don't try and belittle that decision, made purely because it was the only way to ensure my husband's safety. And nothing will ever be more important to me that that.
I hope you have an equally Happy Christmas this year too.