To 'skip' Christmas and take a family holiday instead?

[GuineaPigsAreSuperCute]

On the one hand I do love the Christmas time of year but it is a lot of build up and prep for 'one day.' I was thinking we should try a holiday in the sun instead. Myself, DH and 2 DC aged 12 and 11. Given the choice I am pretty sure the DC would be happy to forgo gifts for a holiday. (The holiday would be instead of a summer holiday I should add as we definitely couldn't afford more than one in a year, we tend to go every couple of years).We don't have a very large extended family and only usually see 4 or 5 family members over Christmas.

Has anyone ever done it? Do you recommend it? Or is it way over priced due to the time of year?

Where did you go? Thinking warm weather 24/25'C + and as little rain as possible.

A friend of mine from school’s family went to Hawaii every year for Christmas (live in US). It’s a long flight from UK obviously but we found flying from the UK in winter wasn’t any more expensive than just flying to the West Coast.

Have you flown to Madeira before? We went once but had to get diverted overnight to Gran Canaria as it was too windy to land. The couple sitting next to me said it was the third time in 4 years of flying there! apparently there is a website devoted to the Madeira runway/wind.

It really puts me off going again which is a shame as it’s a lovely place.

@GuineaPigsAreSuperCute - we went to lanzarote early in December one year and it was quite cool on some days and the DC wouldn’t go in the pool or sea as it was too cold (they were about 7 and 10 I think). Can you stretch to going further afield? I’d only do it as a second holiday just in case the weather wasn’t great.

Hawaii is AMAZING in winter. Trip of a lifetime if you can swing it.
My cousin went to Singapore for Christmas and loved it.

Costa Rica is amazing. So much to see/do. Personally I’d love to go to Mexico and have some beach time and some time on a short tour round some of the historical sites. I won’t do it till kids are bigger though as at the moment they love all the Christmas stuff at home & seeing family. We went to London for the week after Christmas this January and they enjoyed it so much we are doing again this year along with a visit to the Harry Potter studios on the way. It obviously wasn’t sunny but it was lovely just to get away from the house for a few days and have an explore

It does sound very tempting but don't think I would lose one of the kids' Christmases to it (unless it was something Christmas themed) I would have hated as a child and I think my similarly aged kids would too, but if they were older teens or adults I'd absolutely consider.

We have been away before but left on Boxing Day so had a traditional Christmas Day (but just the 4 of us and eat lunchtime so rest of the day to get ready for hols as it was always an early start on BD). I loved being somewhere sunny in the dead bit between Christmas and New Year.

My friend goes to the Caribbean each Christmas and absolutely loves it. Her family is massive and the catering usually falls on her. One year she had enough and thought feck it I'm off to St. Lucia. She called her family en route to the airport to tell them to cook their own turkey! They never got over it.

I really want to do a Caribbean cruise over Xmas/New year once.
My mum was shocked I would consider not having a traditional Christmas but I think it sounds really fun.

I'm seriously considering this!

Could you consider long haul ? Guaranteed sun and exotic.

We do it. The build up to Christmas is great, but actual Christmas itself isn't, unless you have a big jolly family etc, which we don't. Meeting them all for a pub lunch in December is far jollier and more festive than 25thDec for us. So we disappear once school finishes and have a bit of vitamin D and some warm fresh air.

I 100% would go away for Christmas if we could afford it.

We did it as a family a couple of times when I was in my teens (one African country, one Southern European country) and I MUCH preferred it. Particularly the African country. I remember sailing down a river singing along to Mary’s Boy Child on Christmas Eve. Utterly mad.

We've had Xmas away with DH, 2 DS (teens) and me several times over the years. We've only ever been to Asia including mainland China, Hong Kong, but mostly in Thailand. It's fab and it's my favourite way to spend Xmas! Really breaks up winter. I always take a little stocking for the DS who aren't so bothered. I think the break does everyone good - in the sun, swimming, snorkelling, and there is usually an Xmas and NY meal at the hotel unless you want to go local.

Do it - you won't regret it.

I did this twice as a child and absolutely felt robbed of Christmas despite the hotel doing a festive lunch and Santa arriving on a yacht. It was a Bahamian Christmas, not what I wanted as a child.
As an adult I can see the attraction, but would not have risked my DC missing those precious fleeting snapshots of tradition.

Do it ! We did this last year . Was amazing as we spent more time
as a family for a week . No one missed Christmas dinner .
We all took Christmas hats and gifts so was still Christmassy .
We checked with our kids first who said yes straight away . Family were supportive too .

Winter is the best time to visit SE Asia as cooler and between the rainy and smoky seasons. Would personally recommend Chaing Mai in Thailand.

Egypt. Gala dinners for Christmas Eve and New Years Even. No rain. 28c or so.

We used to always go for Christmas but haven’t gone for Christmas since 2020.

Thank you. I will take a look.

We've not done long haul before but yes definitely willing to travel further. I think we need to come up with a few options and see if any are affordable for us.

Given the choice I am pretty sure the DC would be happy to forgo gifts for a holiday.

Do check though as I'm not sure they will . Sometimes we went away between Christmas and New Year and DS did say he preferred not to as he would rather stay at home and play with his presents. We still went as DH had limited holiday and it was a week we were all off - but I can't imagine doing this instead of presents .

I recommend it and NOT a country where they celebrate. So Muslim, Buddhist, communist or similar. That way you feel like you're not missing out.

We had a brilliant time!

I spent twelve years working abroad and backpacking. I LOVE being in tropical places in the sun. The one time of year I didn’t enjoy it was Christmas. December I liked to be home if and when I could.
It never felt like Christmas in a hot climate and I really missed feeling Christmassy.

But then again, I love Christmas and feeling ‘Christmassy’!

I have done it a couple of times and don’t like it. Gone somewhere long haul and sunny. Feel robbed of Christmas.

@Ragwort where do you go please, is it xmassy and is there alway show