So has the great debate started in your house about where to spend Xmas dinner?

[bigchris]

We've managed to get Xmas day to ourselves, just us four , woo hoo
have to travel boxing day though and work Xmas eve but get to wake up in our own beds Xmas morning

rofl @ LadyBlaBlah playing Christmas chicken.

I would love to host my family at ours, but since our house is the size of a shoebox and we have no dining table it's not really a goer.

We're staying at home but we live with my mum and dad and my sister and her boyfriend are staying as well at the moment so most of my family will be there.

Its supposed to be the in-laws year but DS(1) doesn't sleep much at all and certainly not anywhere other than his room so I said I wasn't prepared to stay. I will not be able to be nice about Bing Crosby and Slade on constant replay without any sleep. We've invited them to come to us but they don't travel.

AS it is much easier for 2 active retired people in their early 60s who do a lot of driving and have 3 cars to drive for about 45 minutes than for me and disabled DH to get 2 DCs (3 and 1) into the car, keep them still for 2 hours at lunch and then stop them destroying the very clean white house, and then sleep in uncomfortable beds, we might just stay at home anyway from now on.

*Disclaimer - I do like my ILs but it can be hard work.

No and it never does. We made clear to the families when DH first moved in with me that we go to no-one on Christmas Day and no-one comes to us.
We do the 'visits' Christmas Eve and Boxing Day.

I'm off to my new mans parents for lunch, so a whole new experience. I say new man we have been together for a year now. My children will be in France with their father and his new fiancee. It will be my first christmas as a single parent and without the children, so I will be celebrating in the new year once the children are home.
I will pop into my mum and dads on xmas morning to give them thier presents but won;t be stopping for lunch as they have a housefull, last year there were 18 of us, luckily they do have a large house but still it gets all a bit too ontop at times.

no which is really worrying. i am wondering whsat they ils are cooking up with nsdh

pils have birthdays in mid dec so we need to do that as well. it is the law and expected but dads bday in mid jan is optional and we did not go til march last year, poor dad, and then nsdh bogged off to his mates house.

they did not like me insisting that we are not rushing off straight after christmas but are going to relax for a couple of days and eat up turkey and trimmings.

was called awkward by mil cos i refused to get married before easter (engaged at Christmas) to suit sil who was going abroad.

was v dil from hell last year after sil had a paddy the year before cos held ds party at 3 not 12 so she could go home and tidy up. She had a long drive But I drove 2 dcs 1 1/2 hrs then went shopping at 10 when opened(sun) did chn lunch then prepared all party at my mums while nsdh went to his mums 4 lunch 2 see his sister a bit longer.

(my mum and dad old and poorly)

sorry for the rant, what was the question?