Xmas at home

[TurnUpTurnip]

Does anyone else spend Xmas at home alone and not visit family? I was wondering how many just spend the day at home?

I have in the past. I've spent the day eating, drinking, then napping and watching TV. It was great because I didn't have to spend it alone.

I think this will happen this year to DH and myself. We have a pup which can't be left alone for too long, and MIL has a terrible fear of dogs. I also suspect she has OCD in terms of cleaning. We might visit briefly someday over the festive season, but not for a meal and not with the pup!

Actually looking forward to seeing Christmas TV shows, sitting around in comfy clothes (PJ's) and not having to either entertain or drive to someones elses home- so a win, win for me!

We do normally. DH will run dinner down to my mum as she won’t bother cooking a roast just for herself (she is always welcome at ours, she lives two minutes away and has her own set of keys, she just doesn’t want to) and we’ll phone his mum and dad at some point during the morning but, other than that, it’s just the two of us. It is utterly blissful.

We'll have a maximum 2 week old baby so we'll definitely be at home this year. Not that DH's family haven't made noises about us travelling the 2.5hrs down to them (with newborn and almost 2 year old in tow 🥴). No thank you!

We have for most of the last 10 years. It would be far too much for us to stay with my elderly parents, so we have a hotel break nearby in the week before Christmas, so we can see them without the hassle. We see my FiL regularly as we are his main carers, so others stay with him for a few days. DD is at uni, so it's lovely to spend time with her. We will get up late, unwrap presents, have a lazy lunch and watch James Bond. We'll see FiL & the rest of the family after Christmas before they all go home. We'll also have a day out at a big post Christmas event.

This year is going to be different. So what we have planned is this, a quiet Xmas meal as a family at a pub then a party at home. We will rise early, go for a quick walk to breathe in the fresh air then come back and open our christmas gifts.

After that we will have a simple festive lunch and take a nap before Christmas dinner etc. Christmas dinner will consist of turkey, ham and the trimmings too. At night we will munch chocolates and drink wine as well whilst watching a film.

There's only the three of us and we're far away from any family (the closest is about 4 hours with no stops when there's no bad traffic or roadworks) so we spend it by ourselves at home and we love it.

I would love to spend it with my mum in Ireland but she lives in a tiny retirement flat, there's no room for us to stay, and I don't want to spend Christmas in a hotel room or airbnb somewhere, and she's too elderly and frail to make the trip over here to us. She spends the day with one of her nieces/my cousins and her family, she's like a second mum to them and they treat her like a queen so I don't have to worry about her being on her own.

I would love a relaxed Christmas at home. Eat when we're ready still in pjs if we want to be, relax in front of the tv with nibbles later on. It will however be constant go go go. Rush rush rush. We've been summoned to mother's, even though it would be far easier for her to come to us, than try and wrangle a 10,7 and 20 month old - washed dressed and out of the house with gifts and food and lord only knows what else. Then drag it all back later. Then back again Boxing Day and the day after that. I'd love a day on my own to read - eat and sleep. Most importantly not hear mooooooommm every two seconds.
Wow. I sound so festive! 🤦🏻‍♀️

@Merryweather80 Don’t be hard on yourself for not sounding festive, that sounds like really bloody hard work.

Just the 5 of us. Done our share of running around fetching aunts and stuff, kids were young, having to drive, do now we do what we want. I would refuse to go see anyone.

Glad it’s not just me, I don’t mind staying at home really but just felt a bit odd reading all the posts of everyone visiting family on Xmas day, I don’t visit family or have any visitors on Xmas day so I just wondered if anyone was the same, I don’t drive so visiting family isn’t really an option

We've always done this. Me DH and 2 DC on Christmas day. We then take it in turns to host extended family between Christmas and New Year, and exchange gifts, have a massive buffet, play games etc. DC are young adults now, as are the DC of our extended family, but when the kids were little, they used to say they had 2 Christmases!

We've never done it before but this year we're going to try it and I can't wait!

We always stay at home, though we have an open house for any friends or family who want to come to us.