Any tips for xmas day if working?

[SNWannabe]

I’ve been very spoilt in that I’ve never had to work at xmas time. I’m in a new ward-based role now as a nurse and facing the reality that I will be working either nightshift 7pm-7.30 xmas eve or if shorter shifts 7am-2pm or 1pm-8pm.
How do I fit xmas day around this? Should I ask if someone else can host a meal if I’m working later? Or make the kids (10 and 13 so not babies!) wait til I’m home if I work til 2?
If you’ve worked xmas, share your tips please as I’m stupidly worried it will spoil the day for everyone 😔

Just to reassure you, my mum was a nurse and we always had great Christmas times even if she was working.

Who will be children be with for the rest of the day?

It’s fine really. I had a parent who always worked Christmas morning.
you know you don’t have to have Christmas dinner on Christmas Day. You can have something else and the kids will probably enjoy it. Or do you normally have people round.

Don't offer to host. Wait it out and see if someone else offers. Don't cave in.

Thank you that’s actually lovely to hear.

Husband will be at home with the kids- and my grown up daughter and her partner and two children are local too, as are my parents and sister and BIL.

I’d prefer to do a nightshift on xmas eve and then power through til mid morning then I could nap and let someone else organise food. For me, the best part of the day is the morning and presents… so I will be gutted if I’m asked to work 7-2 tbh. Maybe I should get in first and ask when the xmas rota gets made up (or will they think I’m mad asking that in June?)

Yeah - definitely don’t host other families. We worked in the Middle East for a long time, where Christmas was a normal working day. I was usually able to take annual leave for the day, but DH mostly worked. We did Christmas dinner on the 24th, like many European countries. Then up early on Christmas Day, open presents, nice breakfast, DH went to work, I went to the beach with DD. Appreciate that your family probably won’t be heading to the beach, but there are ways around it. Good luck!

My parents sometimes worked Christmas when we were kids. If it was dad he would generally be working half the day. If morning we would do stockings as usual first thing and then go to church, save lunch (cold meat etc) for when he got home and then do presents after and Xmas dinner in the evening. If it was an early we would stockings first then some presents mid morning and have an early lunch, he would miss out on dinner.
If it was mum she would be working all day (I only remember it happening once or twice) so dad would take us to his brothers.
As adults now mum is often working either early or late. If it's early we just have lunch when she gets in, presents after and Xmas dinner in the evening. If she is on a late then we have Xmas dinner on Xmas eve evening and do presents mid morning, have lunch before she goes to work

I always volunteered to do Christmas Eve night shift. DH would keep the kids upstairs until I got home at about 8am at which point I would get into my Jammies and we’d all go back downstairs together to see if ‘he’ had been. We’d then do presents etc and I’d head to bed about 10.30ish and get up at about 2pm to dinner that DH had cooked. Or round to either of our parents. It actually worked really well and I never minded doing it. It was only doable though as I never then had to go back in on Christmas Day night and I could get an earlyish night and catch up on my sleep then.

Also both parents have often offered to work later New Year's Eve and early New Year's Day as we have never bothered with new year. That way they would often find they got first choice of Xmas shifts or could swap with someone who really wanted new year off- at dads work particuarly they often had a lot of young staff who were away from family there fore new year and going out with friends was often more important than xmas and they would work xmas giving those with young families the day off.

DH worked shifts that often included christmas day. Before we married, and later when we had small children, we just moved Christmas to a different day .
Now the kids are grown adults they all have careers that require shifts and sometimes working Christmas day/night.. Christmas is still a very moveable day in this family.

My DD might be working Christmas Day and we’ve said to her that whenever her days off are is when we will have Christmas.
Shes my only child so I don’t have to factor in younger children with the Santa thing
I’m loving reading the Christmas threads, it’s making me feel excited already 😂

It’s fine, I’ve never really minded working Christmas. Good atmosphere on the ward and it’s always a slower pace, no management around and we just do the bare minimum notes etc and spend the time on the ward with the patients as much as we can.

I’ve done all shifts, early is best but a late shift isn’t the end of the world. We have tended to do picky lunch when I’ve worked, all the nice party food we can find and pork pies etc.

I did host one fateful year after a night shift, I also got ill on Christmas Eve and after cooking the dinner, I ended up in bed with both kids ill as well. DS1 vomited in his dinner🤣

This is my first year as a manager and first year I wont be expected to work Christmas. It’s an odd feeling after 20 years of working.

Dd1 is a nurse and always volunteers to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
She says the atmosphere is lovely.
We've always just had Christmas dinner another day.

If your husband is at home he can do lots of it. Cook the turkey the day before and slice it up and heat it before serving (we reheat in the gravy). Do as much as you can beforehand and get your husband to do the rest so it's basically ready when you get home. If your grown up daughter is attending get her to bring something, veggies/desert.