Anyone feeling sad about Christmas.....

[november90]

Most likely gonna be the 6 person rule in place and we have 5 in our house....... :(
Devastated!

Well I think it's a bit early to assume we know how Christmas will work out. Things have changed on an almost weekly basis since covid kicked off, so the rules may well be different in 3 months.

However, I'm secretly thrilled at the idea of a quiet Christmas at home just me, DH and the kids. I'll be working over Christmas this year as usual (I'm a nurse) and usually spend most of the precious time off I do get driving around the county to visit family (some of whom never make the effort to come here), and making polite chit chat to extended family, when really I'd rather just be relaxing at home watching TV and eating mince pies, so I get a bit resentful of all the pressure to spend Christmas visiting people. It's interesting on this thread how many people feel the same way! However I can appreciate that for some people the rules (if they stay as they are) will completely ruin their Christmas plans and I really do feel genuinely sorry for people in that position.

@Kaktus

None of the restrictions ever bothered meZ 6 people can still have w decent Xmas. It’s one year, you just got to make it what you can

Yeah, the 6 of us will have a decent Christmas. Like I said above though it’ll be tough for my parents not to be able to see their child (me) and grandchildren at Christmas, which is a tough time for us after my brother died in tragic circumstances. I’m sure they’ll ‘make the best of it’ too but they don’t have anyone else to spend it with so yeah, it’ll be hard.

Go and spend Christmas with your family then! Take no notice of these ridiculous rules

Well at bare minimum we are DH and me, 3 Dc, their partners, foster kids (often 2+) and my mum.

So....we won’t be changing that.

Well it's always just us 4 at Xmas as all relatives are dead so for once I won't be churned up with anxiety trying to create a big family Xmas like you see on all the adverts

Sodding, bloody, over rated Christmas. It's just one day and I'm sure we'll all get over it.

@november90

I've had a really bad year. In January my husband left me at 24 weeks pregnant and has been incredibly emotionally abusive to me ever since. I had a baby on my own and in full lockdown, my 30th is a write off (🙈)... Christmas is such a family thing in our house, it's just so sad that another thing seems to be so far away! I know to could be a lot worse before anyone points out, but it doesn't mean that it's not difficult!

Sorry to hear that op

There'll be 8 of us around our Christmas table as originally planned. I can't imagine police officers knocking on peoples doors on Christmas day to do a headcount.

Oh dear, we won’t be able to see horrible selfish MIL, or self obsessed SIL and her unpleasant child who hits my DC. That is a tragedy. Guess we’ll just have to relax at home instead.

Fully plan to spend Christmas and the rest of the festivities totally alone. I cant wait.

There'll be 8 of us around our Christmas table as originally planned. I can't imagine police officers knocking on peoples doors on Christmas day to do a headcount

Same.

Ah I wouldn't worry, Cummings will have a party of 10 and we can all follow his lead

Yes. If needs be I can accept not having the big gathering on Boxing Day which my aunt would normally host but Christmas Day will be really tough.

There are four of us. Beyond that both mums are widowed and both brothers are single. It would take us to eight, from three otherwise isolated households. Neither mum not brother has any other option for Christmas Day. Going to be miserable whichever way you cut it.

Yes I am very sad but to be honest I said at the start of lock down that Christmas was highly unlikely to the the same as normal.

Me and DH spend it with my family. I am in my 60's and have never had a Christmas away from my parents. Also my siblings, their partners, my nieces and nephews and their partners all get together.

We are 16 people from 8 households so no way is that going to be allowed. One of my siblings and her husband definitely will not break the rules and I know 2 nieces definitely won't either.

My parents are in their 90's so who knows how many more Christmases they will be around.

@missmouse101 it's not "just one day" for me and my family. We get together on Christmas Eve and have Christmas Day and Boxing Day together.

Just because you don't like Christmas, many do.

It's the one time all my family get together. There are 16 of us and 8 work (my nieces and nephews and their partners). Four do shift work and it's very difficult trying to arrange dates when we can all be together. They all manage to get Christmas off though so it's lovely.

Christmas has always been a big deal in my family. No tv allowed, games played, lots of talking and laughing and we all sit in a circle and open our presents one person at a time so we can all see what everyone gets. It takes a couple of hours!

I realised weeks ago that we wouldn't have a normal Christmas. We're a family of three, so could technically meet up with my parents, but they're critically vulnerable so it's not an option. Same with my DSis and family - she is very vulnerable so it isn't worth the risk.

We'll miss seeing family, of course - never had a Christmas with just our nuclear family - but I have no wish to put my loved ones at risk, so it's just the way that it's going to be this year. It isn't the end of the world. We'll connect via zoom during the day, and it will be fine.

Yes I'm really sad about it, I absolutely love Christmas and usually have a Christmas Eve gathering at my parents with 10 of us, then Christmas day lunch with the in laws and all the DC cousins which is 20 of us. For me it's all about having a house full of family and I'll be gutted not to be doing that this year.

When you have family that live a long way away and you've only ever known Christmas with them then yes, it can be devastating. Christmas is a big deal, especially when you have little kids - then spending Xmas day with mum
And dad like usual will feel sad for me as a parent. So to all the "it's not a big deal" folk, pipe down.

Nope, not sad. If the rules are still in place by Christmas, I will be ignoring them anyway. No chance in hell I won’t be with my family as usual over Christmas whatever they say. No one in the family is elderly or has been in a shielding group so not too concerned. We’ll be at home before and after so no risk of transmitting to others on the off chance, and we’re in a low transmission area, and everyone has been sensible and continues to be. No one has to travel across the country. I think an awful lot of people will ignore any rules like this too, so I doubt they’ll even try to impose them over Christmas.

It’s all very well for families who’s children still live at home who want a close family Christmas. But my children are grown up and live away from home, but still local and always come to us for Christmas, totally their choice no pressure is applied. With a max of two households even though it would be within the 6 max allowed am I supposed to pick which one of my children can come for Christmas and which one can’t? What am I supposed to do about my elderly mum? See her instead and not see my kids and grandchild? I have stuck quite ridgidly to all the guidelines but I’m done now. I’ll just take a fine if I have to.

Yep. We're definitely disappointed. We all live fairly nearby each other but make up a total of 5 households (2-3 people per house).
Not going to be the same and we're gutted as we love Xmas day together 😢

I’m not feeling sad about Christmas because that would be defeatist. Why wouldn’t you focus on how you can create a lovely, cosy Christmas where you celebrate your gratitude instead of moping and thinking about what you cannot have?

I suspect for Christmas there will be more in place than the rule of six. I imagine something like remaining in own households unless a single person is in a support bubble.

They know compliance will be way down over the holiday period so will have to counter it.

I feel really sad about not seeing family. By the time Xmas rolls around we won't have seen them in person for a year! (Shielding and a flight away).

The only slight silver lining is not having to lug DC and all their presents on public transport. We're planning to spend loads on food! And drink for the grown ups, for sure.

@anameisanameisaname I’m the adult child (One of a few) who all live close to my mum and wouldn’t not be there for Christmas. We’ve also stuck to the rules but we’ll be there whatever the rules.

@Toilenstripes

I’m not feeling sad about Christmas because that would be defeatist. Why wouldn’t you focus on how you can create a lovely, cosy Christmas where you celebrate your gratitude instead of moping and thinking about what you cannot have?

Because sometimes emotions don't do what you tell them, however stern you may be with them...but that's ok, it's ok to to feel sad sometimes.