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Original poster

Christmas for 7

53 replies

JuniperSling · 22/09/2020 15:36

There's 3 of us (me, DP and DS) and 3 in my sister's family. The plan was that we would spend Christmas at hers with my mum. I've told my mum that we won't be able to do this now with the Rule of 6, but my mum says it's OK because she's in a support bubble with my sister's household. She's wrong, isn't she?

OP posts:
MadameBlobby · 22/09/2020 16:19

I didn’t think an extended household counted towards the numbers of people? I don’t think it does in Scotland anyway by what the FM said today.

The government are in cloud cuckoo land however if they think there is going to be widespread compliance with this over Christmas.

emptyshelvesagain · 22/09/2020 16:20

I didn’t think an extended household counted towards the numbers of people?

6 is 6 regardless of who's household they are in.

ApolloandDaphne · 22/09/2020 16:20

I hope they change things in Scotland by Christmas. As of tomorrow no-one can meet with anyone else at home. That would mean me, DH and the dog staring at each other over the turkey (which the dog would enjoy a lot!). Even if it was as things are today only two households could meet. That means I would have to decide between DD1 and DD2. My hope is for 6 people from any number of households then I could have DD1& her partner, DD2 plus my DM.

Dotinthecity · 22/09/2020 16:21

I'd carry on. Who's going to know? I'll be too busy enjoying myself to be counting people in and out of my neighbours houses. (There'll only be 4 of us so no one needs to get self-righteous with me 😉).

Original poster
JuniperSling · 22/09/2020 16:23

@doodlejump1980 ~ he's 17. Also it would be for a week as we live at opposite ends of the country!

I know it's too early to be making plans, but they started planning this in August.

OP posts:
MadameBlobby · 22/09/2020 16:26

@emptyshelvesagain

I didn’t think an extended household counted towards the numbers of people?

6 is 6 regardless of who's household they are in.

I don’t think that’s right in Scotland from what the FM said today. I’ll need to listen again to be sure. Kids under 12 don’t count anyway here to either the number or household limits.
HelpIcantfindaname · 22/09/2020 16:27

There would be 7 of us this year (or 8 if sons new gf came). That's from 2 (or 3) households. Right now we are not allowed to mix with any other households so the rule of 6 doesn't apply here anyway. My bf & his son are in our bubble, but it would still be too many people. We have talked about buying the same amount of food, & if we can't all be together I'll cook it & take it to whoever can't be here. I take meals to my elderly parents a few times each week. It will be awful if I have to choose between my bf & son or my parents. Plus I have 2 grown up daughters with children I may not be able to visit. Goodness knows what will be happening by Christmas.

Spodge · 22/09/2020 16:29

They locked down huge swathes of the country three hours before Eid. Do you really suppose they will dare to give a one-off relaxation for Christmas? All we can hope for is that the situation has changed enough to warrant a relaxation by then.

starfish4 · 22/09/2020 16:33

I thought it was said earlier we should think along the lines of the restrictions for six months, and to be honest I think they're going to have to get tougher - ie no indoor socialising. Worst case scenario for us is that household bubbles won't be able to mix, so DD won't be able to come home from uni at xmas. I think we plan for the worst, and anything else is a bonus. We've already told the rest of the family we won't be seeing them indoors at xmas, two lots of families have dogs so more than happy to go for a good winter walk - albeit we or they might have to split up to keep it below six.

emptyshelvesagain · 22/09/2020 16:36

I don’t think that’s right in Scotland from what the FM said today. I’ll need to listen again to be sure. Kids under 12 don’t count anyway here to either the number or household limits.

Yes kids don't count on Scotland. Sorry I wasn't talking about kids. My post was in regards to extended households counting towards numbers.

BabyLlamaZen · 22/09/2020 16:36

Unfortunately she is wrong, is there any chance you can take turns e.g. morning then afternoon? Or only one of you sees her this year?

crazychemist · 22/09/2020 16:37

Too early to decide - the regulations may well change. Our original plan was to have 9 from 3 households. But it’s a roast dinner and some party hats - it’s not necessary to have details nailed down 2 months in advance! If circumstances mean we feel we need to change our plans, we’ll change our plans.

Original poster
JuniperSling · 22/09/2020 16:40

@BabyLlamaZen ~ unfortunately we live about 250 miles apart! We usually do take it in turns, but they wanted to do it all together this year for some reason Confused

OP posts:
Notfeelinggreattoday · 22/09/2020 16:41

Lets hope we are in a better place at xmas and rules can be relaxed , i know he said 6 months but i think that could just mean any measure and we could go stricter or allow more depending on how the numbers go

AccountCreateUsername · 22/09/2020 16:42

Are you actually thinking of following the rule OP? I wouldn’t in your circumstances and I wouldn’t agonise over it either

cassgate · 22/09/2020 16:45

I will be hosting Christmas as normal this year. Rules or no rules. There will be 12 from 3 households. We have continued to see family in various numbers up to 12 throughout lockdown and will continue to do so. We are not a tactile family anyway and it has been easy for us to SD both indoors and out. Christmas will be no different.

ifonly4 · 22/09/2020 16:46

As mentioed above, restrictions are going to get tougher - our case number today is up 1700 on last Tuesday. They've got to find a way of keeping it under control and stick with that, and it means us adhering to restrictions. I think the best we can hope for is that anyone living on their own can still have their bubble or spend the day with a friend.

Here, we've already decided we won't be having a big family celebration, in fact, we can't if DD can get home from uni, as we'll be two households together. She'll have to SD from my Mum (which we're meant to be doing inside anyway) as she'll be coming for a riskier area. If we can work around this, then it'll be four of us, but if it's only two as we can't mix households, we'll just do the best we can with it - we can still have presents, a nice meal, go for a walk, play a game.

Bikingbear · 22/09/2020 16:50

This is the rules that make no sense. Come north, kids don't count, hire a holiday house and your sorted.

Truthfully I think many will ignore for Christmas. And being 1 or 2 over is nothing. What I wouldn't do is to have a massive party with multiple households.

BlueJava · 22/09/2020 16:53

As PP have said, the rules will probably change by Christmas, and tbh even if they don't I can't see the police knocking on a door on Xmas day because there are 7 people having dinner. They are after raves and large groups not a family of 7 imo.

BarbaraofSeville · 22/09/2020 16:57

@Bikingbear

This is the rules that make no sense. Come north, kids don't count, hire a holiday house and your sorted.

Truthfully I think many will ignore for Christmas. And being 1 or 2 over is nothing. What I wouldn't do is to have a massive party with multiple households.

Assuming you're in Scotland, I thought you weren't allowed to mix households?
Shopkinsdoll · 22/09/2020 16:59

I’m sorry but I have been sticking to the rules since this all started but Christmas my family will still be getting together with grandparents and my sister who is in her own. So in all there will be 3 maybe 4 households? Prob about 8/9 of us.

mrsmummy1111 · 22/09/2020 21:47

Am I the only one who feels a bit sorry for your poor mum here! For the sake of 1 extra person you're going to leave her alone on Xmas day? I couldn't do that

emptyshelvesagain · 22/09/2020 21:53

@mrsmummy1111

Am I the only one who feels a bit sorry for your poor mum here! For the sake of 1 extra person you're going to leave her alone on Xmas day? I couldn't do that

Where has OP said this?

Delatron · 22/09/2020 22:01

If you normally take turns then why change it in the one year you can’t actually do that!
Just take turns for one more year then get together.

Feellikedancingyeah · 22/09/2020 22:58

I'm confused.E.g a couple with 2 kids. Can they see one set of parents indoors?
That's 6 people altogether from 2 different households

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