Page 25 | Christmas needs to be cancelled.

Figmentofmyimagination · 20/11/2020 13:33

Wouldn’t you feel a bit freaked out and uncomfortable all sitting in a big group laughing and chatting around a table indoors etc after all this? Maybe it’s just me!

Flaxmeadow · 20/11/2020 13:49

I suspect many Grandparents are quietly
but politely, relieved to be looking forward to a low key Xmas. Sitting in front of the telly at home with a box of chocolates and a gin and tonic in peace

Instead of being dragged over to an overcrowded room full of noisy toys, tired overwrought children having tantrums over sweets, and being roped in to help cook dinner

boobot1 · 20/11/2020 13:57

@AlternativePerspective

So the suggestion to make it possible for the world to go and be super spreaders at Christmas is to stay in lockdown until Christmas, then open up for five days, then go back into lockdown for another 25 days (at least), five days for every day we’re out of lockdown.

Are people really that desperate to have a get together they could have at any other time of the year, maybe in the summer when this pandemic is under control, that they’re willing to spend months in lockdown to achieve it? Really?

My personal opinion is that it is our duty as a society to have a low key Christmas regardless of whether they take this ridiculous measure or not.

I understand that for some they want to see family at Christmas, but these ridiculous suggestions have gone too far.

Just cancel Christmas and give us an extra bank holiday next year to make up for it.

No, lets not have any lockdowns based on dodgy data!

Belladonna12 · 20/11/2020 14:09

@Bookworming

That's fine for you *@Belladonna12* but I will be socialising as much at Christmas as the then restrictions allow. I will also not allow people to judge me, it's my decision and will be within guidelines

I'm sick of people deciding they can decide the rules and judging others.

How do you "not allow" people to judge you. It's not something you can control. All you can do is decide you're not bothered by the judgement. Regardless, people generally judge those who don't act within the guidelines so if you do, I'm not sure what your point is.

Belladonna12 · 20/11/2020 14:14

@Flaxmeadow

I suspect many Grandparents are quietly but politely, relieved to be looking forward to a low key Xmas. Sitting in front of the telly at home with a box of chocolates and a gin and tonic in peace

Instead of being dragged over to an overcrowded room full of noisy toys, tired overwrought children having tantrums over sweets, and being roped in to help cook dinner

Yes, I often think that when posters seem to think that elderly grandparents will be suicidal if they can't spend Christmas with the posters children. Many are probably quite pleased to have an excuse to have a quiet Christmas.

countrygirl99 · 20/11/2020 14:27

Maybe your parent feel that way but many people have well behaved kids

DdraigGoch · 20/11/2020 14:33

But Christmas is not cancelled. You do not need to SEE every single relative on one day.
I'm not planning on seeing every single relative. All I want is to have the company of another human being for Christmas. It's not much to ask but some on Mumsnet seem to think that it's tantamount to murder.
Anyone else remember childhood Christmas's where you wouldn't leave the house all Christmas Day?
Yes, most enjoyable. Spent with my parents and my brother. Not spent on my own.

WinnieHarlow · 20/11/2020 14:43

@Tararararara you talk perfect sense - I absolutely can’t see WHY people don’t see that cancer screenings being delayed is because staff are being pulled elsewhere to treat Covid. And the best way to support the NHS is to do all you can to reduce the spread of infection. Mental health will CONTINUE to be a bigger problem if we don’t reduce the infection rate. A vaccine is coming soon I hope, and until this time I support any measures necessary.

WinnieHarlow · 20/11/2020 14:48

It baffles me, completely baffles me why people still see Covid purely in terms of their personal circumstances and risk - it’s NOT about that, it’s about reducing the spread of infection - until we have the vaccine.

WinnieHarlow · 20/11/2020 14:56

When people say ‘Ill take my chances, I’m low risk, if I get it - so be it’ they are not considering the other people they transmit to when asymptomatic, the strain they then put on the NHS if they expect treatment - and expect the others they infect to get treatment, while putting the health of the medical professionals who treat them at risk. I think it’s utterly disgraceful that people think this way.

Tararararara · 20/11/2020 15:02

I have a toddler who doesn't think facetime and a present is nearly as good as hugging and spending time with his beloved grandparents, and tbh I'd think it was really sad if he did.

Which is worse for him, not seeing them at Christmas, or not seeing them for much longer period of time in the new year?

Flaxmeadow · 20/11/2020 15:46

I'm happy to lock down for a couple of months afterwards

By then it would be too late for those infected over the Xmas period and too late for the NHS

Pre Covid, Italy had one of the best health care systems in the world but last week we saw film footage of scenes in Naples where patients were dying in hospital corridors and toilets, some of them collapsed and dying, or already dead, on the floor. Unattended by any health care professional at all because there was no one available to help them.

Outside on the roads, long lines of cars queued up to access hospital car parks, the same. Overworked doctors and nurses rushing about literally leaning into car windows trying their best to attend to seriously ill people in vehicles. These people, not just with covid, had no chance of being admitted, because the hospital was already full to capacity and in a state of health care collapse.

God help our own NHS in Janruary

NotAKaren · 20/11/2020 15:58

@Tararararara

I have a toddler who doesn't think facetime and a present is nearly as good as hugging and spending time with his beloved grandparents, and tbh I'd think it was really sad if he did.

Which is worse for him, not seeing them at Christmas, or not seeing them for much longer period of time in the new year?

My DSis thought the same and decided to take her DS to visit our parents last week as he 'needed to see them' and guilted them into allowing her to visit (real reason being DSis was bored) He has since tested positive for Covid due to a close contact at school. Now watching and waiting to see what happens with DPs who are so very stressed and worried. It really is not worth it. Do not use your DC as an excuse.

NotAKaren · 20/11/2020 16:04

@Tararararara As an aside I doubt many Toddlers can express this to such an extent. The reality is probably that you feel bad about your toddler not seeing his GPs which is understandable but something that as a grown up you need to manage.

Belladonna12 · 20/11/2020 16:17

Toddlers will not remember seeing grandparents on Christmas Day or anything else about Christmas Day last year.

TheFormerPorpentinaScamander · 20/11/2020 16:20

I can't think of any toddler that I know (or have ever known) who would honestly answer 'cuddle' when asked if they'd prefer a cuddle or a present!

Tararararara · 20/11/2020 16:21

NotAKaren I was quoting another poster. We will not be seeing relatives over Christmas due to the risk.

Bookworming · 20/11/2020 17:57

Yes, I often think that when posters seem to think that elderly grandparents will be suicidal if they can't spend Christmas with the posters children. Many are probably quite pleased to have an excuse to have a quiet Christmas.

Not in my family!

Flaxmeadow · 20/11/2020 18:31

It baffles me, completely baffles me why people still see Covid purely in terms of their personal circumstances and risk - it’s NOT about that, it’s about reducing the spread of infection - until we have the vaccine

Yes as if the SAGE team sit around a big table all day discussing "..but Emma who lives on Acacia Drive, Birmingham, hmmm, uncle Kev and auntie Cath from Coventry will be so disappointed this year, auntie does love hugs with the children"..."Megan Bloggs in Swansea had a 3 bird roast dinner planned for sister Julia and 2 of her cousins, it honestly just won't be the same Xmas spirit without family photos on Facebook"..."oh dear look at this, in Watford Samantha and James's Grandad won't be able to help build the train set and dolls house, not to mention Grandmas special Xmas roast potatoes and bread sauce, their whole day will be utterly ruined "..."Tony and Susan in Stockport say they "dont give a fuck anymore about the lockdown" and "Dave and Harriet in Barnsley are "bored with it all now ".....

MadameBlobby · 20/11/2020 18:32

@Belladonna12

Toddlers will not remember seeing grandparents on Christmas Day or anything else about Christmas Day last year.

True

Hardbackwriter · 20/11/2020 18:53

Since my comment about my toddler has been criticised, a few comments:

he won't be seeing them at Christmas if it's against the guidance at the time, or if it seems unsafe to us. We're currently paying for extra nursery because although the regular care they do for him could be a childcare bubble I felt uncomfortable about it while community transmission is so high, especially since he's in nursery and DH is a teacher. I didn't say that I intended to break rules, just that I do think it's sad for him and them that they likely won't see each other and I don't know why I have to pretend that it isn't. So many people on MN demand not only that people follow the rules but that they actively like it and I have no idea why.
Yes, he does know and care. He asks daily if he's going to Nana and Grandad's house and is upset that the answer is no - he doesn't know he normally goes there on a Tuesday but he definitely knows that it's been longer than normal since he saw them. He talks about them very frequently. We've actually stopped face timing because he keeps crying afterwards because he's so confused by not being able to see them properly. No, he won't remember when he's older but by that logic it also wouldn't matter if I locked him in a cupboard when I felt like it.
My parents actually want to break the rules to see us and were very upset when I decided to use extra nursery rather than a childcare bubble, so no I don't think they'll be pleased to spend a quiet Christmas alone.

I'm sorry that some people don't have good relationships with their family but again I don't see why I have to not just follow the rules but pretend that it's no loss to me at all that I've spent most of this year not seeing my family, who I love very much.

AlwaysLatte · 20/11/2020 19:02

I think it's a dangerous thought: freedom to mingle indoors during winter at the most sociable time of the year, in between two lockdowns. It's a recipe for disaster. Previously the restrictions have had a carrot at the end, ie the lifting of restrictions if the lockdown goes well. This time there's a big stick, a bleak lockdown January, so people will really go for it. I think the lockdown should continue over Christmas but with exceptions so that single people, those with Illness, depression etc can join one other bubble. Absolutely no one should feel lonely. But we really don't need to have Family X meeting Family Y indoors just now.

SchrodingersImmigrant · 20/11/2020 19:09

@AlwaysLatte Absolutely agree with that. It is the most common sense solution, isn't it. Small units, not much mixing. I still don't understand why people freak out over that idea for 1 year. Most of us miss out on something, but with many friends in hospitality, I dread to think what further lockdowns (because people had big parties) would do to them. If we all used common sense, world wpuld be much better place.

IceCreamAndCandyfloss · 20/11/2020 19:09

@WinnieHarlow

When people say ‘Ill take my chances, I’m low risk, if I get it - so be it’ they are not considering the other people they transmit to when asymptomatic, the strain they then put on the NHS if they expect treatment - and expect the others they infect to get treatment, while putting the health of the medical professionals who treat them at risk. I think it’s utterly disgraceful that people think this way.

Nor the treatments put on hold for other things, delayed emergency response, teachers and shop workers etc.

IceCreamAndCandyfloss · 20/11/2020 19:13

I have a toddler who doesn't think facetime and a present is nearly as good as hugging and spending time with his beloved grandparents, and tbh I'd think it was really sad if he did

A toddler won’t even remember Christmas let alone be able to express a desire such as the above