Christmas mixing and Tiers

[meow1989]

I know we are all just guessing at the moment, but ..

I get that its likely we are allowed to mix 3 households total over the 5 days, but doesn't that become moot if your area is tier 1? Because in tier 1 you can mix up to 6 households technically (one from each). Do you think they will have the forethought to clarify this ir will it be more interpreting the rules as you go? (Fwiw I will follow whatever the guidance is, I'm not looking for loophole just curious as to how this would work)

@LostFrog

We are tier 1, FIL and partner are tier 3. If he stays with us at Christmas and my parents come round as well (also tier 1) that feels like unnecessary risk tbh. I don’t mind having him down, but realistically that means that we won’t be seeing any of my family as a result, which is a bit annoying. It would have made more sense to say three households within the same tier, don’t travel to a lower tier from a higher one.

Do your parents not count?

@Autumnblooms

Really? I thought it was 3 can mix at any one time. So one day, us, and 2 households and on the next day us and two different other households?? Just as long as it’s always 3 maximum- or do I have that wrong??

This is why it won’t work, because people will misunderstand (or deliberately misunderstand) 🙈

If this was the case, over the 5 days, you could meet up with 10 households. Assuming there’s an average of 2-4 people in each household that’s 20-40+ people, all of whom could meet up with 20-40+ other people. Surely no one can think that’s a good idea?

Lots of us are against all the lockdown rules actually do we don't think that is a bad idea particularly where people have been out working throughout anyway every day or have had covid already.

[quote MsMartini]@RedToothBrush, if your friends are in a similar position, and you are in T3, you could christmas bubble with them to use gardens. You don't have to go indoors.[/quote]
They are all planning to use the bubble so thats not helpful for us.

Its outdoor meeting or nothing for us i think.

@namechangefail2020

I think you're getting this wrong. The five day Xmas rule is indoors and basically all tiers don't apply for those 5 days so this taking chairs to the park is totally unnecessary! I'm sure I'm right but could be wrong.

The government guidance says:

you can continue to meet people who are not in your Christmas bubble outside your home according to the rules in the tier where you are staying

So tier system does still apply in some ways regardless of the Christmas bubble.

Probably been said already but it's UP to 3 households.

Bit like the speed limits- you don't HAVE to drive at 30mph if conditions are dangerous.

And those 3 households have to see no one else for the 5 days.
If you choose to have only 2 households- you and one other- then that's your lot. You can't add in household No 3 on another day.

You can however see people before the 23rd Dec and after the 27th according to your bubble.

This is like the extended family rule they used to have in Wales. My Welsh friends all say they ended up not bothering in the end and just meeting people outside, because it was too complicated to make sure that the bubble was "closed". Suspect many will do the same here (RTB's post being a case in point).

Reds, I just read the guidance (the law itself is not out yet I think) and it is certainly complicated www.gov.uk/government/publications/making-a-christmas-bubble-with-friends-and-family/making-a-christmas-bubble-with-friends-and-family (although I knew from yesterday Christmas was cancelled and ruined (as was Eaater and our summer holiday) because I have more adult children than the norm)!

To everyone who thinks there will be a lockdown in January because of this.

There will be a lockdown anyway!

There's one happening right now without any of this Christmas gubbins having gone before! What makes you think the other winter months will be any different?

How do you choose your favourite child/parent/in law?

It isn’t mandatory.

You can also choose to say, Covid isn’t taking Christmas off and I’d rather not put anyone at risk, We’ll all stay home and have a big party later once things get better.

To everyone who thinks there will be a lockdown in January because of this.

Perhaps viewing lockdown as something that happens because cases are rising fast and people are dying, rather that seeing it as something that is happening to you, may put a different perspective on it.

It's offering nothing to me. DF is locked in his nursing home. DS is temporarily living with inlaws, a close knit family so their Christmas bubble will use up 3 households. The only way he could bubble with us would be to spend the entire period with us, leaving his partner with her family - that's just not fair for him. And we can't go and see them outside beacuse we're Tier 3 and supposed to avoid travel outside the area - the dropping of the travel restriction is purely to allow bubbles to meet, it doesn't extend to meeting others.

It sounds so good in theory, but families are so interlinked that I'm sure that other people will find the only Christmas allowed is the same one that they could have had under even the March lockdown conditions.

If my older son can't come he will be eating Christmas lunch alone in his house - which actually probably wouldn't bother him - laughing as I type but I have not seen him since March so it would be quite nice if he could come over for Christmas lunch. He has also worked all day (as he delivers groceries for a living).

May be we need lists and charges or computer programs to work out which child gets priority for a lunch with all kinds of complex factors fed in to work out who gets the short straws and eats lunch alone.

Obviously married couples with 2.4 small children at home have a much simpler time of it.

So can we travel to a tier 3 area for our Xmas bubble???

Avery yes I believe you can

7/10 of the people we usually have have had covid in the last 2 months but as they are 4 households we can't meet.

If an entire household has had a positive covid test and a positive antibody test it would be great if they didn't count in figures.

Our family company may be getting a lot more employees and we can celebrate Christmas at work.

@Chelsea567

I don't care what the government says. I'm not exposing my 88 year old parents to me ( a supermarket worker) or my DD ( a student) for the sake of a Christmas dinner. What did you give Granny for Christmas? COVID-19 Not worth it. I'm waiting til they're vaccinated. I appreciate the government giving people the choice but just because they've said we could- doesn't mean you should. It hasn't suddenly become safe because BoJo says you can forget restrictions for 5 days. The virus doesn't know it's Christmas

Dont then 🤷‍♀️ you do you and I'll do me. Nobody is forcing you into it.

Also please stop using trite catchphrases like "the virus doesnt know its christmas". It just makes you sound like a dick.

Give Granny Covid for Xmas and then bury her for New Year!

You're so clever, did you just come up with that?
P.s. Granny would probably be fine and even of not, she would be unlikely to die within a week

@KitKatastrophe

“ you do you and I'll do me. Nobody is forcing you into it.”

Pretty amazing that, 8 months into a pandemic, there’s still people who don’t grasp the nature of an infectious disease.

People have been pressuring everyone else to follow the rules. Meeting with 2 other households in a bubble is within the rules, so I'll be doing it.
If you're going to whinge at people for not following the rules, you can't then whinge when they do follow the rules.

Slightly annoyed with my SIL. She has unilaterally decided that her bubble is her family, her parents and my parents and summarily invited them over on Christmas Day and respectively Boxing Day. Thereby meaning that she and DB are de facto the preferred children as neither her parents or my parents will therefore be able to see any of their other children. I don't actually mind that she's doing this from a personal point of view (we'd decided it was far too risky to meet my parents or in-laws with the DC being at a large secondary with high number of cases) but do think she should have discussed it with others first, rather than making it a fait accompli.

I think ive worked out what we are going to do...
Im going to see my Fil one day, and my parents one day and the rest of the time we are going to do our own thing.

That way we keep to our 3 family bubble. I can close my eyes to whatever my parents decide to do.
Had a ridiculous conversation with them today as they were driving to see my bro and his family, but wouldn't tell me where they were going "oh just out for a ride..." I'm over it, fed up to be made to feel like the bad one for keeping to the rules. Was made to feel like I was ruining christmas because I wasnt going to say I was happy for everyone to meet at my home.
The thing is the numbers mount up so quickly and im just not doing it...
My household (1), My parents (2), My Fil (3)... Then if I see my Bro's family (4), they will see his wives family (5), who will definitely see both sets of grandparents (6, 7)... and probably their other children (8)...

Every year Christmas is a frekking nightmare! Urgh! Sorry i'm pee'd off!