Will you see more than 2 households at Christmas?

[MummaBear4321]

My family live abroad, so we only have DHs parents and sister to see. We wont be seeing DHs GPs as to us that's too much of a risk. So we dont have any decisions to make about who to see and not see. However, DHs parents will most likely see us, their daughter, and their parents, so basically they will break the rules. I also imagine DHs sister will see her inlaws as well as her own parents and will justify it as 'how can we be expected to choose?'. I have seen lots of people on MN talking about choosing between one side of the family and the other, seeing one set of parents but not the other. Also, I see people struggling to get their head around the idea that if you see both set of parents, you are in a bubble, and none of you can see anyone else, despite both sets of parents not meeting each other.

So, my question is, will you be sticking to the 2 families, or just ignoring it and seeing who you want? Or will you just be staying at home and seeing nobody?

No, will se emu parents Xmas day, but haven't seen the in laws since early March (their choice) so they'll probably stay away anyway. We will invite them over another day, but doubt they'll accept.
I think sticking to the 'rule of six' is a good idea. Why undo all the hard work of lockdowns etc to have a free for all at Christmas?

Looks like we will be seeing nobody. There are four household in our main family group my parents, myself and two brothers. So My parents have got to leave one of us out for the whole Christmas.

Was feeling shit about it as it was but selfishly if we are the only ones left on our own it will be even worse.

We don’t have any family on H side at all so there is nobody else we would see.

We will be breaking it but basically just doing the old rule of 6 with social distancing. So we can see my dp 2 sets of brothers and 1 friends couple.

I presume they will all see whoever they want to see. If we are tier 2 we can see people outside anyway

I’d have preferred it if it was one other household at a time or rule of six if from more than 2. At least my parents could have seen us on different days. How do you pick one of your children to leave out, especially knowing it will be spring at least before you can meet again.

@Sparklingbrook

Technically we could see my parents and my DB, but I haven't been careful for all these months to blow it all now. Just because I can doesn't mean I should see others at Christmas, we'll catch up as soon as it feels safer to do so.

This. DM lives 250 miles away. PiL live 175 miles away. We have 2 dc at different schools, who break up on 18 Dec. I’m not going to take them 5 days later to a different part of the country to see anyone. Maybe if we were allowed to travel at New Year, when the dc won’t have been in school mixing with others for a fortnight, but the days Doris is letting us travel are too close to the end of term.

^ posted too soon. I havn’t seen DM or my PiL since the end of July. I’d love to see them, but the risk with school children who may potentially be infected is too great.

I will likely see more than 3 households. I have two step families and an aunt/cousins i'm really close to. I've stuck to the regulations all year and barely saw family and I just think that you really don't know how long you have with family.

We're also all healthy and all quite careful so it's a moderate risk.

We will keep to ourselves when schools break up to try to reduce risk of the kids having picked something up and passing out on. But at Christmas I'm sure we will see dh's parents one day and mine another. I'm not going to say to them that they can't then see their other children.

We are in a tier 1 area and the only cases I know of locally have been dinner ladies at the school.

Yes, but then we don't really have any family so it's an easy decision.

My DC will drop some presents at the door of my Ex's parents, and probably do similar with Ex (their Dad). They do normally see him on Christmas Day - pretty much the only time they do see him - but rather than a several hour visit that is being changed to a doorstep socially distanced chat/ present handover.

DP and I are in a support bubble so he will be here for Christmas, and eldest DS's girlfriend will also be here for Christmas Eve. DP will then go and see his dad and sibling (who are also in a support bubble) on Boxing Day - they can't come here for Christmas as live 200 miles away.

Apart from DC not seeing their dad (which tbh is only ever a token visit nowadays, they are all over 18) it's basically a normal Christmas for us.

I'll be seeing my parents and brother as we will be in a bubble anyway (they live together and I have a baby under 1)
I'm going to offer the in laws if they want to see us they can join our bubble, but on the understanding they won't then be able to see their other kids.

Technically I'll be mixing with a lot more than 3 if you count all the staff and residents where I work, but of my own actual family etc? No, mainly because I'll be working anyway and also because we're all in healthcare and figure it'd not be the best idea. Will be on my own Christmas Day itself, during the times I'm not actually on shift, as I have been many times before.
Unlikely to find a time we're all off together anyway in the time frame mixing is allowed so it's pretty much not happening anyway, even if we wanted to.

Does a support bubble count as one household?

No. We'll just be seeing PILS for Christmas dinner which we'll cook and take to them. Which is what we would have done pre-COVID this year anyway. The only difference is that DD will come into their house with us (we've avoided this since she went back to school in Sept).

@Frazzled2207

Well husband’s family is 3 (other) households, mine is 1. I’m not telling my dh that one of his family has to be excluded nor am I not seeing my parents.

Why do you have to get yourselves involved in his family's bubble? There are enough of them so no one is alone. He's an adult, it's one Christmas!

The idea was so no one is alone who doesn't want to be, not so we can all have a nirmsl Christmas!!

The rule is 3 households making ONE Christmas bubble for the entire time, not different bubbles every 5 minutes.

We will be in tighter tiers in January to bring the case numbers down, but it's not going to UNDEAD people who get it over Christmas.

Why do people seem to think the virus is going to take 5 days off just because the Govt have introduced 'Christmas Bubbles'. It's UTTERLY ridiculous.

I'm going to be on my own this Christmas. I live the people I usually spend Christmas with and that's why I won't be seeing them this Christmas. Vaccines & spring/summer are in their way, just have a little patience & protect the ones you live (& other people's loved ones)

I have just told my parents that we are no longer going to see them for Christmas. SIL needs to come to us, as otherwise she will be alone for Christmas day, and my parents had originally said that we and SIL could come to them - so 3 households which is fine. However she also invited my brother and his family, plus mum will visit my two elderly unwell aunts (who live separately to each other) so that's 6 households total! Plus my aunts will have other family members visit them too and none of them seem to care that its breaking the rules and very unsafe so we are staying away from all of them.
I understand why my parents want to do this - one of my aunts is terminally ill and this will be her last Christmas. But if they are going to take risks I am not increasing the risk to them even further.

Nope. Our family live too far away to visit without staying over, and nobody wants to take that risk when we have kids in school. We don’t have anyone who is likely not to be here next Christmas, and I’m hopeful we may be able to do something in Spring instead. The single people in the wider family will socialise in their existing support bubbles so nobody will be alone.

We’ve done Christmas as just nuclear family before and it was lovely. Doing everything we wanted when we wanted it, enjoying the slower pace. And because we usually have to travel it’s actually nice to be at home so the kids can properly play with their toys.

Not mixing. We'll go for walks with our parents, but nothing indoors and won't be exchanging presents this year. We have a child in nursery so it's just not worth the risk.

It's fine, really. Christmas is lovely, but is it really worth the stress of wondering if someone you love is going to get sick afterwards?

We'll be sticking to the 2. I'll be seeing my parents, my sibling is only off work for Christmas eve and Christmas and lives too far away to be able to come just for a day or two. My dh is one of 3 so he will need to sort out with his parents who they will include in their bubble.

It's reassuring to see so many not going crazy, I think there will be many though having massive Xmas dinners with 20 people etc. having travelled from all around the country. You may as well not bother with lockdowns at all!

We had this conversation yesterday, just my family are five households. Once you add in partners families as well, its just going to get too complicated and that is not even considering the vulnerable among us as well.

Also transport for some of us is going to be an issue. We will have a big party in March, hopefully in time for my birthday

@Angel2702

Looks like we will be seeing nobody. There are four household in our main family group my parents, myself and two brothers. So My parents have got to leave one of us out for the whole Christmas.

Was feeling shit about it as it was but selfishly if we are the only ones left on our own it will be even worse.

We don’t have any family on H side at all so there is nobody else we would see.

Do your brothers not have inlaws??

The three households have to agree to be the 'Christmas Bubble' for the entire 5 days and not see anyone outside that bubble.

You need to TALK.

(Limited outside meeting with social distancing is permitted)

No. I worry about us infecting people. DC at two different schools, I'm NHS, DH is a key worker in the workplace everyday. DC and I are in until 18/12, DH is in up to and including Christmas Day, so no opportunity for us to isolate.We're also in an area with a very high rate of infection.

We're planning to visit PILs in their garden for mince and pies and a present exchange, and may also drop presents at GFIL's doorstep, but I'm not going in anyone's house. I think MIL will sulk be very disappointed but FIL has some health problems and it's not worth the risk.

@PinkSpring

I think we will be seeing three different households, not all at the same time though.

It's irrelevant if it's the same time or not.

It's three households in one bubble, that's it. You all have to agree to be in that 'Christmas Bubble' and not see other people. Any of you.

Am going to leave it to the grandparents to decide what they want to do and take it from there.

It's PIL's turn to come to us and I will continue to offer that - but I suspect they will stay at home and we will visit outside Christmas Eve.

My Dad will either visit us or we will visit him after Christmas. He's also invited here for Christmas Day.

That leaves my brother who will be spending his first Christmas away from his children. So if PIL don't come he can come here if he wants to.

We won't see SIL and family which is a big shame because we really enjoy each other's company.

I'll be seeing my DM (who is in our support bubble), PIL and DB/SIL. I can't guarantee that they'll stick to that, but it's not for me to control their decisions. Not sure what to do about DP's siblings. Probably door step present drop offs. DP's family is much much larger than mine. There are usually 17 of us crowded into a tiny dining room on boxing day

What I've noticed is that a lot of women I know are prioritising their families over their in laws. A lot of parents with sons won't be seeing their children and grandchildren this Christmas, which is so sad.

We also need to keep the fact that we're meeting up a secret from my 91 year old grandmother, which is horrible but necessary.