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?

My mum had chemo last Xmas and couldn't eat, was laid up on the sofa thinking she would die.

This year is her and her 3 adult children (all moved out so separate households) so yes we will break it. Be sensible before and after and no see anyone else and frankly I don't view it as government remit to tell me we can't do this.

No. We may see one - DHs parents. I don't want to risk the health of my grandparents or my mum, who are the only people would usually see.

We will have my DM who is in our bubble and probably FIL and step MIL as our bubble. By only have 1 other household DM can choose to have one other if she chooses. DH and DD will see MIL and her husband socially distanced within the rules allowed in what ever tier we are in.

Possibly. But not at the same time, or necessarily in the same location.
Have a bubble with a vulnerable friend, so can do friend +ILs for Christmas.
Could then do a different day with my sibling and their family. Possibly outdoors, weather depending.

My support bubble (my single parent household plus my parents) will spend Christmas together and my girls' dad (one further single person household, obviously in a bubble with us already, but not my parents) will join us for one meal. So I guess that's 2 households....

We are a largish family (brother sister partners our children and our dad) and will meet on Christmas Day and Boxing Day but that is it. We may do a drive by for extended family and say hi from the end of their driveways.

I'm going to be a complete geek here and reply to my own post but after a bit of searching then, in England, a support bubble does count as one household even for the purposes of Christmas bubbling

Based on this we will be sticking to the 3 households

We all live fairly local to each other too so we are not travelling too far.

We'll be sticking to the rules, opening windows and changing rooms regularly. No point in taking stupid risks when the vaccine is so close.

Yeah, we will stick to it. Means I won't see my family at all over Christmas this year for the first time ever but it's just this year (hopefully) and I'm sure will have a nice time in a bubble of 3 households with the in-laws (we haven't checked they are still happy with this yet though!), otherwise we will stay home and I'm sure that will be lovely too. My 3 year old will be excited wherever we are!!

Going to get flamed, but we’ll be having DP’s family over - 5 or 6 households in total 😬
DP’s mum and dad are late 80’s, his dad is nearly 90, and Christmas is his favourite time of the year (he starts planning for it in Feb, with hand drawn Christmas cards printed out by then, crackers and all presents bought by Sept, etc)
There’s no way on earth they would ‘cancel’ Christmas, despite knowing the risks.
In their eyes, they’d rather get the virus (knowing they’ve maybe only got a few years left anyway) than miss seeing their 3 children, grandchildren and great grandchild.
To them, it’s worth the risk.

We're going to stay with my mum who is a widow and won't be seeing anyone else over the 5 days, we'll also visit in-laws who are the same. We'll see my dad socially distanced outside.

We've seen my mum and dad once during 2020 and my in-laws I think we've seen 3 times so we'd like to spend time with them but as socially distanced as possible.

We are having 4 households together over Christmas. None will be seeing anyone else and I think it might actually still be within the rules because one of the households is my DSis and her DH who have a child under 1 so will be eligible to form a support bubble with my other DSis when those new rues come in.

@ChloeCrocodile

We are having 4 households together over Christmas. None will be seeing anyone else and I think it might actually still be within the rules because one of the households is my DSis and her DH who have a child under 1 so will be eligible to form a support bubble with my other DSis when those new rues come in.

Yep that is allowed with the support bubble 😀

No. Hoping to see none.

We break the rules every week by having 2 childcare bubbles (my parents and DH's parents). We can't both work otherwise. No other spaces available locally for childcare atm. So I'll be seeing both of those. Technically won't be breaking the rules for once.

No but then we weren’t planning on seeing more than just the two sets of parents anyway

We've been living very differently since February, doing our bit to reduce the spread.

There's been a little socialising here and there since March, but always outside, low numbers and our rule is "do we need to?"

We've done our level best to be part of the solution rather than exacerbate the problem.

So we will neither hold, nor attend, one of the millions of potential Super-Spreader events on December 25th.

There's no way it's safe to spend hours or days with older family members indoors unless you all self-isolate for two weeks beforehand.

And we love our families more than we love Christmas.

@Megan2018

We will stick to the rules. It’s one Christmas in a lifetime that won’t be what people might want- people who can’t cope with that need to get a bloody grip

Agreed. But I grew up mostly with Christmas without extended family and don't see it as the be all and end all. I dislike tradition for traditions sake. I much prefer bigger family gatherings in the summer or Easter weekend.

We don't live near siblings, parents or Inlaws and winter driving over christmas and carting presents across the country is always a pain. However, it's perfectly possible to enjoy Christmas day just within your own household, if you're not alone. My parents would normally be coming to us this year but it doesn't seem worth the risk. DH is a teacher, DDs will have been at school, we will have seen friends - any of them could be + by them. I'm planning spring/Easter gatherings instead. Not that far away.

Not even seeing one, apart from a distance socialised walk. It's utter madness for families to mix and there will be a price to pay.

I'm staying at home with DP (he lives alone and I am a single parent). DC are with their Dad Xmas Eve (which will probably be a 2-3 household meeting for that bubble) to Xmas Day evening then back home probably till they return to school on 4th January. My mum, 62 and non-vunerable
may come over on 27th so I am technically only mixing with one other household as the DC are part of two bubbles, mine and their Dads.

I hope people can live with potentially infecting their vunerable relatives for the sake of a turkey dinner because

We will be seeing who we want but are lucky we can do it in a safe manner. All are WFH no DC of school age (few babies) so very little mixing. Isolating for week prior to Christmas then booked in for private covid test and once results are in go home. We will be x5 households.

I’m in the south east and have been following lockdown as we did in the spring and haven’t seen anyone and have only been out for walks with my 5 month old. However my husband who works in London keeps saying as you have said that no one is following the rules and things are like normal. People down our road seem to have visitors at the weekend etc, lady opposite with 2 small children has had what looks like 2 other mums with prams visit her today and the rest of my family and in laws are all at work carrying on like normal so feel like the odd one out!

I don’t want to form a bubble with anyone, so my choice would be just DH and DC’s at home this Christmas. It’s been a tough old year, we’ve both (thankfully) kept working (at home), but have worked long hours, I’m exhausted already and just want to relax this Christmas without worrying whether I’m infecting or being infected by, anyone.

If i travel i will see my parents and brother and his family. I'm still undecided if to see them indoors and might stay in a hotel rather than at my parents. If i'm going there then I would like to see a couple of friends but can keep that to just outdoors. I'm leaving the decision up to my parents as my dad was on the shielding list so he's at the biggest risk of catching it. That said, I'm working from home and probably at very low risk of taking it with me. My brother's family will be the biggest risk of spreading it due to schools and nursery so I'm tempted to stick to outdoors with them too!