Will you be cancelling your Christmas plans?

[Illy605]

With the impending news that the govt may do a U-turn on the relaxation of the rules over Christmas, will you be cancelling whatever you may have had planned with family and friends?!

I only ask as I’ve seen so many people posting on social media that there’s no chance they are cancelling now, this close to Christmas.

I must be in close contact with hundreds of people everyday due to my job, I travel from region to region- tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3. It just seems unreasonable that I might not be allowed to spend a day with a couple family members who are also out and about for work everyday.

I mean if someone is suffering with mental health problems, the last thing you want to do is to put them at risk of getting COVID and contribute to the general spread among the wider population.

@bendmeoverbackwards

I mean if someone is suffering with mental health problems, the last thing you want to do is to put them at risk of getting COVID and contribute to the general spread among the wider population.

Why would someone with MH issues be more at risk of covid and spreading to the wider population? Or have I misunderstood what you mean? My DB is struggling with his MH (understandably) after my SIL committed suicide a few weeks ago. There is not a one fits all situation

We will be sticking to just immediate family. We were going to have my brother who lives alone and could be classed as in our bubble but he’s decided against it. I can’t blame him, we will have student DD coming home from university and DH returning from the USA where he works, so we’re already mixing things. We’re looking to Easter now when some of us should have been vaccinated if they get through the age groups quickly. PIL got their first vaccinations yesterday so there is light at the end of their tunnel.

@Hangingwithmygnomies no I didn’t mean they would be at increased risk. I meant that a face to face visit could pose some risk of infection and also have a wider effect on the infection rate. Any travelling or visits with family has negative implications and might mean Covid is around for longer.

Sorry for your loss @Hangingwithmygnomies just heartbreaking

@bendmeoverbackwards thank you. Honestly if I didn't have children I think I would just forget Christmas altogether but they're so excited, so I have to dig deep for them and I don't really want my Dsis and DM at home feeling sad on their own. My DB has moved in with other DB for a while do he won't be on his own but it's so hard for him. Plus we lost my Grandad this year too (non covid) so first without him and several family members diagnosed with cancer. Just an absolute bastard of a year to be honest!
Ah I understand what you mean now. Should the rules change then I think my DM will cancel (she may well anyway) but we shall wait and see. We're only planning the one day and not five

No spoke to parents yesterday. Our glorious leader will just have to be disappointed with us. They were both of the opinion that you could get hit by a bus tomorrow. We lost one set of grandparents one year after the other at Christmas and new year. My mother is only just coming to terms with it, and her mental health would be considerably worsened of we didn't come. We are limiting contact with other in the run up to the five days.

@HappyWinter

Thank you!! I'll tell dad to open the windows! He'll probably moan haha ... have a nice Christmas xx

I mean if someone is suffering with mental health problems, the last thing you want to do is to put them at risk of getting COVID and contribute to the general spread among the wider population.

Sorry but you are talking bollocks. I work in mental health.

We have a family member who is a critical care nurse and due to their massive exposure to Covid-19 patients in hospital, it now seems unlikely they will be spending Christmas with anyone, even outdoors. They have been vaccinated but apparently no-one knows if that stops transmission or being infectious.
Very sad situations for critical care staff going on at the moment.

@treening

I mean if someone is suffering with mental health problems, the last thing you want to do is to put them at risk of getting COVID and contribute to the general spread among the wider population.

Sorry but you are talking bollocks. I work in mental health.

So is it about providing short term relief to symptoms?

This is on the Guardian website, on the latest covid news page. It's Rees-Mogg who should be ashamed of himself. If children are going hungry, they need feeding. He is the only one playing politics. He is so privileged that playing politics is the only thing he has to think about. He doesn't have the empathy to put himself in anyone else's position:

Rees-Mogg accuses Unicef of 'political stunt of lowest order' after it funds food aid in UK

In the Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons has accused Unicef of “playing politics” through its decision to spend money alleviating food poverty in the UK for the first time in its 70-year history as an aid organisation.

In response to a question about the development from Labour’s Zarah Sultana, he said:

"I think it is a real scandal that Unicef should be playing politics in this way when it is meant to be looking after people in the poorest, the most deprived, countries of the world where people are starving, where there are famines and where there are civil wars, and they make cheap political points of this kind, giving, I think, 25,000 to one council. It is a political stunt of the lowest order. Unicef should be ashamed of itself."

Oops, wrong page!

[quote Duemarch2021]@HappyWinter

Thank you!! I'll tell dad to open the windows! He'll probably moan haha ... have a nice Christmas xx[/quote]
Thanks, have a great Christmas!

No i shall be spending it with our eldest son, his wife, our grandchildren (2 of them) and our DiL mom. We are both widowed (yes youngish within a year of each other)

My eldest decided it was at their place this year so he had the control on who was there! My DiL mom usually does all the family get togethers as she has a big house. It would mean too many wanting to be their, hence we are at my eldest

Nope.

I/we finally cancelled yesterday. Earlier in this thread I mentioned I was considering it.
To be honest I've been in absolute agony of soul for the last few days. As I felt so guilty either way. I didn't want to disappoint anyone. But it was feeling increasingly unsafe to travel, and I want to be responsible.
The agony couldn't be prolonged. So I finally rang the set of family I had planned to Christmas bubble with, and to my very great relief, they were on the same page! We mutually agreed, and we'll do something lovely another time.
After so much anxiety, it's such a relief for a decision to have been made. Whichever we'd decided that would have been so.
Each to their own with this. The thing in my case is that Covid infection rates have skyrocketed in my area this last week. We're going into tier 3 on Saturday; and I'd have to use a lot of public transport to get there if I was going, and isolating before hand is impossible, due to ongoing commitments. So it just felt waaay too risky. It's one day, one year. It's OK.
But everyone's personal circumstances are unique, and everyone has different things to way up. to anyone still in the midst of making the choice. You have my empathy

I didn’t have any plans. My mum had a large satsuma sized cancer removed just prior to the second lockdown. She has a stoma, and this will hopefully be reversed February time. I have such enormous respect for the NHS, and I will be doing everything within my power to ease the burden on the NHS. The surgeon had to work 5 hours non stop on what was supposed to be a 3 hour op. She told us that during the first lockdown they wanted to pull her away from her cancer patients to help in Covid intensive care - but she refused. What baffles me - completely baffles me is the people who say ‘Ill take my chances, I’m fit and healthy”. It’s not about that - it’s about the people you spread it to when you are asymptomatic. It’s about whether you expect NHS care - and whether expect the people you infect to receive NHS care. It’s about the knock on effect that then has - on cancer screening, maternity services etc. My mums local hospital is on a critical level. For everyone considering flouting rules this Christmas, please don’t do it. Just one Christmas. We are planning a zoom party, we’ve done this before - we were all together for my mums birthday on Zoom ad it was lots of fun. I think we need to think of our community and not just our personal circumstances. Keep safe everyone x

Bless you @Wrecktal. Your post helped me confirm that I've made the right choice, to cancel my plans.
Yes, I reckon I'll be doing a fair bit of Zooming over Christmas this year!
You keep safe too and best wishes to you & your mum x

@WanderingFruitWonderer and bless you too - I think you’ve made a difficult choice, but the right choice. Our zoom party’s have been wonderful, and very funny. We’ve done quizzes, Lego challenges (e.g build a balloon propelled Lego car in 5 mins, the car that travels the furthest is the winner, every board game we can possibly adapt to zoom, we’ve given it a go). It’s about controlling the spread of the infection for all - yet so many people see it only in terms of their personal risk/circumstances. It completely baffles me why people don’t see this! Why???

Yes I'll be alone for Christmas but it is the right thing to do. Local hospital's ICU unit is full and they are implementing early discharge procedures as the hospital is under such strain. Our area has over 400 cases per hundred thousand. It isn't worth the risk.

I think I'll hit the champagne early and snooze through the day 🍾

I’m afraid I see a lot of people blaming others without taking personal responsibility for their actions. We need to start looking a bit deeper within ourselves, how this pandemic is our fault - our over consumerism has led to a loss of biodiversity/ecosystems/humans interacting more with animals. And there will be more pandemics to come if we don’t consider the implications of our behaviour.

@KatherineJaneway thank goodness that you ‘get it’! You’re a hero - restores my faith in humanity!

Those Zoom ideas sound wonderful @Wrecktal. Thank you. You've inspired me to do some seriously creative Zooming! So many possibilities. Yes, it was an exceptionally difficult decision. But now it's been made, I have a sense of peace, that I hadn't had for days. Yes, we all need to consider wider society. I hope Covid will increase a sense of looking out for everyone more, including those we've never met, nor ever will meet. We'll see...
@KatherineJaneway yes, it'll be a lovely cat and me this Christmas Day now. No other humans. I'm going to fully embrace it, and am determined to make it a lovely day. Champagne and sleep sounds great! I think it may be chocolate and Netflix for me!
I think there are so many of us out there spending Christmas alone this year for the first time, that it kind of feels like we're alone together (if that doesn't sound too corny?!) I feel a sense of solidarity with others, like you, who've made the same choice. We're looking out for our loved ones by staying away from them.
Merry (if slightly unusual) Christmas to one and all, whatever decision you each make

@WanderingFruitWonderer

It'll be me and two cats. They'll be happy as it was too late to cancel my turkey order so all the more for them

I know what you mean about being alone together. It'll be tough but I'll muddle through like everyone else.