i am dreading working xmas....getting anxious about it already

[ThatVikRinA22]

i know...i know....

i signed up to do a job that involves 24/7 working.

i work shifts. i work long long hours. and i worked very very very hard to get this job.

but i have never had to work xmas before, my kids (although older, DS will be 20 and DD 14) are dreading it. i am dreading it already.... DH is trying his best to make me feel better....i am on a night shift on xmas day, and working until 3am on xmas morning (from xmas eve - im working a sort of half night shift - and ive no doubt it will be horrifically busy).....means i wont get much time with the family on xmas day, wont really be able to eat a xmas dinner (or wont feel like going to work) and there is absolutely no way i can get it off. i am working the same night shift on boxing day.

i am feeling quite fed up about it. its like xmas this year is written off for me. and next year im working it aswell, (though next year is a day shift so not quite so crap....

im also working new years.

how can i feel better about it? i cant get it off so i just have to make the most of it, but really work is the very last place i want to be - i love xmas. i love being with my family and im feeling sad about it already.

how do you get over working over what in my head should be family time?

"i love being with my family"

I've worked Christmas for as long as I can remember. It's just another day - there is nothing special or magical about it. Your family will be there on the 24th December as well as the 26th and a few more days around that time as well.

If you finish your night shift get to bed and up at midday. Go out for Chirstmas lunch to make it easier then squeeze a few more hours kip in before work.

Where there is will there is a way.

It's not that bad, really. I've worked Christmases many a time and will be this year. Sleep in the morning for a bit, get up, have a few hours with your family, eat a medium sized dinner and think how slim you will be in the New Year compared with everyone who has been pigging out all over Christmas

Yes, it would be lovely to be at home with family every year but you do get used to it and unfortunately it does come with the territory.

I'm a nurse, not a police officer but still shifts. I work nights and on our ward they ask for volunteers so for the last couple of years I have done xmas eve into christmas day and boxing day into the next day. Then I get a bit of time with my boys and work are happy I am doing my bit. It is better I think asking what people want to work. People are generally pretty good at volunteering IME. Especially if you know that you will get allocated shifts anyway so may as well state a preference.

My mum is never happy because they live 2 hours away and I never see them for christmas, but we always go up the weekend before and nothing much pleases my mum

i know its just another day, in my head, but my heart goes into christmas mode and i get as excited and daft as the kids used to....i know its silly, its just that i never get time off with DH, and he always gets a couple of days off at christmas, and this year i wont....

i feel like slapping myself! i mean - boo sodding hoo really! in the great scheme of things its nothing and its not like my kids are tiny....

but i just feel so bad about it. ill be glad when its over tbh....and i can stop whittering....

Vicar - my dad was shift worker. For the most part he always was very lucky and managed to get Christmas off (it was ballotted) but he did have to work the odd one or two and when I was a bit older (teens so around the same age as your DC2) he would occassionally volunteer to work Xmas because that way he got to chose the shift so he could chose foreshift or nightshift rather than end up being balloted on the dayshift which is much worse! TBH those Christmases are some of the most memorable. We made it work. We got up at some odd hours to open pressies so that my dad could share it with us and we ate dinner at a slightly different times to normal. to fit around his sleep and mum and I going back to bed at strange hours! My dad had a couple of hours less sleep than usual (but nothing mad like staying awake for 20 hours) and it was all fine.

Honestly the hours that you are due to work can really still work out really well for you with just a bit of switching around of what is probably your traditional Christmas Day timetable.

Could you possibly move 'christmas' for your family so do the presents and big lunch on the day after boxing day?

It really is not so bad. I know my work is different but Christmas is generally more relaxed and laid back than at other times of the year and it can be quite nice.

Like Sarah said you just do things differently. Last Christmas morning my ds's opened their stocking pressies when they woke up and then opened the rest when I got home. They didn't mind waiting, they were great. Then they played with their toys while I slept for a bit.

Ds1 wrote a short piece at school about his Christmas holidays which he brought home at the end of term, it was lovely. He talke about his Christmas with such joy, it really couldn't have bothered him less that I had to work.

It is hard working Christmas Day, We've managed a restaurant for years and my eldest is 13 and we've never had a full day together. We just have pressies early and Xmas dinner at 6ish when finished. But its not the end of the world! Its the people who won't take jobs because they don't want to work BHols and wends etc. that really annoy me. If you want to be part of society get a job, don't be fussy and don't claim benefits unless you really need to! Your kids won't hold it against you you are setting a good example.

I wouldn't worry about it too much - we have the same thing in our family, and we just have multiple Christmases!