Xmas (1 Viewer)

[Ivory55]

How many are getting ready and looking forward to that legal requirement of having one lot of parents for Xmas then the other the following Xmas, and they keep a diary of days and hours they get to check the other is not getting more time. Really looking forward to it, haha

 

[32143]

Fortunately we both have siblings who cover it

 

[Chris]

We broke that trend about 10 years ago.

These days we have Xmas on our own and visit the parents for a weekend each in the run up to Xmas.

You stay sane that way

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[gus-lopez]

Unfortunately mine have long since died ,as has my father-in-law , God rest him.
Fortunately mother-in-law is hated by all & everyone & I have only seen her a few times in my life. Even the wife doesn't come for Christmas when there treble bubble available.

 

[pappajohn]

Anyone at a loose end with nobody to invite then please feel free to ask.
My 93yo MIL is a bloody pain but we get landed with her every year.....ill even deliver.

 

[DiggerJon]

Ah yes! Christmas, the holiday that divides families!
Me? A country hotel with a good friend who is also avoiding family, good food, expensive wines and wonderful service...
I've got the rest of the year to be nice to families, and staying away, I'm out of their hair and can enjoy seeing them at a less frantic time of year.

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[martin2603]

Yes Papa John I know the feeling,
She has two sons also , one of whom is desperately disappointed when he realises that he has forgotten to ask her!, and once again she is planted upon us!

I look forward to disappearing for the festive period to somewhere warm, I fear I may still have some time to wait.

 

[MitchandJenny]

All gone, so just me and she, and we LIKE it !!!!
Too expensive to go some where warm over the festive period, so we will do something afterwards....

 

[The Dudess]

I'm dreading it!! MIL has decided that she won't travel anymore and therefore won't be coming to us for Christmas. Normally when we visit her we stay on a campsite in the van within a few miles of her house and everytime I cook for us in the van. She can't (won't?) cook so if we go to her my only options are to cook Christmas dinner in the van (not really an option with the pathetic cooker in the van) or to cook Christmas dinner for us at her house. Don't fancy either to be honest but she is 87 so I will have to make concessions. And, just in case anyone suggests, we have no intention of paying pub/restaurant exhorbitant prices for Chistmas dinner. Can you tell I'm a bit grumpy about it?

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[davidbaldam]

We never started the dreaded tradition telling our parents that we wanted to start our own Christmas traditions, now the kids have flown the nest it's great just the two of us, although it did take awhile to get there.

 

[scousebird]

Have the in-laws coming to us for Christmas, my parents are gone. We normally have quite a good time!

 

[Reallyretired]

All our parents and in-laws are no longer with us. Kids don't live with us but we have 3 sons, one daughter in law, one grandson and probably an ex brother in law for Xmas with us.

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[Granjan]

Would love to roll back the years and have my mum and dad back for christmas dinner, mother in law was lovely too. Just hoping that the scroogy (!) grumpy one we have left will keep himself out of hospital this year, spent last 2 out of 3 there on his death bed! Love a house full at christmas, wouldn't like it any other way. Will need a holiday when it is over though.

 

[TheBig1]

both my mum and m-i-l have died in the last few months, leaving us as the oldies. sister and b-i-l both died on the run up to last christmas, so this year we are gathering as many of the family together to make sure this one is memorable for the right reasons. doing this in our childhood home (me and remaining sister) as it will likely be sold in the coming year

looking forward to christmas though as it will put a few ghosts to rest and we all intend to see it as a turning point and look to the future

 

[Ivory55]

I guess one of the things that makes Xmas better if they are less demanding . Some are harder work then others.

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[Shrimp]

We 'camp' on the road-in the MoHo-outside parents in law and I cook Xmas for them. This year may be a bit dodgy as he's in hospital and she's just had knee done! At least it doesn't last long!

 

[scotjimland]

Would love to roll back the years and have my mum and dad back for christmas dinner

yes indeed.. likewise.. Jan and I have no parents alive to ask around, .. .. we still miss them all ..

with no parents, aunts or uncles left alive.. am now the family elder.. it's a sobering thought.

 

[Granjan]

We jokingly call the sofa "death row at christmas" only three octogenarians left in our extended families then its us too!

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[Doctor Dave]

We have the pleasure of going to son / daughter for Christmas, they generally take it in turns. We had our invitation for Christmas in July this year so they must want us. It is only for the day though as all the family live within a few miles.


Have a happy Christmas everyone, what ever you are doing.


Dave

 

[Ivory55]

We told our son he is under no obligation at all for Xmas , as we know what it's like. He usually does Xmas but new year no way.

 

[jockaneezer]

FIL had two hobbies, going to work and complaining about going to work. When he retired, he was in a complete vacuum so became a jehova's witness (I know, Oh Please!)
Christmas day comes around and he turns up uninvited, so we ask him to stop for lunch. I still have this vision of him sat at the table wearing his Christmas cracker hat, tucking into the festive works on his plate, gravy dripping off his chin, explaining to us how this is all wrong.
Luckily the old barsteward's in hospital with a broken hip this year, it's our Christmas miracle !

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[marrod23]

I'm looking forward to xmas we shall be in Benidorm he! he!

 

[scotjimland]

@jockaneezer I know I shouldn't.. but best laugh in ages

 

[Popeye]

I'd give anything to be able to have my Dad back with us at Christmas, since we lost my mum he spent every Christmas with us up until his death several years ago. It would be nice to visit the outlaws too, sadly not to be.

We will be with my Eldest for 25th December (not Christmas day you understand) and we're having my youngest boy and his family on Boxing Day, then we might just pop off in the van for a while.

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[Ivory55]

We live 2.5 to 3hrs away from mum and she lives on her own. I said to her you never offer us a cup of tea or even put the kettle on ! Her answer was why should I, nobody makes me a cup of tea. You can guess why we look forward to Xmas

 

[laird of Dunstan]

my parents are no longer with us , we will have the inlaws around and a friend who has no family left , one daughter will come round ours for dinner , the other fell out with me last Christmas , true what has been said about families falling out at xmas

 

[buttons]

My eldest son is over from the US for Christmas which we always look forward to. Not sure what we will be doing for dinner though. The last two years we have all gone out for our Christmas dinner but not made up our minds yet for this year.

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[Wildbill]

This year we are having Christmas with just us three every year we host our sun and his wife with the children.
They were not getting on and Christmas's day ended up a disaster
so this year we are cooking for us.
as we always get left with the tiding up and very little appreciation of the work that go's in to it.
BILL

 

[Minxy]

We always made a point in the past of telling everyone that Christmas Day was ours! After all the frantic running around etc leading up to it, it was usually the first 'relaxing' day we got at home so no guests/visitors/family ... no-one! We did make phone calls though to see if others liked their presents and thank them for ours. My brother always had my Dad for Christmas Day (he had disavowed me!) and my Mum on Boxing Day (they were separated) and this went on for a long while and we always, every single year, without fail had my hubby's parents and my Mum round for New Year's Day, this was until one year my Mum was invited to my brother's as they weren't going to be home over Christmas as they were going to their son's in Leeds instead. It was a bit 'annoying' because they knew we'd always done 'New Year's Day' at our house for them all but it wasn't worth getting hot and bothered about, so we just arranged for them to come round one Sunday early in the new year instead.

In more recent years we've had my Mum round for Christmas Day, although she does protest ... she always says she wants to be at home but feels she 'should' go to one of her kids although it's only me or my brother who ever invited her (there's 5 of us in total). We are happy to have her as she's not demanding and is quite happy to just watch her soaps, or have a natter, or play board games/cards, so it has always been quite a relaxed day for us all and she doesn't feel she has to put on 'airs and graces' as she does with my snooty brother! Then last year my brother decided to 'elbow us out' again by inviting Mum round for Christmas Day instead of Boxing Day; as my Dad died 3 years ago they had Christmas Day 'spare' ... no 'though' given to the fact that we had always had her round for quite a few years ... she felt that she 'had' to accept to keep him happy (we'd had a horrid time with him when my Dad died but that's a whole other story). So last year we were on our own again ... not a problem we just relaxed and slobbed around and then rang Mum up afterwards to see how she'd got on at my brothers and to tell her how lovely our dinner had been - hubby cooks it and does a stonking meal and he also loves doing it ... he must be mad! We had saved her some though and took it round the following day so she didn't miss out on a proper Christmas dinner as there was no comparison to the 'bare bones' dinner that my brother served-up, consisting of rubber turkey, Aunt Bessie's Yorkshire puddings and lots of 'pre-made' shop stuff (just heated up then stuck in bowls to try to make it seem 'home made' ... trust me it doesn't work!).

This year we're going to spend Christmas/New Year at our second 'new to us' static (I'll tell you about that another day) and are looking forward to it ... we had intended to stay there last time but events conspired to stop us going which was a shame as some of the permanent residents were looking forward to us joining in with them, so this year we ARE going regardless of anything else going on! Really looking forward to it and that's saying something as I never ever thought I would as I do NOT like Christmas (lots of bad memories!) ...

 

[big map]

When our children and my brothers children were little (we both had the eldest two on the same day) we went to our parents for Christmas Day (Hubby's Mum was invited and SIL parents too) and then they would come to one of us on Boxing Day.

When Mum and Dad divorced we would have one of them on Christmas Day and the other on Boxing Day and my brother would do the reverse. (It was quite comical looking back phoning up telling brother Dad was on his way so he could shuffle Mum out of the door so there were no embarrassing doorstep encounters.) When they both had new partners it gave us all the opportunity to say go wherever you want and do whatever you want. Open house but we wont be offended if you choose to go somewhere else.

Then in 2002 on the 20th December our Mum became very ill, very suddenly and by the 23rd December they suggested that they should withdraw life support, my brother and I sat in the hospital for 3 or 4 days (and nights) with our Dad dropping in to check we were OK and bring extra quality street and roses for us and the nursing staff. Dad and Beth (Dads wife) "did" Christmas for everyone making the best of it for all the grandchildren.

Since then we have not had a routine, we have gone to Dads, they have come to us, they have gone to my brothers, Beth's son has since got married so they have had his wife's parents, they have gone to his house. Our children are now in their early twenties they have been skiing or working for Christmas. They are growing up and moving on (new partners, new locations). I must admit to being upset when we were let down by Parcel Monkey in getting our sons parcel of presents to him the first year he was in alpe d'huez but following my facebook campaign they came good.

Life goes on, life changes. Merry Christmas everyone whatever you are doing and whoever you are with.

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