Might sound odd but immediate family can’t come to us nor can they host us.
Again, sounds odd, but I find days like these almost to be ones I just want to do something completely different.
A fast? Would work for me but not for Mrs AC or kids.
Just do nothing?
Sort out those tasks which I don’t normally have time to tackle?
It’s really hard to describe but it’s a sobering day as we can’t all get to together as a family, and haven’t been able to do so for over a decade.
Fancy dinner and wine, why?
We rarely have turkey these days, but I wanted to cook a little bit for granny even if just for a sandwich in coming days.
Unusually, virtually all supermarkets locally had sold out of turkey/turkey crowns.
Aldi to the rescue late yesterday - frozen turkey breast with or without stuffing for around £6.75 - got one of each, took a bit to granny earlier who loved it. Relatively cheap and I’d be pretty happy with it warmed for dinner later.
Yes, a nice walk would be lovely but today impractical due to having to travel to see relatives.
In some ways I really like Christmas Day simply as it’s quieter on the roads and you simply cannot go to most shops as they’re closed, and any basics you could probably still pick up at a petrol station.
So a planned walk would be lovely provided you didn’t have to travel to see older relatives who couldn’t join you as they can’t even leave the house.
Xmas is a normal day for us. We have no kids, minimal extended family and Mrs W does not celebrate it for cultural reasons. I always offered to work when I could to allow others to have the day with their kids etc. Hence we have no personal traditions, and frankly no affection for Xmas. No decorations, no gifts.
I did some decorating today. Mrs W is visiting her elderly Dad 100 miles away. Simple.
The continued commercialisation of Christmas is something which always frustrated me.
I’d consider ourselves a Christian family, we should celebrate it, but the pressure in the modern world is something I dislike. Giving and seeing family is something which shouldn’t be prescribed to happen on a single day only when people can do so and are able. That said I’m a bit traditional and don’t like letting others down.
I hope you wife has had a great day with her dad - 100 years is an exceptional age - my maternal grandmother lived to get her card from the Queen and is a fond memory for us as it meant so much to her.
Certain times of year which many take for granted as family time are just not ‘holidays’ for those who work in the NHS/emergency services as well as many other public facing roles where there has to be core staffing all year.
He is 98 actually, but 100 miles away! She is visiting to give his carer a day off, but even if he did celebrate Xmas he doesn’t actually know what day it is. Hey ho.
I have avoided doing the usual Christmas stuff for many years (decades) and have mostly succeeded. As a veggie the food doesn’t appeal.
I have often worked on the day over the years and been abroad. Sometimes illness or injury has allowed me to avoid the day, but I don’t advise this route of escape, as it rarely just lasts for one or two days and can involve extensive involvement with the NHS, so at least in the UK, it is less bankrupting than doing Xmas. I can’t remember the last time I spent the day with my extended family for Christmas. I think I might have popped in for an hour or so to exchange presents and then headed home again, once in the last 10 years. This year, I visited my mum in the care home, but her dementia means she didn’t recognise me and probably forgot she had a visitor as soon as I was out of sight.
For dinner, I cooked a bowl of pasta and opened a bottle of nice wine, but this happens once a week normally; it has just changed the day this week, and I will likely finish the wine tomorrow. Now listening to some music on Qobuz as I type this, and will likely return to listening to vinyl shortly.
Yes. Because I have had work as normal every Xmas day since 2001 that hasn’t fallen on a weekend.
I spent all yesterday working through technical issues for several financial institutions. So yes, Xmas day made me really want to do something different.
Since being an adult with a partner our Christmas has generally been just us, along with our boys when they came along and then alone again when they got their families/partners.
Christmas eve we went to our eldest son and his partners immediate family was there, so a total of 17 of us, it’s incredibly tiring and a little stressful.
Since our boys left home we’ve on the whole had Christmas day by ourselves. Eldest son works in hospitality and works most Christmas days and youngest works in retail and travelling hours to us for one day isn’t worth it as boxing day sales start.
Therefore our Christmas days come down to what we want to do/eat/drink etc. No two years have been the same, except we try not to do anything like housekeeping/diy tasks….they can wait a day or two. Works for us.
