Anyone doing Christmas alone?

[RoxMonster]

With just your H?

This is our first year doing so. We visited family this weekend for Christmas with them, but since H works today and Wed. and our families live 2.5 hours away, we decided to just stay home alone. Last year we traveled and it was hectic, chaotic, and no fun. I don't even feel like we got quality time with either of our families because of the rush (Christmas Eve night with H's family and family friends, Christmas morning with H's immediate family, over to my parents' house for Christmas with them late morning/early afternoon, then drove 45 min. to H's grandparents THEN still had to drive 2.5 hours back home that night.) Yeah no thanks.

I am a little sad to not wake up at a family member's house and have a bunch of people around, but at the same time, we got that this weekend. I think we're doing gifts in the morning, cinnamon rolls for breakfast, then cooking a big meal for just us two while putting gifts together and not getting out of our PJs. I am excited to have a relaxed day, but a little sad and missing family. Anyone else in that boat? Do you prefer Christmas alone or with lots of family?

[mcfelix]

We did this one year and I hated it. I literally was sobbing to my husband at one point during the day. For me, holidays mean spending time with family. Keep in mind we don't have family living near us, so we have never had to deal with driving all around to different homes on any holiday.

This Christmas my parents are staying with us so it will just be the 4 of us celebrating. That's fine with me - I just feel like my husband and I see each other all the time so we should make sure holidays are spent with family if possible. Perhaps when we have children I will feel differently though!

[bunnymendelbaum]

I'm due in 13 days and our families live 9-11 hours away so we are staying home. It's just me, DH & DD.
Honestly, I'm bored and I miss my family & the chaos.

[Deleted]

We're home on Christmas too!
I'm not the least bit sad about it. I'm looking forward to it! Tonight we already went to church and then H headed to the barn to work for a bit. We're going to cook prime rib, shrimp, potatoes etc. when he gets in and enjoy ourselves. In the meantime I'm watching the yule log and having wine. I haven't been this relaxed in a long time!

Tomorrow I have egg bake, cinnamon rolls etc for breakfast then we're going to do presents and play with our stuff. At night we're doing apps and some friends of Hs in town might swing by.

It's a bit weird becuase usually we're at my grandma's tonight, but she died in June tragically. We had early Christmas in her honor over the weekend. I just assume grandma wouldn't want me to be sad and lonely so I'm not. We had Christmas with family (limo ride to see lights, tons of beer, church, lunch and presents over the weekend), my extended dad's family next Sunday and Hs whole family on New Year's day. I'm happy for the break and one thing at a time mentality this year. I think if it was every year I'd be sad to TBH but it's good every few years.

[sjh722]

I'm hiding in a guest room. I wish I was home (at my house, not my parents).

My dad is a recently recovering alcoholic who is INCREDIBLY NEEDY, I think my mom's headed for a breakdown, and my brother's girlfriend who is 17 years older than him is making things incredibly awkward.

Also, there are no groceries in the house. Like, none. I should pip the refrigerator for you. There is a pasta salad in there and a gallon of milk.

And now my little sister has found me and she is irate and also crying.

I am about to lose it.

[peach]

You and your sister need to sneak out. Take a drive, get burgers at a drive thru. And then scream the whole way home so you can put on a smile when you get back.

[Deleted]

Dec 24, 2012 19:52:11 GMT -5 sjh722 said:

I'm hiding in a guest room. I wish I was home (at my house, not my parents).

My dad is a recently recovering alcoholic who is INCREDIBLY NEEDY, I think my mom's headed for a breakdown, and my brother's girlfriend who is 17 years older than him is making things incredibly awkward.

Also, there are no groceries in the house. Like, none. I should pip the refrigerator for you. There is a pasta salad in there and a gallon of milk.

And now my little sister has found me and she is irate and also crying.

I am about to lose it.

OMG! I'm so sorry. That sucks for you. Can you and your sister order Chinese and pull out a board game/movie...just to ease the tension a bit? I don't even know what to tell you.

[sjh722]

Update - there are appetizers; apparently my normal brother and sister got them earlier and there is some party food in the garage.

My mom found me. The jig is up. I should probably go join the "party".

I feel like trailer trash. What is up with what used to be my normal family? Ugh.

I am debating about what the earliest time we can leave tomorrow is.

ETA: for comparisons sake, this is worse than the previous "worst Christmas" in which we all had norovirus on Christmas day, one week after I had back surgery.

[peach]

If you read this later SJH - I am sorry I hope the night improves once you get some food into you. At least being pregnant gives you an excuse to go to bed early and to be "So tired" you head home early.

[Deleted]

Dec 24, 2012 20:06:53 GMT -5 sjh722 said:

Update - there are appetizers; apparently my normal brother and sister got them earlier and there is some party food in the garage.


I feel like trailer trash. What is up with what used to be my normal family? Ugh.

You are not alone in this sentiment. I feel like that a lot. I'm just glad my sister is also sane and can help me pull stuff together.

Ever since my grandma died my mom is just "off." It's a long story, but sometimes you just have to move on you know. And I love my brother, but intense is the best word for him.

[pumpkin]

Oh no, SJH. I hope your holiday gets better and you can find some way to deal with your family and still maintain your sanity.

I too am hiding in my room. My mom insisted that we be here at x time. For what reason I'm not sure. We're all just doing our own thing right now. Later we're doing dinner and going to a candlelight service, but until then i guess we're all just here. Which would be great if we only got to see each other every now and then, but there are only 4 of us (mom, dad, younger sister, and me) and we see each other pretty regularly since we all live within 30-45 minutes. So not why is was insisted on that we be here so early.

And the ex-H and I never did Christmas alone. We lived too close to our families to be able to do that. It was always a whirlwind between my family and his.

[heygrey]

We've done Christmas completely alone in the past and I don't really like it. We're visiting friends tomorrow, I'm excited.

[auntie]

SJH, that sounds awful. Just not fun.

I'm doing nuclear Christmas- it was DH, DS and I last night. Today will be more of the same until dinner when my crazy niece and her BFF swing by for homemade pizza, beer and wine.

DH's parents are gone, his brothers are 700 miles away in opposite directions, my sister is passed, my parents moved to FL for the winter. I grew up on an open house with 75 people Christmas Day, so an empty house took a while to embrace. I try to spend quality time with my good friends during the week and focus on who is here rather than who isn't on the actual day.

[sillygoosegirl]

It's just us this year. I've liked doing out own thing for Christmas in the past. But this year it really doesn't feel like Christmas. We didn't get a tree or anything. We hardly got each other any gifts. I don't know where my Christmas CDs are. Aside from the eggnog in the fridge, you wouldn't know it was Christmas.

However, skipping Christmas will all be worth it when we get the keys to our new house tomorrow and can start moving in. Assuming we actually do. The second seller (they are divorced) was supposed to sign the papers yesterday, but we never got confirmation that happened. I'm gonna try really hard not to go nuts today worrying about that.

[prazenjc]

Dec 24, 2012 20:06:53 GMT -5 sjh722 said:

Update - there are appetizers; apparently my normal brother and sister got them earlier and there is some party food in the garage.

My mom found me. The jig is up. I should probably go join the "party".

I feel like trailer trash. What is up with what used to be my normal family? Ugh.

I am debating about what the earliest time we can leave tomorrow is.

ETA: for comparisons sake, this is worse than the previous "worst Christmas" in which we all had norovirus on Christmas day, one week after I had back surgery.

i miss what used to be my normal family, too. i remember back when i was single for years (didn't marry until i was 34), my siblings were all finding love and marrying and having kids. now 2 of the 4 have divorced (or soon will be divorced), my brother is a dead-beat dad and has cut all of us off, except for my mother and the other ex-brother-in-law has decided he's gay, or is trying that out while his bi-polar meds aren't affordable and he isn't taking them. before all of this i used to go home for Christmas and was a favorite aunt, spoiling all my neices & nephews and enjoying the season thru them. now that i have my own LO and soon to have another, i want to experience that normalcy for them. sadly, it isn't to be the case. i hope your experience got better since last night SJH!

we are having our 1st Christmas with just the 3 + of us at home. it has been okay. the joy of experiencing Christmas through a 2.5 year old's experience is wonderful, but short lived w/just one of them so far. DH is making a lovely meal today of lamb, ginger potatoes & spinach salad. i might even enjoy a sip of the pinot noir we purchased to go with the lamb.

[hbomdiggity]

It's just the two of us and the dog. It's a little sad but my parents sent lots of gifts so it has been nice. FaceTime has helped too.

[mrs.jacinthe]

We do Christmas alone every year. We used to travel in the winter and do a christmas celebration with each family, but its just too expensive since we moved out here. I really like it. We sleep in, open stockings, eat breakfast, then spend literally the whole day on skype with various family members, opening gifts as we go. Then we order and pick up chinese food and stay up late watching elf. Overall, I find it less stressful than wintertime travel and dealing with our various family members.