On Christmas Day I will......

Over the years Christmas and its various family 'traditions' have changed for us, as I'm sure they do for many GNs.

Older family have gone and new ones have been born. The changes have brought the odd tear.

I have found the best way to preserve my emotional well being and family harmony is to be flexible.

I hope DH and I will see DSs and their families at some point in the day, but have no expectations.

I'll pop on here to give Christmas good wishes.

x

I've had one Christmas on my own since my husband died and I hope it never happens again. I was determined to enjoy it and gave myself a treat every hour, cooked a special meal and had a drink or too. I did fairly well until the evening and then dissolved! And then on Boxing Day I realised that I would have to do it all again. It's not just the Day itself - we were always used to having extended festivities with all the family that would last all week.

This year I am hoping I shall be with son, dil and grandchild, but haven't actually been invited yet - they don't plan ahead, but the signs are good!

Oh, dear! I didn't read through the thread properly before posting and I do sound insufferably smug. I have a phobia (if that's the right word) about being alone at Christmas and it stems from way back, almost 70 years, when I was 6, cut off from my family, in hospital with pneumonia. Ever since then, I have clung to family and friends at Christmas. My family are all aware of this feeling and are happy to accommodate me.

With my DS2's family, I will probably be woken up by two large grandsons, itching to get their hands on the packages under the tree. DS and DiL will do most of the cooking though I might get the job of filling the veggie filo parcels for myself and DS. We may see DS1 and family although DiL's parents are intending to have a family gathering in a rented house somewhere in Wales, depending on their rather precarious state of health. Hopefully, somewhere along the line, senior DGD will turn up! I do enjoy Christmas with family as I don't have to do very much at all!

Well I shall definitely be checking in here on Christmas day. DH and I are alone which is the way he likes it (I don't) and it will be like a Sunday with bells on! I will be thinking of my Dad and family that cant (wont) be with us and I will cook up the usual Christmas storm in the kitchen even if its only us 2. I would quite like someone else to come for Christmas lunch though nothing like having someone else to appreciate your cooking. We have lived in this town for 5 years now and both engage in several social activities but I doubt we will get a single invitation. We have invited people to us but they are always 'busy'.

Good on you for doing this boheminan, and for portraying what it is like for some people.
I do think that it is one of those things, that unless you experience it for yourself, you dont properly appreciate what it is like.

If any grans lived near each other they could get together and have dinner in someone's house with everyone providing something.

sunseeker. Good on you. Have a wonderful time

I usually spend Christmas day alone, it normally starts with a cooked breakfast, then I open the few presents I have, think of DH - have a cry. Think of all the good times we had and how he could always make me laugh. Cheer up when I speak to my brother in Australia. Cook traditional lunch - which for some reason I always eat around 5.00 pm! Watch TV or put on some Christmassy DVD. I don't normally mind my own company but do find special days are hard.

This year will be different, I am off to Australia to help celebrate my mother's 90th birthday!!

boheminan do you have a friend or neighbour who is lonely - could you spend the day together?
If not, spoil yourself with some lovely food which you wouldn't normally eat and buy yourself a special treat - a present for yourself.

Although sometimes you can feel lonely in a crowd and it would have been better to be by yourself.

as there is no holly!

would love to have a sleigh ride

Hope you'll find some time amid your running around to join me on the sleigh

Being on my own on Christmas day does not really bother me as I have no family in England or Scotland any more and unfortunately friends are miles away. I can slob around, watch what I want on TV and if I want, have a boiled egg for lunch but I will buy something more up market in case I fancy it. Last year a friend of mine started to paint one of her bedrooms!

There is rarely much on TV for me but I can usually find a couple of programmes in the evening.

I will be down stairs at 7am to give OH his tablets , run in and out the shower , hope the carers will have time to say more than hello , give OH his breakfast , ring various sons and daughters to persuade them to talk to him grin vacantly at next lot of carers , might get a doggy bag from DD............... does that sound any better ?