What I will do differently next Christmas

I will be trying to have Christmas alone next year. I have no wish to get involved in all the "dodgy relationships and complaints central" any more!

Someone mentioned a Christmas picnic on the shore. I think that would be just wonderful.

I will buy less food. I say this every year, and I never listen to myself
I will get all the presents bought by the end of November, instead of a last minute rush, frantically checking 'last order dates for Christmas' online.

I ended up throwing half a turkey out yesterday. DH and I couldn't face another mouthful. I know it's wasteful and I could have make curries and stews for the freezer but to be honest we don't even like it that much. Next year I will definitely buy a smaller bird and insist that my parents take the leftovers home with them.

oh dear sugarpuff there is something about families getting together at Christmas that either brings out the best or the worst in them. I guess at least it keeps you entertained.

I will eat and drink less!!!

I'm ok with the turkey size and 'proper' food. I thought I'd done well cutting down on the nibbles but.....
Two tubs Pringles, after eights, genoa cake, cashew nuts all unopened and a virtually full bag of celebrations. So even more cut backs next year.
Cards, presents, wrapping all completed in good time.

Next year I would like to go away for Xmas. Preferable abroad or to a hotel.
My daughter this year cooked in their house which has a tiny kitchen. She was stressed out the whole time and therefore we didn't really enjoy ourselves very much. Also, we had volunteered to do the washing up which seemed never ending. So all in all, it was hard work and boring.
The only thing I enjoyed was playing with my new four month old grandson.

Problem will be next year, when I suggest my partner and I want to do something different. I know she won't like it.
Also I have refused to cook anymore xmas dinners at mine, after forty odd years of doing it, I have had enough. Perhaps I am of an age where I just don't enjoy xmas anymore.

At the end of Boxing Day we divvy up the leftover bird, puding, panattonne, cake etc so that each family has a share and takes home a manageable quantity.

Between Xmas Eve and 27th I appear to have unwittingly offended both my youngest DS and one of my oldest friends. Long story attached to each but my fault (apparently). So having spent a couple of days trying to smooth things am tempted to book a get away abroad next Xmas. Had a lovely day on the 25th with my DD but am now worried about my older DS's drinking and marriage. Oh for a stress free holiday!

I entirely agree with you Victoria, after 40 + years of doing Christmas I find I too have had enough but dread what the DD will say if we decide to go away for Christmas next year. However, time to start thinking about ourselves. Anything to avoid the stress again next year. I must be one of the few people who actually lost weight over Christmas!

Hopefully we will have Christmas dinner in my daughters home , that's if she shifts her @rse and finds one that she can afford and vacates my spare bedroom we've loved having her after she finally left her partner of 27yrs but hosting lunch for her 4 plus partners in our tiny house is fabulous but bedlam...

We spent Christmas with just the two of us ...on the beach..dinner in the slow cooker ..national trust membership for family members ..easy ..no hassle

i love everything about Christmas and, fortunately, my daughter does too [especially good as she now lives with me] so we won't do anything different next Christmas.
we'll buy the same amount of food and nibbles as we have done this year and stuff ourselves silly - she doesn't drink but I do so there'll be no change there either.
so it'll be no change and Christmas [well the planning] will start in October as usual.

I think I'll hibernate

Sudden change of plans meant being in a small cottage a long way from home for Christmas. We took lots of pre-prepared food but I'm ashamed to say quite a lot of stuff was thrown away (couldn't really deal with left-overs in the tiny kitchen). Next year, if we go away, it will be planned a bit more in advance! At least we were able to see GS which made all the effort worthwhile. Looking forward to sleeping in my own bed again!

This year there was just the two of us. No charging about to see relatives, peace and calm on Christmas Day, no family rows,lovely dinner and so far, not thrown anything away. As mr punch says "that's the way to do it".

I will be doing exactly the same spending Christmas with my children and grandchildren. I think I've mentioned before my daughters live literally next door to each other so have shared hosting meals in both houses and on Christmas Eve we all prepped and cooked together. I appreciate you might be fed up if you've always cooked but so what if it helps you all have a better Christmas. I can't help feeling that a daughter with a 4 month old baby isn't the best person to expect to cater for you, think how tired you were when you'd not long given birth. Sorry if it's controversial but if you are in position to be wanted at Christmas by your family and have the chance to spend it with them I think you should consider how lucky you are . Why on earth would you want to go away instead I can't think of anything worse

I'd love DH and I to go away for Christmas but that would mean either leaving DS alone or paying for an extra person
His sister is 500 miles away in a small one bed flat.

After yet another Christmas spent alone (my family, son and GC are in New Zealand), next year I am determined to go away.
Preferably somewhere exotic and warm!
A couple of years ago I spent the 'festive' season in Marrakech with a singles group which was great fun and well worth the money.
That then is going to be my No. 1 resolution for 2016...!
Any ideas of where to go, or even anyone else who might be interested in coming along?

In reply to TwiceasNice.

You obviously have daughters who are not Bolshie, who share the cooking and prepping of xmas food altogether. What could be better.

Whenever I cook, especially xmas dinner, my daughter is over critical about everything. Another reason why I won't host anymore.

You have got it made by the sound of it.
Not all of us are so lucky.

Thank goodness I always save Xmas savings stamps, Tesco vouchers etc, so Xmas is paid for in plenty of time, but there's only me, OH, son who lives with us anyway and has a big appetite and MIL, who comes over most days (especially as this year she didn't have any power for nearly 3 days!) and we still have enough food & drink to feed an army for 6 months! At the end of the Xmas/New Year break, we divvy up what's left over - we all hate turkey, so never have one and I'm veggie by preference anyway, so they can fight over meat/fish left-overs! Then MIL pays what we calculate her contribution should be and we forget about it for another 12 months!

If possible I would love to do next Christmas what I have done (am still doing) and that is spending it with my No3 Son and lovely wife plus two babies, and my daughter and two children - all together in Bangkok! Never been away for Christmas before, but my son and DiL suggested it would be good for me to get away after The Divorce and spend time with people who really love me - hope that doesn't sound too prissy! So even as we speak I am with them at a friend's beach house and being spoilt rotten and loving it!

We went away this year as we had both DDs and families last year in a beautiful house on windermere. This year on our own so we went to a lovely hotel on Ullswater. It was a bit interesting getting there but the food was fantastic and the rooms luxurious. I would happily go back every year from now on. I love the cooking and shopping but I found DH wanted to make everything very precise last year and I'm quite happy to say wait a few minutes for XYZ to be ready.

In reply to Victoria08 I know I am very lucky my daughters and I have always been close especially since I left their father who was abusive to me and them. I don't take my good fortune for granted and I'm sorry things have not been so good for you, it wasn't always for us either until I left we spent many Christmases walking on eggshells because of their fathers attitude. No matter what I would still want to spend Chrsitmas with my children/grandchildren rather than go away. It sounds as if you're not sure what reaction you'd get from your daughter if you went away next year and your grandchild will be 16 months old which would be lovely for you.

Next Christmas, I shall try to relax more, keep my expectations reasonably low and "go with the flow". My family never make up their minds until the last minute what they want to do but somehow it always turns out OK. This year's festivities included Christmas lunch with younger son and daughter as well as my ex. and a visit from baby grand daughter and her mother. Then a long muddy Boxing Day walk through the woods with older daughter, her partner and various dogs.

In the past I have spent Christmases alone but again things have actually turned out OK. A couple of times I had overseas students to stay under the HOST scheme - delightful Chinese girls who taught me such a lot about their culture (and about how incredibly hard they have to work). Another year I signed on as a volunteer at a Youth Hostel in the Lake District and, in return for some cleaning and kitchen prep work, had my own little room for a couple of weeks in a beautiful lakeside mansion with log fires and stimulating company. Highly recommended.