Are you intending to see your family this Christmas come what may, or if there are restrictions will you abide by them ?

However much we mistrust the government and challenge the statistics, the fact remains that COVID is passed from person to person and that until there is a reliable way of knowing who is free from infection the most sensible thing for the elderly is to restrict contact. Not what we want to hear, but just plain common sense.

Was hoping to spend Christmas with granddaughter, her first one! Am expecting lots of pressure from DS and DIL as they don't agree with lockdown and following the rules. very much doubt that we'll be seeing them as they lived 300 miles away and I don't like stopping at motorway services etc.
Also it would leave 87 year old mother on her own so would be torn between the two.
Think we'll just stay at home on our own and do video calls!

I'll abide by the rules as they are there for our benefit. If I can't visit my sister as usual (she has three children, all with partners, two with children) then I'll bubble up with a friend who also lives alone. It'll just be different this year.

I never see my daughter and grandson at Christmas, she chose long ago to spend it just with him and they have their own traditions. As many of you know he is autistic and he would find change and a lot of fuss too hard to cope with. I live 300 mile away from her anyway and this year after my cancer diagnosis I wouldn't be able to go to her.
My OH's sons dont keep in touch very often so we wont be seeing them either. We have bubbled with an elderly disabled neighbour who has no close family so my OH can help her when needed and she is coming to us for Christmas lunch.
To be honest Christmas socialising isnt that important to us.

We will not be seeing anybody.

I don’t know what we’ll do yet, waiting to hear what the rules are before we decide.

I don’t understand why anybody would be waiting to see what the rules are going to be over Christmas. The virus will not respect the rules. Stay at home, be safe, keep your family safe, keep your community safe. Save all that love and excitement for the summer when gathering for an outdoor family barbecue will be much safer. Put the Christmas tree up in the garden with lots of twinkly lights and colourful rugs for cool summer nights. Merry July everyone.

Just a quiet Christmas as usual. I'm in a bubble with one son now so can see him probably.. I'm not keen on huge gatherings anyway and find Christmas a bit overblown.
But good luck to those who like it that way. I hope you can all get together.

I can't remember the last time we had Christmas on our own but this year we will stay here on our own. It's only one year (hopefully).

Maw I am not stressing the lowest point of risk but I am trying to make the point that the experience of COVID varies enormously from one area to another and how one responds and what one does or doesn't do is dependent on the situation in our own local area.

I live in an area where the COVID rate has always been low. I live in a rural part of that area. Masked and gloved and socially distanced I feel free to go about my life almost normally.

If I lived in an area where the rate is much higher, I would be much more cautious about where I went and what I did.

It also bothers me the way so many people are just accepting everything the government says without questioning. I get the feeling for some people if they were told that eating a ahead of raw garlic every day would repel the bug, without any explanantion why, they would do it and this kind of blind obedience frightens me because this is how dictatorships start. We already have a government trying to govern by edict rather than consultation with democratically elected MPs. We also have a government that thinks the rules should be rigidly enforced - except for them and they should be free to ignore them when they like and without punishment. We have government scientists who knowingly publish erroneous statistics about COVID in order to frighten us. As I said blind obedience frightens me.

ExD If the government cannot obey their own rules, why should anyone else?

MOnica
I don't believe GN is a true representation of what /how people are thinking. Most of the people I'm talking to face to face and online are questioning the edicts now and saying, why, this isn't making sense.

Laura we live in a low Covid area, and I’m expecting the transmission to go down with the new lockdown. That’s why we’re waiting to see what the situation will be at Christmas. Hopefully we’ll be allowed to see family in our Tier One area.

Maw I am not stressing the lowest point of risk but I am trying to make the point that the experience of COVID varies enormously from one area to another and how one responds and what one does or doesn't do is dependent on the situation in our own local area.

I live in an area where the COVID rate has always been low. I live in a rural part of that area. Masked and gloved and socially distanced I feel free to go about my life almost normally

This is exactly where I disagree with you, M0nica
My circumstances are similar to yours -living in a village of under 1000 inhabitants in a tier which registered before lockdown as Medium, the lowest, plus the fact that I live alone and do not see my daughters or grandchildren. My food shopping is ordered online and I do not use public transport.
However the country’s response should not be limited to the narrow confines of one’s own local experience.
You can’t deny the thing about Christmas is that many people travel to other areas and expose others and are exposed in turn to “unfamiliar” germs, bacteria and viruses. Especially where grandchildren have been attending school aged adult children have been at work.
But as I said, this argument is academic as we do not know what the regulations will be by mid December.
OP asks if we will abide by any restrictions that may obtain at that time, and I think there is only one responsible answer.

“And” adult children

I'm not a fan of the government. I believe its reaction to the covid crisis has been just that, reaction after reaction, rather than considered responses.
However, its our government. It says its following scientific advice. There is conflict about the differing scientific views, understandably given we are experiencing so many firsts.

I agree with MawB, only one reasonable answer to the question whether we will abide by whatever restrictions are in force at the time. Why on earth should our overstretched police/nhs/emergency services be tied up unnecessarily.

There’s a lot of information now emerging about ....government scientists who knowingly publish erroneous statistics about COVID in order to frighten us.

This is very worrying, in particular because it’s caused the furlough scheme to be extended until next March, costing another 150 billion. I think it’s time the government looked further than Patrick Vallance and Chris Whitty who predicted that we could have 4000 deaths a day if the country didn’t go into a second lockdown. Apparently infections were levelling out already with Tier Three restrictions, but headlong we go, into another lockdown and further trashing of the economy. Our grandchildren will be paying for this for the rest of their lives.

maddyone
That's the problem now. Boris decided who he was going to listen to and who he wouldn't.
He's backed himself into a corner with no exit.
Can you imagine the uproar if he brought in scientists with a different approach?

If the schools break up on December 17th that gives a full week before Christmas itself. If the children remain at home during that week and if the parents do not work, then could we possibly be in a pretty safe situation? It will take careful planning but I am willing to give it a try.

Absolutely Ellianne That is how I feel about it. My DD is keeping DGS in for that week and my OH and I are also staying in. In theory as she is a single parent family we could be in a bubble any way but we would really love to have my DS his OH and my new DGS round for one day over Christmas as well. So we are going to stay as isolated as possible for that week prior to Christmas, then DS and us can look at the current situation and make a decision nearer the time. If it would make him feel safer, we could even have the day together nearer to New Year so we have been isolated for longer.

My only concern Lyndylou is this asymptomatic issue. On the whole our 6 people are pretty healthy, and if one of them ever gets ill it usually comes on fast. I'm not saying that that 7 day window will guarantee our 6 no covid, but it is the closest plan I can come up so far.

ExD

We'll stick to the rules.
Anyone with an ounce of sense knows that if everyone had stuck to the 'no parties/crowds' rule earlier we wouldn't be in this pickle now.
But then, there's always been someone who has spoiled things for the rest of us.

I agree with that ExD.

I'd like to share a quote I read yesterday.

We are not in the same boat.......but we are all in the same storm.

It's obvious that whatever the rules are over the Christmas period if we a pop over to our nearest and dearest en mass there will be a rise in infections in January. I think that I will be leaving presents at the door and waving.

Oh, and no I wouldn't break any rules or guidelines. As some wit said early on 'just because they've eased the restrictions it doesn't mean that the virus has gone away, it just means they have room for you in intensive care.'

Yes Ellianne that is a worry. But there are other worries that I am weighing up, such as the fact that my son's other half is presently spending every day in the house with a colicy baby. I have tried to help as much as possible but it has been impossible for me to visit since the latest lock down. I think a Christmas Day out at our house would be good for her. But as I say, we will make a firm decision nearer the time.

Indeed, Lyndylou.

I am almost certain we will be alone. My main family are in London and mix quite a bit with others. So I have not seen them all this year. Even if the rules were relaxed, I think it would be risky for us to meet them.

For husbands family, we are closer and all in Tier 1, so would possibly meet in a pub if allowed by then.