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

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.

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.

“And” adult children

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.

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.

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.

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?

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).

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 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.

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

We will not be seeing anybody.

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.

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.

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!

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.

Whatever the rules are I shall not be seeing anyone, except Mr Barmey. I feel really guilty about my decision as it will leave my daughter alone, I am sure most of you know she is disabled and has a learning disability, I just can't take the chance as I am extremely vulnerable with a lung problem. I will however get Mr Barmey to drive me over to her place with a box of food and presents. I will tay in the car. Otherwise its phone calls all round.

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.

We will be alone at Christmas. My husband recieved and email to remind him to shield and even if the lockdown is lifted we will still be cautious as last time that is when the number of cases rose. I meet friends or family outside the home for a walk as we are allowed, and as soon as i get hme i change clothes and wash hands. To have got this far safely it would be awful to catch the virus.

I think the government’s ‘following the science’ claims have raised doubts simply because the scientists don’t all agree on the best course of action to deal with this virus.

For instance way back in the Spring, before his infamous dalliance with his married girlfriend, I had read how spectacularly inaccurate Ferguson’s predictions about the predicted death toll from various other epidemics had been.

Yet still he was appointed, along with the doom and gloom characters Whittey and Vallance.

Nevertheless I suppose the government is inevitably swayed by the worst case scenarios trotted out by the Sage lot, just in case this time they are right.

All our family love Christmas, we shall decorate our house inside and out the weekend of 28/29 Nov, including small artificial trees.

Our main tree in the sitting room will be real as always and that will be brought in and decorated 13/14th Dec.

We shall zoom/FaceTime family and friends and concentrate on the positives.

I will be sticking to the restrictions; don't think it is worth it to put at risk all that everybody has gone through just for a couple of days with family.

I don't fixate about Christmas, so much of it is a horrible consumer fest and the build up just starts too early, although I understand the need for all that razzamatazz from the retailer perspective and of course right now the biggest nail ever is being hammered into their coffin.

Quite honestly, we'd like to see the family on a drip, drip basis, not all together as it has been for us on some Boxing Days which can be exhausting, usually Christmas Day for us is not as many as the day after. We also go to a Christmas mass and carols, won't be doing it this year, that I will miss! There are members of the family who we regard as "risky" in the current climate so depending on the lie of the land a month or so hence, and I can't imagine it will be very different to now, it might just be the two of of us which is perfectly fine and no doubt will be very relaxing.

In my neck of the woods the incidence of COVID is half the rate it is in Northumberland and well below the national average and there have been no deaths from the disease for months. There are many other areas in the south of the country that are similar.
But just as you cannot generalise for the country from my experience, so one cannot generalise for the country from areas where the incidence of COVID is high
You seem determined to stress the lowest possible risk M0nica , but there are others who have had personal experience of the devastating effects of Covid who might find this glossing over its severity

You say you can’t extrapolate from the highest or the lowest incidences of the virus, yet how much criticism was there of the tiered system with different regulations for different parts of the country?
The big difference with Christmas is that many people will travel a distance to another part of the country to be with their family - so if you think about it, possibly from a low risk area to a higher one or vice versa.
I am taken aback by the number of otherwise sensible people who seem to think an exception should be made in their case.
We can all do that!
My area currently has one of the lowest rates in the country and I am now on my own so I ought to be up there shouting with the loudest that this is “unfair”.
But a fragmented approach will not stop the spread of the virus .
As I said upthread about the annual increase nationally in flu and cold cases after every Christmas which is a clear example of what happens when we increase our potential exposure to a virus. Can’t say clearer than that.
However the bottom line is - why agonise now? This lockdown is projected to end on 2 December and even if it is extended by a week or two, we may be freed up in time for Christmas. Then it will be up to individuals to assess their own risk - and face the possible consequences in January.

Christmas box could have a whole new meaning this year.