Christmas is nearly always at our house. My son, his partner and their two children come - and my Mum who is in her 90's. Up until 7 years ago an elderly friend of mine used to come every year as she had no relatives in this country. She didn't celebrate Christmas because she was Jewish but nevertheless she found it depressing being on her own all over the Christmas period and not being able to go to her usual bridge and art classes. Now she has emigrated, it is usually just the family. My daughter generally does her own Christmas dinner with her son and several friends, and usually comes round on Christmas Day evening or Boxing Day.
It is quite tiring doing all the preparations but one year we did go to a local hotel for dinner and, as an earlier poster said, it felt very impersonal.
I used to enjoy playing games - Charades, Trivial Pursuit, Balderdash, etc.etc., but now Mum finds them too hard to follow, the children are too young to join in and my son and his partner tend to just want to relax because, as with most people with a young family, they are on the go the rest of the time. We are a lot more selective about what we watch on TV and try to keep it off most of the time. I and my husband make an effort to keep the children occupied with various activities so that their mum and dad can have some downtime.
Is it me or am I getting mixed messages