What are you doing for Christmas?

I bought gift cards from different stores for all my Christmas gifts this year. I’m flying from Oahu to the Big Island to be with family, so I didn’t want to carry boxes with presents on the plane.

We will all gather on Christmas morning and exchange gifts around the decorated tree. We’ll eat a large breakfast.

I’ll go back to my hotel to take a nap while others prepare the Christmas feast. I’ve heard we’re having ham this year with many vegetables. It will be wonderful. It always is.

We will probably go to church for mass at some point. I may not go. I haven’t been to church in many years, but I might go.

Christmas is a time to be with family. I’m looking forward to being with mine.

We will travel down to the Bay Area, and enjoy Christmas with my kids and grandchildren. We might go to the movies after exchanging gifts.

I am spending Christmas with my husband, our two daughters, my sister, her husband and her two grown up sons. On Christmas morning the girls will open the presents in their Christmas stockings that they hang on the end of their beds. Both now know that Santa doesn’t actually bring the presents but the younger one (9) just found out this year. We will have breakfast then my sister will arrive and we will all exchange presents. Then we will go for a walk if it’s good enough weather. Dinner is turkey with stuffing, roast potatoes, veggies, little sausages wrapped in bacon (pigs in blankets). Christmas pudding for dessert. Boxing Day always involves a walk.

Sleep, eat and play.
What I do every time I have free time.

4000 miles away from my family.

We will do presents under the tree on Christmas morning, then I’ll make Christmas dinner. My brother might show up with his young daughter and hang out for a while; he sometimes does.

There’s not much to it for us.

Zip. :(

After a few years of transition (my parents got divorced), we have now found a new routine:

Christmas Eve, I will be reading our Christmas story and unwrapping presents with my mum and sisters. Then, we’ll be joined by an aunt, an uncle, a young cousin, and my grandma. We’ll be eating Raclette, and we will have a very good time.

On Christmas Day, there is another gift exchange, followed by turkey dinner with more aunts, uncles, and cousins. While this is a day of noise and (often) squabbles, it is a vital part of the Christmas experience.

Then, on Boxing Day, my sisters and I will be going to our dad’s house for a last day of Christmas. While Christmas is not officially over at that point, the festivities usually are.

Right now, I’m choosing presents, online. I already have my tree up, and I don’t write Christmas cards, so I am not too frazzled. The days right before Christmas Eve will become hectic, though – they always do.

Working.

I will spend Christmas Day alone this year but will meet up with family the next day. I put the Christmas tree up this morning and bought chocolates and biscuits so I have started to prepare.

We were going to go to my husband’s parents for Christmas Eve dinner (that’s what we usually do) and his sister and her kids would be there too, but we sold our house so we will be starting to pack over Christmas. I invited my Inlaws to come to my house for Christmas if they want, but I doubt that will happen. If they come, it would just be my husband’s parents and my husband and me. I’ll buy my Inlaws gifts if they come. If they don’t come I won’t bother with buying gifts for them. If they don’t come I’ll still make one of the Christmas dishes for dinner (his mom usually makes 6 or 7 things for dinner when the whole family gets together) that my husband and I like best.

No matter what I’ll send my niece and nephew cards with a check inside, although they are getting too old for it soon. That’s really more of a Chanukah thing to send money I guess, but I’m Jewish, so their Jewish aunt sends them Christmas money. Lol.

Just made more definite plans for Christmas. Looks like my step-son’s mother is going to stay in town this year, so we will go there for Christmas Eve and eat traditional Norwegian food and exchange presents, which is so ironic because neither of us are Norwegian. It will be small. Just she and I and her grown up son, who is 31, and my step son, who is 21, and my little man who is 11.

The boys’ father, my ex-husband, has not been in touch with either of us to make plans with his two sons, but we have just heard, through the grapevine, that he is going down to his own mother’s near Oslo.

Fathers like that just suck @cazzie.

I would guess that maybe @cazzie is happy not to deal with the ex. Unless her son is very disappointed.

Nope. Happy he is out of the way and not making demands about taking kiddo with him. They chain smoke inside her tiny apartment.