I’ll be home for Christmas – Will you?

[gbstack]

I’ll be home for Christmas – Will you?


No travel plans this year. Will spend Christmas morning at home with our youngest daughter. Later in the day we will visit my oldest daughter and grandkids that live just 3 miles away.

 

[travelover]

Traveling to the Oregon coast via Portland. I hope I don't get the flu from the plane ride...again.

 

[Koolau]

Sort of depends on your perspective, I suppose. We'll be in our adopted home in the Islands. We only go "home" (place of birth/family/old friends) in the summer. I now consider THIS as home. SO, yes, absolutely, I will be home for Christmas - Let's all sing along to it...

Frank Sinatra - I'll Be Home For Christmas - YouTube

 

[Walt34]

Yup, we'll be here. And DW's closest sister just moved a few months ago to about 15 minutes away instead of two hours, so that's great. They're hosting dinner this year, I imagine we'll bring a pot of something.

 

[haha]

I never travel on Christmas. I used to, when my parents were alive, or before I had a family of my own. Anyway, there are very few places if any that I would rather be other than right here.

I remember exhausted kids, huge travel crowds, weather caused plane delays, or dangerous roads if driving. No fun for me.

Ha

 

[Ronstar]

Yep, just left Arizona, back in Illinois for a while. We have about 8 relatives coming over. I'm finishing several woodworking projects / Christmas gifts in the next few days, and doing a several day brine/smoke of a brisket.

 

[steelyman]

I'm doing what I did last year: volunteering for a community dinner and looking forward to spring. This snow is annoying, but I think we've escaped (knock on wood) what much of the country has endured.

 

[Midpack]

We traveled on Christmas every year for our first 25 years married, alternating between my fam and DW's. But we got [-]too old[/-] tired of battling crowds, paying inflated airfares for overcrowded flights and the added variable of winter weather messing up everything - and declared a moratorium. We no longer travel at Christmas anymore, and both vs families begrudgingly accept. Yes, we wish we were together, but common sense prevailed. So we usually visit fams 4-6 weeks before or after Christmas (though not Thanksgiving for the same reasons as Christmas). To each his/her own.

We've come to enjoy our quiet Thanksgiving and Christmas together, make a nice dinner, have a little champagne. DW's not so bad...

 

[Bestwifeever]

I know some of my kids' favorite and earliest memories are of long car trips on cold dark December midwinter nights to their grandparents for Christmas, blanketed and pillowed in the minivan as they listened to DH and me talk quietly in the front seat while the radio played endless Christmas carols. Most definitely we will be home this year, with them and their spouses and three tiny girls, two new this year. And in-laws too!

 

[Moemg]

We are having the best of holidays this year . We spent Thanksgiving with my daughter , SIL and two grandsons . Christmas will be our usual large Christmas Eve buffet with SO's sons , DILs , and five grandchildren . By New Years I will be exhausted !

 

[NW-Bound]

I have never had to travel for Christmas, as both of our widowed mothers live in town, as do all of our siblings. I used to host a big dinner for both sides.

It's surprising nobody has posted this well-worn song yet.

Oops. Never mind. Koolau beat me to it.

 

[Meadbh]

For many years, if I could get time off at Christmas, I travelled approximately 5000 miles each way "home" to spend time with parents. I found it stressful to deal with winter travel and usually arrived exhausted. The most difficult part was saying goodbye, because there was no guarantee that we would share another Christmas. As a single person, I find that nobody considers that I might like to have Christmas in my own home. I hosted a Christmas dinner once, and almost burnt the house down. Maybe when I return from Mexico I will see how I feel about doing it this year.

 

[Alan]

We'll be home but for the first time we will be without our daughter. She lives in California and is going away with her boyfriend this Christmas. With our son we flew out a couple of weeks ago and had an early Christmas, gift gifting, lots of time together over a 10 day period. Excellent holiday.

DW will be cooking Christmas dinner and DS will be with us as usual, but I expect it won't be quite the same without the 4 of us.

 

[W2R]

Home is a nebulous concept, but so dear...

I don't exactly know where home is because of traveling and moving around during most my life, from infancy. However I have lived in Louisiana for 17 years, longer than any other state, and I have owned my very own home here for the last 11 of those years.

I did not grow up here or go to high school here or marry here or raise my daughter here or bury my parents here in Louisiana. Those happened in several other assorted states. Still, for some reason I really need to create that sense of home somewhere within myself, and for many years have been working hard on making Louisiana my home since no place else has stepped up to the plate.

So yes, I will be spending Christmas in New Orleans, at HOME.

 

[MichaelB]

We will spend Christmas Day in Orlando visiting DD#2.

 

[HFWR]

Staying put in Stepfordville. Have had to travel to either Indiana or Florida many times in the past...

 

[Dawg52]

I'll be home Christmas day so will be doing a solo with my dog. But will have a family get together in Birmingham Sunday and will come home the next day. Two in the family are nurses and they have to work Christmas day so an early celebration for us.

Got all my shopping done yesterday. Gift certificates from Cracker Barrel. Christmas shopping is easy.

 

[Brdofpray]

We were all set to host Christmas at our place, when DS put a bid in. He wants to start Christmas traditions with his new, growing family at his home. So we all (DW will also be there.) will be traveling 30 minutes to spend Christmas eve, and Christmas day with them. We actually can't wait to experience Christmas through the eyes of our 3 year old, and 6 month old grand daughters.

 

[RitaR551]

This will be our first Christmas in our winter home....Florida. I keep forgetting its Christmas time now that we are surrounded by Palm trees and warmth. It's a hard job, but someone has to do it.
DH parents live here, so we will celebrate with them.

 

[the ole Sarge]

All those Army Years, I dont think I was ever stationed "Near" home (less than 500 miles). Well yes I was when I was a Recruiter. So my "home", as the saying says is where the Heart is. My heart is with my new bride, here in Illinois. So no need to travel HOME as I am now here! But SAFE Travel and Merry Christmas to those who must.

 

[Nodak]

Staying where I am, have no family left in my home town. My closest living relatives are here. I go home in the summer to visit friends.

 

[FIREd]

For many years, if I could get time off at Christmas, I travelled approximately 5000 miles each way "home" to spend time with parents. I found it stressful to deal with winter travel and usually arrived exhausted. The most difficult part was saying goodbye, because there was no guarantee that we would share another Christmas.

I could have written this. Each year, I travel thousands of miles to go visit my family in Europe for the holidays. Travel is stressful, period. But winter travel even more so. So the trip stresses me out, then it's a whirlwind of family celebrations for 10 days, and then come the difficult goodbyes before another long separation. I come back home exhausted. I wish I could just stay home for the holidays.

I am on such a trip right now. I was supposed to fly to Europe yesterday but my plane was diverted to Chicago due to a strong burning smell throughout the cabin. So here I am, waiting for the next flight out, probably later tonight.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Ugh, you have my sympathies on that hellish trip back home to Europe. Hope you get a flight out soon!

 

[Alan]

I could have written this. Each year, I travel thousands of miles to go visit my family in Europe for the holidays. Travel is stressful, period. But winter travel even more so. So the trip stresses me out, then it's a whirlwind of family celebrations for 10 days, and then come the difficult goodbyes before another long separation. I come back home exhausted. I wish I could just stay home for the holidays.

I am on such a trip right now. I was supposed to fly to Europe yesterday but my plane was diverted to Chicago due to a strong burning smell throughout the cabin. So here I am, waiting for the next flight out, probably later tonight.

We once made a family trip home for Christmas with 2 children from the USA to England. The weather and travel around England visiting relatives was so bad that we said never again at Christmas.

I have since spent 2 Christmas's at home in England as both my parents died just before Christmas. (14 years apart). Both those trips were also plagued by freezing cold weather, ice and snow.

 

[MBAustin]

DS and DD are flying in on Friday night and we'll all be home together until Christmas Eve morning, when we'll drive a few hours to spend Christmas with DH's family. Kids fly back from there on Christmas Day (both have to be at work on Thursday, Bah Humbug). We'll stay a few more days as DH's sister and niece are flying in next Friday for a few days (they don't normally travel at Christmas but DFIL had a stroke recently and they made last-minute plans to come in).

We've done the Christmas Eve drive for most of the last 15 years, since we moved here from Europe. The only part I really dislike is missing Christmas Eve services at our church. They keep asking our family to light the advent candles at that service and every year we have to say no.

Speaking of the travel back and forth from Europe for the holidays - because the kids had a very long school break and finding childcare during the holidays was nearly impossible, we ended up making our annual trip home to visit family each year at Christmas - first Texas and then Florida. Although we enjoyed the family time, the travel itself was hell and at least one of us always got sick. Worst was the year DD had a stomach bug on the plane trip home. Ugh.