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Post by rockymtnpea on Jul 21, 2017 17:13:27 GMT
For those of you that travel over Christmas (not to relatives homes but to a vacation destination)...how long have you been doing this and what started it? (no snark)
We are also traveling over Christmas this year with our three kids. Kids are 15, 17 and 21. We invited everyone but it looks like we are going by ourselves which is fine. Last year when the holidays were ramping up and I was feeling guilty about not putting a tree up due to our brand new eat everything puppy I started expressing to my husband I thought I wanted to do something different. I told him something where we could enjoy warm weather, good food (that wasn't prepared by us) and time to hang out and do what we wanted in a relaxing environment.
Since the kids are older and get stuff all year it isn't like they wait for Christmas to get new clothes, computers, lip gloss or sports equipment. I allowed myself (totally on me) to get caught up in the "perfection" of Christmas and I wasn't loving it. People would talk about making Christmas cookies and I would think 'one more thing I need to get done for the "perfect" event.
We love our extended family and we have a great time together but there is food to make, clean up that needs to be done etc. We long ago stopped buying presents for everyone as it just got out of hand. (Reading some posts here from others that do I appreciate our decision.)  And we can get together throughout the year...for US (speaking specifically about our crew) to act like Christmas is the one and only time we can get together was silly.
So we have booked a cruise. I probably won't even put up a tree. (gasp) The kids are excited as we love hanging with each other and it will be a nice break from school and the everyday stuff.
What is your story?  |
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Post by holly on Jul 21, 2017 17:31:23 GMT
The first time we went at Christmas I had the same thought as you. Kids were older, only my mom was in town. All family is spread out, out of state and never get together for holidays anyway. So we went on a cruise with my mom out of New Orleans. Christmas Day we were on a beach having massages and laying on the beach with a drink in our hand. We talk about that day often and that was 6 years ago! One of our best vacations to date. We went a couple years after that on another cruise during Christmas out of Los Angeles. We were due to go this year but ended up building a house so no money for vacation 😁. Both times we did do a little Xmas celebration when we got home. Kids still wanted the tree and little gifts. So we do that. On the ship I did a stocking for them so they had something to open on Christmas .
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Post by fkawitchypea on Jul 21, 2017 17:33:19 GMT
We have not yet traveled for Christmas. We talked about it last year but didn't make it happen. We spent several years being stuck home because my grandmother was in a nearby nursing home -- even though her mental illness made it very difficult to have her around. We said that when she was gone we would travel at the holidays. We didn't get around to it last year and now my dad is recovering from a stroke. We would never leave him in a million years. Our reasoning is we don't have a lot of family in our area. Our closest family members spend every Christmas in the Bahamas. We cannot afford to travel the way they do, so we don't go with them. It doesn't seem very festive for just my immediate family to get together for dinner, like we do several times a week. A vacation in warm weather always sounded like the ideal way to spend the holidays to us |
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Post by stingfan on Jul 21, 2017 17:35:06 GMT
We went to the beach last year and are going again this year.
The main reason we went last year was that I was sick of my teen's entitled attitude and poor behavior around gifting. She acted like a total brat when she didn't get just what she wanted. So I didn't want to get her presents the next year. The trip became the gift.
It turned out to be such a nice time for our whole family that we decided to do it again this year.
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sueg
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Post by sueg on Jul 21, 2017 17:38:08 GMT
Apart from a visit home to family last year, the only time we've travelled over Christmas was 2 years ago.
We live in a different country - half way around the world - from family, and it is just DH and I. We have had one or both of our sons with us a few times, but sometimes it is just the two of us. There is no compelling reason for us to be here in Munich when it is just us, so we might as well be somewhere fun. It is also an easy time for DH to get off work, as no one here works between Christmas and New Year.
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Post by Darcy Collins on Jul 21, 2017 17:39:50 GMT
We travel with extended family, so not exactly the same as your OP. My husband's family is really spread out, and as people married and had children, it was harder and harder to accommodate everyone in someone's home. One year we rented a house near a ski resort for the holidays and everyone had so much fun - everyone had a bed and tons of activities for the cousins... Now it's our go to plan. We rotate holidays, so don't do it every year, but it's worked out great for the last 15+ years.
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Post by Pahina722 on Jul 21, 2017 17:46:00 GMT
We have discussed it but haven't yet.
For us the reason would be our complicated family dynamics. Both sets of grandparents are in town; FIL's birthday is Christmas Day; my nuclear family refuses to celebrate with my brother's junkie convict son, yet my parents refuse to celebrate without him. DH's parents are trying to coordinate with us and his sister's family (who live in another state). My parents are trying to coordinate with bro's girlfriend's family and nephew's parole/rehab as well as my dad's hunting. It just becomes an unholy mess each year.
So, now that DS is going off to college, we are seriously considering a Christmas cruise out of South Florida.
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quiltz
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Post by quiltz on Jul 21, 2017 18:02:43 GMT
I went away once at Christmas time. It was the first Christmas after I separated from xh. It had been a very difficult year as there had been a few deaths as well as my separation that there simply wasn't any Christmas spirit in me. I did get a bit of grief from a few people, but in the end, it was the best decision. The next year was a fresh start. Sometimes you just have to shake things up a bit.
I did a cruise out of San Pedro to the Mexican Riviera. Wonderful. We were sailing on Christmas day, so the whole day was spent on the ship. I had a massage, mani/pedi, breakfast in bed and a delicious Christmas dinner. Gave me a chance to re-think some decisions that I had to make without any interference.
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mallie
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Post by mallie on Jul 21, 2017 18:07:03 GMT
Traveling at Christmas is my goal. Haven't done it yet, but I hope to soon. As in, this year.
For me, now that the kids are grown and given my husband's increasingly bah-humbug attitude, the holiday is nothing more than a disappointment/drag every year. He gets worse very year. So I would rather ignore it as much as possible by going on a cruise.
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Post by burningfeather on Jul 21, 2017 18:07:38 GMT
Because it's nice to get away from all of the expectations. We don't usually celebrate a traditional Christmas - at least on Christmas. DD tends to spend it with DH's family because they are in another state and have a large family Christmas (and I absolutely don't mind) and there's no other family locally or that we want to travel to be with (going to northern Minnesota in December is not my idea of a fun time plus DH's family doesn't really celebrate all at once either because they are so spread out with extended families). We've traveled at other holidays simply because DH never seems to save enough leave to Christmas, but I can definitely see us taking a cruise or getting a cabin during that week at some point. Because DH works for the airline industry, we tend not to get all uptight about celebrating holidays on the exact day.
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Post by phoenixcov on Jul 21, 2017 19:08:25 GMT
I fondly remember going away at Christmas with my parents when I was single. We saved up each year and went to a hotel and country club that was also open to the public. It had live music 3 bars, pool room, live entertainment and the most amazing food. We were in a group of 13 and I was the youngest. One of the best things was being invited to the staff party after they finished work.
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AmandaA
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Post by AmandaA on Jul 21, 2017 19:56:08 GMT
We don't travel over the actual holiday at this point since our kids are so young (2,4,6) and we want to celebrate at home with the tree, Santa, etc. But last year and this year we are traveling over the rest of the holiday break. It is the best option for us to take a vacation now that we have kids in school (fall break and spring break are out due to DH's work schedule). I suspect we will eventually go over the holiday once the magic of Santa is over at our house... but that should still be many years away.
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Post by mom on Jul 21, 2017 19:57:08 GMT
We share custody with my xDH, so every other Christmas (and Thanksgiving) we are home alone with no kids. We travel over holidays because we don't want to be home alone on Christmas. Since my mom died and my dad remarried, I don't have close relatives to spend the day with. Last Thanksgiving we went to Las Vegas, the Christmas before that we were in the Bahamas. We are home alone at Christmas this year so we will go somewhere, just don't know where yet.
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Post by shescrafty on Jul 21, 2017 19:59:27 GMT
We always stayed here and had a big Christmas Eve party with friends and the day with our family. It was amazing and just so fun.
When our daughter died last year we knew we could not stay here. Phoebe's bday is also in a December and the whole month is just horribly hard. So last year we went to Puerto Rico and this year we will go to Paris.
I wish with everything in my being that we could go back to what we used to have. I doubt we will "do Christmas" again until we have grandchildren.
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Post by peano on Jul 21, 2017 21:07:16 GMT
Last year was the first year we traveled (not to see family) on Christmas, and honestly the main reason was we have a young cat and I didn't want to have to come up with ways of keeping him off the tree.
That and DS is getting older and didn't have any major wants or needs this past year. I like the idea of giving experiences, and since he has been playing in his HS jazz band, I thought it would be cool to expose him to the music of New Orleans. Also, things have been tense with my family since the election and I didn't want to deal with them.
I'm sad we didn't get our usual photos of going to the Christmas tree farm to get our tree, but I think I would like to do it again.
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Post by jeremysgirl on Jul 21, 2017 21:13:57 GMT
I am exposed to so many new ideas from the peas. So many of you have such good reasons why you travel at the holidays. I admit I'm one of those who just wouldn't feel like it was Christmas without the tree and the cookies and the big family celebrations. It is what I know and have always done. But should my circumstances change I can see doing something different. In many of your circumstances I might choose to travel as well.
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Post by mrsscrapdiva on Jul 21, 2017 21:30:42 GMT
2016 was the first year we did! I had always wanted to spend my holidays somewhere warm, with palm trees etc. It worked out that my son, in 6th grade at the time, had an extended December break at his charter school. My youngest was in 1st grade and we all know they do not do much the last few days up to winter break. That was really the only time of the year we all could coordinate schedules for a 10 day vacation. Went went from cold Boston to Southern California. Parts of the trip was fun and other parts challenging. The Christmas day part went just fine. Santa came to the hotel room and left Disney gift cards and 3ds video games. Some of the people at breakfast at the hotel all had on matching christmas pjs which I thought was a cute idea. Everything in Anaheim, Disney, Universal and along the Orange County coastline was decorated etc. The kids have really great memories of the trip and we still talk about it often. I loved not having to put a tree, decorate, do massive amounts of holiday shopping (we mailed out small family gifts and cards beforehand) and the only thing I should have planned out better was a sit down holiday dinner. I could care less but DH likes that part. Live and learn. I don't think my dh would like to do this again, but given the chance I would in a heartbeat...like every year I didn't miss the unpredictable freezing or snowy weather. I do not miss having to decorate and have the house company ready. I didn't miss trying to coordinate schedules to see when we could see the family (divorce, remarried etc). |
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Post by melanell on Jul 21, 2017 21:38:15 GMT
We have never done this, but my DH really wants to. He basically thinks that I work too hard up to Christmas and then we run our tails off trying to see all of our families and that it's just exhausting.
He says he'd love for us to go away so it could just be the 4 of us for one year over the actual holiday and so that the workload preceding the holiday would be less.
But, really, getting for a trip is a ton of work for me, plus I'd still feel I needed to do some of the holiday stuff, so in the end, I'd do more work and probably be too exhausted to keep up with everything the kids & DH would want to do while we were away.
ETA: Once our kids and nieces and nephews are all grown and doing their own thing, i do think that then I might like to go someplace with just DH over Christmas. I'd probably do some sort of early December Christmas type gathering and/or something right around the New Year, though, so that I'd still have a chance to celebrate with extended family. I have a hard time not trying to do it all, sometimes, and I think this is my best bet to really enjoy a quieter holiday without feeling like I ditched everyone in order to do it.
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Post by beaglemom on Jul 21, 2017 21:56:05 GMT
Growing up we were always home for Christmas. My mom's parents for Christmas Eve - hour to two hours away (depending on when in my childhood we are talking about). Then Christmas morning at home. Christmas dinner at my dad's parents - 10 minutes away. My freshman year of college my mom decided she wanted to try something different. We did London, Paris, and Zurich. It was weird not being home, but was a lot of fun. When I met dh I thought it was so weird that they always went away for Christmas. When we first met, 2001, they always went somewhere to ski. Then christmas 2006 we went to Cabo...and we were hooked. 2006-2010 we went ever year. Dd was born 2011 and I insisted that we switch to what we always said we would do - every other year with our families. So on dh's family's year we go to Cabo on the other year we stay home and do Christmas with my parents. Christmas eve at their house and Christmas morning at our house.
I see the advantages to both. I still decorate, because I like to!
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Post by jtmom on Jul 21, 2017 22:07:23 GMT
We started traveling to see my parents who live in a vacation destination town. We stayed in our own place on the beach and they don't really celebrate a traditional Christmas so we put up a tree and do gifts they come over to eat & will give us money. They are now moving close to me so dh & I decided we will start taking a Cruise with our son for the Holidays.
We have a very large family here after doing the tradional Christmas and all the effort for years we couldn't take the drama of it all anymore. I envy those that truely enjoy being together & having fun, ours is not.
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peabay
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Post by peabay on Jul 21, 2017 22:10:10 GMT
We did a 12 day cruise over Christmas and New Year's this past year for a few reasons.
1. My mom died in November 2015. We got through the holidays like zombies and I just wanted something different this year. I needed to kickstart our lives again.
2. My oldest works for a non profit in Washington DC and always gets the week between Christmas and New Years off. My second oldest will be starting a corporate job in September. We knew that this was probably going to be the last vacation with our nuclear family and the timing was right.
3. I needed a break from the Seven Fishes. Our Christmas Eve is huge and crowded and busy and I needed to recharge.
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Post by mmmom on Jul 21, 2017 23:37:41 GMT
For 15 years when my kids were little we would rush through Christmas morning at home to drive 2 hours to be with my DH's family. We had fun but it wasn't very relaxing. After my dad passed away we felt bad leaving my mom alone on Christmas Day so we stayed home and did the Chinese restaurant and movie day. Then 2 years ago we changed things up and went on a Caribbean cruise over Christmas break with my mom and it was wonderful! My kids were just as happy with a white sandy Christmas and would love to do it again. It was a lot less stressful December for me. Only person who wasn't happy was my sister whose husband doesn't like cruising so they spent holiday home alone.
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scrappinmama
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Post by scrappinmama on Jul 21, 2017 23:41:19 GMT
When we still lived in California surrounded by family, sometimes we would go to Mammoth just to get away from the stress of feeling like we had to split ourselves in two over the holidays. We sometimes felt pressured to spend equal amounts of time at both families house, and that pretty much meant no time alone with our kids. So every other year we would go to Mammoth to have the kids take ski lessons one day, and the rest of the time we just played in the snow. It was great.
Now that we live out of state, the only time we travel over Christmas is to see family, and I think we're pretty much done with that. The airport is always packed and we're just over it. I'd rather visit them over less chaotic times when we can all relax.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2017 1:55:44 GMT
We don't live in the same country as our family and sometimes we just don't want to go back and do the obligatory visits which involve a lot of travel.
Last Christmas we spent 16 days in Bali. Although it's not a Christian country there were Christmas trees, music, and decorations everywhere for the tourists. Christmas Day was spent at a beautiful water park and eating great Indian food.
This year though we'll spend it with family.
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Anita
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Post by Anita on Jul 22, 2017 2:04:57 GMT
Our youngest is almost grown and wasn't that into the whole holiday scene, and DH hates going to my family's. Honestly, so do I because of the drama. So last year we ditched everyone and went on a cruise. We did decorate the house after Thanksgiving, but headed out for the one-week cruise on Christmas Eve. Best. Holiday. Ever. We had SO much fun and actually did things together instead of sitting at home with our faces in electronics. We loved it so much we have decided to spend every holiday on a cruise. |
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Post by beachbum on Jul 22, 2017 2:13:57 GMT
A few years ago we took all 3 of our kids and 1 SIL on a cruise for Christmas. It sure made shopping so much easier, and no wrapping needed. DD and SIL were in school in Florida, so it made it easy for them. I would have liked to make it a tradition, but jobs for the kids got in the way, one or more not able to get time off ruined that plan. Now that the oldest DD and her DH have children they want to stay home, and we understand that.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jul 22, 2017 4:50:35 GMT
We went to Disneyworld the week before Christmas in 2014 and it was wonderful! If I could have my way, I would do something like that every year. All of our parents are gone now and neither of us really enjoy spending time with most of our siblings. Most of my aunts and uncles are gone and DH's one aunt and uncle live an expensive plane ride away plus they have their own extended family and grandkids that I'm sure they celebrate with. That just leaves the three of us doing our own thing. I don't mind doing Santa, the tree, the cookies, the elf on the shelf and the presents because my kid is still little and she gets into all of that. But since we're both self employed and can decide when and where we want to go, I could easily see us adding regular or semi regular holiday travel into the mix either in addition to what we already do or instead of it.
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Post by KiwiJo on Jul 22, 2017 5:05:08 GMT
Oh, we often travel at Christmas. - It's the beginning of summer
- It's the start of schools' 6-week summer break
- Many companies close down completely between Christmas and New Year, and often longer
- December 25 and 26, and January 1 and 2 are national public holidays (or the next week day if they fall on a weekend).
- Christmas Day while on vacation is terrific, especially at a camping ground - everyone is happy, everyone chats with strangers while preparing Christmas dinner in the communal kitchen, strangers gather together for a BBQ and a few beers, and all the kids play together.
Usually we go a beach, but a couple of years ago DH and I went to Prague and Kraków to visit the Christmas Markets and experience a winter Christmas. It even snowed while we were there!
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Dalai Mama
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Post by Dalai Mama on Jul 22, 2017 7:03:42 GMT
This will be our first. My parents wanted us to come visit them for Christmas in Florida (they're snowbirds) but we are currently on a US travel ban, so we compromised on a week in Panama.
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Post by polz on Jul 22, 2017 8:25:49 GMT
It's quite normal for people to be away from home for Christmas in New Zealand. It's the start of summer and a lot of places shut down for a few weeks, so it's the perfect oppotunity to have a holiday (or vacation as Americans call it). My Sister in Law lives in a beach community. The permanent residents number 6000. Over summer they get over 40000. Their little town is grateful to make money over the summer. my BIL is a fireman, so he usually works Christmas Day.
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And we can get together throughout the year...for US (speaking specifically about our crew) to act like Christmas is the one and only time we can get together was silly.
