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The mad dash
My father has 6 children from 3 mothers! Christmas shuffle is a brilliant way to describe our compromising debates about where to spend Xmas.
Growing up we had it pegged on dad's terms – Christmas eve with the moms, Christmas day with him. Add the growing family of in-laws, remarriages & the fact that 2 siblings from 2 mothers are travelling out from London this year and we have a Mexican wave of houses to visit. On second thoughts, it might me more of a dash than a shuffle.
Camilla
Tug of war
Ha, you think you have it tough... Try having divorced parents that live all over the place and can not tolerate being in the same room together!
This means that you have to cart the kids around to their places over this jolly period otherwise they don’t get to see them or their gifts…
Andrea
A family gathering
I'll be giving birth via c-section on the 22nd of December bringing my parents and my in-laws first grandchild home on xmas day! In doing so I've managed to get my all the parents to stay at my house and hold xmas for me – when I come out I'll have a full on lunch prepared and waiting.
No slaving over a hot stove for me this Christmas – yay! Just a lot of cooing over our new baby daughter – I can't wait!! What a fanstic xmas pressie!
Sherri
The in-laws from Portugal
Jingle, jingle, oh bells! Why is Christmas not as fabulous as we fantasise it might be? Putting up Christmas decorations, gifts stacked under the tree and just a happy loving time all around.
Every year I get seriously excited about a short break, broke or not, and then… bang! I end up slaving away on home chores and the ‘jolly’ just flies out the window.
Parents vs. In-laws… try this for size. Years come and go and I only have my parents to consider over Christmas as my in-laws live in Portugal.
However, once every blue moon they decide to come and visit over Christmas. Last time it was quite fun as we could still afford to go away to Morgan’s Bay for Christmas but this year is another story.
So why you may ask is this a tough time for me then? Try and imagine after an entire year of hard full time work, you take a measly 2 weeks off over Christmas (as one week of your annual leave has mysteriously disappeared from your leave due to a day here and a day there throughout the year).
So you have two weeks to catch up on a year’s rest, peace and family time. Then, low and behold, your in-laws decide to visit. So happily they announce they will come in the beginning of December and already one can imagine lots of gifts and spoils from another country, but once you reach the end of the phone call you realise that you have just been duped.
They will be staying until the end of January!! As it is a pricy trip and one they do not make too often, they feel they might as well stay longer… oh dear.
So, all goes well the first couple of weeks as Mom-In-Law is a typical hardworking Portuguese lady who loves to cook and clean but once you get to Christmas you realize you would rather have some peace and quiet even if it means the dishes are stacked up to the ceiling.
All of a sudden your two weeks just flies past and you got nothing done at home, shared no extra time with your kids and return back to work exhausted from all the entertaining.
And now, here is the clincher… I think they are visiting us this year!
Larny
How do you spend your Christmas? Do you play go-cart family shuffle or do you spend one year with his family and the following year with yours? Tell us in the comment box below.
