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All the posters who show up here in Nov/Dec talking about unwanted guests coming to visit or mandated travel plans to see relatives that make them miserable- now is the time to alert everyone that they are not welcome at your house and you are not traveling to their house! No more forced hosting, no more bagels that have been touched by dirty hands, no more 1940s coffee percolators!
It’s not too late to tell everyone to make other plans and for you to take your life back. |
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Don't forget summer beach house planning and coerced in-laws, room distribution, vacation days used up in misery!
I like your PSA OP, but then DCUM will be sadly quiet at the holidays without our usual zesty drama! |
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We have summer plans developing and spouse is under strict orders not to overshare so that in-laws don't wedge their plans into ours.
We'll see........ |
| I agree with OP. If you plan to make big changes to your Thanksgiving and Christmas break, tell all those involved now. When you wit until November, it becomes more emotional. Same goes for gift giving to the endless aunts, uncle and cousins that have been on your list. You don’t need to make the rest of the group go along with you—you simply opt out. |
| Tell me more about the 1940s percolators…..😂 |
| We are all set, actually. Winter break is only 9 months away and we have booked it already. Summer 2026 was booked in Sept 2025. And Spring break plans were booked in Mayb2025. |
But if the holidays are without any drama, are they really the holidays? |
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Now is the time to let others know if you would like to opt out of gift giving next Christmas. Organized people start their gift shopping now and buy things as they see them.
If you aren't going to be seeing these friends and family this spring, send an Easter card and add a short line that you are cutting back on gift giving this coming December to simplify your life. Or say you will only be giving gifts to young children from now on. Then say you look forward to sharing a meal with them to catch up on your lives. If you have always gone to grandma's house for Thanksgiving or Christmas and want to start a tradition of staying at home, let the grandparents know now. If you want just you and the kids, say you would like to celebrate with them the Sunday before Thanksgiving or the Saturday after Christmas. Or that you welcome them to visit at your house on the holiday, if that's how you feel. Give them 8 or 9 months to digest the news. |
What? No they don't. I'm incredibly organized but buying Christmas gifts now is just stupid. For one thing, plenty of people have birthdays between now and Christmas, so surely you'd be getting something for a birthday instead. Second, if you're buying clothes, they may not fit in 9 months (for children but also I suppose for some adults). And third, no one can return something you buy now and give to them in December! This is just stupid. |
| Ha! I thought this was going to be a reminder to declutter, organize and put away my decorations and stuff so it'll all be ready for next year! |
| Y’all need to calm down. |
Way to not read the OP. |
Better that way. The OP sounds like the kind of person who’ll in the future complain to the nursing home staff that her relatives don’t come to visit. |
Ha! |
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