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We've flown ON Christmas several times and it's always been amazing: never a full flight, people in surprisingly good moods, etc. Before MIL moved here we flew cross country to see her every year, almost always after Christmas (like, the day after), or on Christmas Day itself.

I've always said once I have kids I am staying home for Christmas. Anyone is welcome to come to us, but we will be in our home Christmas morning. I stuck to this even when LO was only 3 months old...both families come to us now.

I feel a bit bad because my parents are local and Ils have to travel , but they haven't said anything to say they mind. I always tell them we are willing to travel to them on the 26th, but so far they prefer to come to us and spend the week with LOs. They have no other family in their area and are really close with my family so it works for now. I'm not rigid on a lot of things, but I am on this. Christmas is about the kids now, and I want their memories to centre around our home.

My extended family is 5 hours from my DH family. As young newlyweds we spent Christmas Eve and early Christmas morning with my family and Christmas dinner with his. It's horrible and I do not recommend it, it's depressing to be on the road on the holiday.

As soon as we had kids we decided we needed new traditions. We celebrate Christmas at home and allow everyone who wants to come over to do it and go see my extended family the weekend after (my grandfather doesn't travel), truthfully while its great for our kids it's not a perfect solution we miss those who travel in for the actual holiday and my family refuses to just "move" the holiday so it's just a normal visit and I miss all the holiday traditions =\ so I don't have a good answer we've been trying to figure it out. Christmas morning at home is pretty great, it's not something I ever did as a kid and I love the calmness of it but miss my extended family

@Charm54: @Smurfette: @jetsa: I'm so glad to hear you guys say that you insist on staying home for Christmas. DH and I have always traveled to both families on Christmas Day. As a result we always have to give each other gifts ahead of time and spend the day in the car rushing from place to place. We dragged our LOs around with us last year and it was miserable because they didn't sleep at all away from home. This year we put our foot (haha, feet) down and said we will wake up at home on Christmas and travel before and after. We told DH's parents this past weekend and MIL is going through the stages of grief over it, like she can't believe I would do this to them (because we usually spend Christmas Eve with them and wake up and do Christmas there). I don't think it's an unusual thing to request when you have kids, but apparently I am a monster to think this way!

This is a really annoying problem for us because we are the only ones in either family that live away from our folks. We did Christmas every year with my ILs so far (including DS' first at 3.5 months) but we said we would do every other year from now on. Christmas is like the Super Bowl for my MIL so she starts laying on the guilt hard and early. This is not our year to go and she's already going on about how important it is for us to come next year (with a toddler and a 6 month old). Getting there requires two flights and a layover and it's expensive so I really want to stay home from now on but I don't know how to deal with my MIL. Christmas isn't a huge deal in my family so I think they would be fine with travel before and after but yeah living plane rides away from both families sucks.

We have always done Christmas Eve with my parents and flown to my ILs Christmas morning. I like it. But we tend to open our gifts christmas eve as is tradition in my family anyway. Then we get another Christmas at ILs. It's a short flight (little over an hour) and its a pleasant day to fly. We aren't going this year because I will be 39 weeks pregnant but I really don't mind the arrangement.

@twodoghouse: yes, stay strong!! I honestly am so flexible and accommodating for almost everything else but this I am really firm with. I think everyone understands because as children both DH and I spent Christmases in our own homes, so neither set can really complain because they didn't travel with kids either back in the day

We only have 2 hours to travel, but with a toddler and a newborn and DH working Christmas Eve until Christmas morning, I put my foot down and said I wasn't traveling. I know it's gonna be a bummer to spend Christmas Eve kinda alone with the girls, but I'm making plans already to start traditions I had with my parents and I'm so excited to do Christmas at our house for the first time. My in laws don't get it , especially since they are hosting the large extended family gathering this year (they at once point offered to pick my toddler up and bring her back, like I don't want to spend the day with my own kid?!). It won't be perfect, but now that R (almost 3) knows kinda what's going on, I want to do our own thing for a little bit!

Before kids, we would alternate thanksgiving and Christmas between our families. After we had our first, DH asked that we stay home for Christmas. Mainly because my family isn't huge into. I.e. My brother and SIL were still sleeping at 9am on Christmas morning while my niece was waiting to open presents!
Anyway, so we now spend thanksgiving with my family and stay home for Christmas. We host Christmas every year and my fam knows they're more than welcomed to come spend it with us! We're really trying to convince them to come this year. When the kids are older I'm sure we'll go there for Christmas every few years just because Christmas in NYC is just awesome.

@daniellemybelle: My family has traveled a couple of days after Christmas often to go on a skiing vacation. So we'd leave the 26/27/28th and then stay a week (so through New Year's). We LOVED it!

We used to alternate Christmas with my in-laws and my family. We lived in the same town as my in-laws, so on their year we'd stay Christmas day and travel to see my family on Dec 26 or 27th. When it was my parents year we'd travel on the 23rd or 24th and stay for a week or so.

Now we live in my hometown but we have a toddler, so my in-laws are traveling to us for the foreseeable future. It's just too hard to travel with our 2.5 yo! Plus I want her to have Christmas in her own house.

Thanks for this thread! We live a two hour drive from both my ILs and my family, and because they live in the same town, we tend to stay at the ILs and then go to BILs, then my family, then to DH's grandmothers for after dinner drinks and games.

This is the first year we'll have LO and we already get a lot of grief from DH's extended family for spending the afternoon and evening with my family (I don't get why my family is somehow less deserving of our time????). Ugh, last year his aunt literally said, "But you have to be with family on Christmas!" Because my family isn't family??????

It's great to know what other people do because my DH hates having to drive around so much on Christmas (even though it's all within 10 miles of each other, we go to four different Christmas celebrations in one day). We plan to have a really big family so I'm dreaming of the day we'll have so many kids no one will want to see us!